How food helped me reconnect to my Somali roots

In 1991 when Hawa Hassan was just five years old, alongside her mother and four younger siblings, she fled the brutal civil war in Somalia. After time in a Kenyan refugee camp, she was sent to Seattle in the United States without her immediate family. Over the years, she assimilated, became the quintessential all-American girl, and lost touch with her family and Somali heritage. 15 years later, Hawa finally reunited with her mother, who by then had moved to Norway and had five more children. Hawa found living with her nine younger siblings chaotic, but also comfortable and strangely familiar. During this reunion, she rediscovered her love for Somali food, with its aromas evoking memories of her childhood. Since then, Hawa has launched her own Somali-inspired condiments brand and built a career as a cookbook writer and TV chef.

Joshua Olusanya comes from a musical family, but it wasn't until he picked up the trumpet that he found his true calling. Since then, he's become a trumpet teacher at a school in Abuja, Nigeria, and tours as a freelance musician. When Joshua first heard that there wasn’t a Guinness World Record for playing the trumpet for the longest time, he knew he had to give it a try. But he had no idea just how difficult it would be. On his first attempt, he played for almost 25 hours, taking only short breaks. Unfortunately, his effort was disqualified on the grounds that he drank water outside of an assigned water break. But that didn’t stop Joshua. In May 2025, he tried again and achieved his dream of setting a world record.

Presenter: Asya Fouks

Archive:
Hawa at Home | Food Network

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(Photo: Hawa Hassan sits on an upside down boat on a beach in Lebanon with high rise buildings in the background. Credit: Riley Dengler)