Habiba Boru can vividly remember her mother frequently cooking red lentils while living in Ethiopia. Growing up, Boru said her family didn’t have access to meat, so it was common for them to eat vegetarian or vegan meals. Boru credits her mother’s cooking skills to making the vegetarian meals as delicious as they were.

“She would basically cook to keep the roof over our head and clothes on our backs,” Boru said.

Now, Boru owns Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen — the newest stall in Salt City Market and the only destination in Syracuse serving authentic Ethiopian cuisine. The restaurant opened earlier this month and features traditional East African dishes.

Boru wanted to feature her mother on the menu — the lentil dish, called Misir Wot, is a vegetarian, seasoned red lentil stew with berbere, garlic, tomatoes and black pepper.

“She would mix the red lentils so good to the point that we didn’t miss out on the meat and the chicken,” Boru said.

The most popular item on the menu at Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen is Beyaynetu — a dish where there’s six vegetarian options on one plate, as a way to sample a few different items on the menu at once.

Ethiopian food is much different than traditional food found in the United States, Boru said. When she first came to the States she struggled to find ingredients.

“We did have a lot of challenges specifically to the spices,” Boru said, “because locally here in Syracuse there’s not a lot of Ethiopian storefronts where you can go and buy Ethiopian spices.”

Stores in D.C. and Canada carry Boru’s necessary ingredients, so in order to cook authentically, she would travel to where the items were stocked and buy them in bulk.

By opening Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen, Boru hopes to make her cuisine a norm in the Syracuse community. The restaurant is the only location in Syracuse serving authentic Ethiopian cuisine, which is something Boru feels honored and privileged to offer the community.

“It means so much when somebody’s craving that particular food, they’re coming to Habiba’s,” Boru said. “It’s an honor for me to be there and I want customers to have a taste of Ethiopia in their mouth and in their hearts.”

As a member of Salt City Market, Boru doesn’t work alone. She’s now a part of a team of people at the market who are there to provide guidance and support by hosting workshops and seminars for the new businesses.

“We are constantly trying to cultivate new talent,” said Salt City Market Manager Adam Sudmann. “Twice a year we do a big 12-week business development course and the fall one has people all across the globe taking the class with the hopes that maybe one day they’ll have a stall here.”

Sudmann and Boru’s partnership goes back nearly seven years while Boru was running her restaurant in Downtown Syracuse. Sudmann said he was “painfully aware” of what Salt City Market was lacking in cuisine representation — leaving out the entire continent of Africa — so when Boru decided to bring her restaurant there, Sudmann was grateful.

Sudmann describes his role as a ‘cheerleader’ for the vendors. The goal of Salt City Market is not only to help people start small food businesses, but also to create generational wealth through those businesses. Sudmann said Salt City Market has the ability to do more than just sell food.

“Food businesses are really unique in that they’re able to create a community space where all of Syracuse feels welcome,” Sudmann said.

Sudmann said the market fosters community in the city and strives to bring in vendors representing cuisines from all across the globe.

Boru’s restaurant represents East African cuisine in Salt City Market. But the diversity of Salt City Market isn’t just shown in its stalls — Sudmann said the whole market community is a diverse network.

“I’m astonished when I walk in this market sometimes, seeing who’s in here from all walks of life,” Sudmann said.

One of those frequent visitors is Jonathan Larsen, a local who said Salt City Market is his go-to place in Syracuse for a unique meal.

“I really like coming to the market to try what’s new,” Larsen said. “Seeing a lot of different foods all in one place is really neat since you can’t always find them in other places.”

Since its grand opening in 2021, Salt City Market has quickly become a familiar name in the community. Inside, there are ten unique vendors featuring cuisines from across the globe like Big In Burma serving Burmese food, Baghdad serving Middle Eastern cuisine, Erma’s Island cooking up Jamaican food and much more.

As a new vendor in the market as well as being the first and only Ethiopian spot there, Boru said she hopes her food will help the community become exposed and educated on the foods of East Africa.

“Not a lot of people are familiar with the other foods that are surrounding them,” Boru said. “My dream and my goal is to introduce this culture and these different types of cuisines to people.”

Published on September 28, 2022 at 10:07 pm