Members of the local Orange County community met at Pacifica Institute in Irvine to celebrate the landing of Noah’s ark. This celebration is marked in the Muslim calendar by the traditional sharing of Ashure (Noah’s Pudding) with one’s friends, family and neighbors.
Every tradition has a story behind it. Noah´s Pudding, a hodgepodge just like America, has an interesting one to be told.
When Noah’s ark landed on the mountain after the flood, Noah and his friends prepared a delicacy with a little bit of everything left in the ark: grains, dried fruits, and pulses on the vessel such as figs, nuts, wheat, chickpeas, almonds and apricots. Sugar and love combination worked in a mysterious way, and the outcome was not bad at all as one might think. It turned out to be a delicious, sweet, rich dish called “Ashura” passing from generation to generation to be cooked and shared with family, friends and neighbors once a year in Turkey.
