Kitchen WHISPERER

HAWA HASSAN, whose line of sauces reflects her native Somalia, finds connection at home in Brooklyn

Vanities/Field Trip

'For me, when I have such joy, and where I pull a lot of my strength, is just being in kitchens with women— commotion and stillness at the same time," says Hawa Hassan, founder of the condiments line Basbaas. Her story could fill a book—childhood in Mogadishu, a year in a U.N. refugee camp in Kenya, followed by a solo voyage to Seattle at age seven—but it's matriarchs who take the spotlight in In Bibi's Kitchen, a compilation of East African recipes out this month. At Hassan's Brooklyn apartment, those spice blends prove their versatility. She uses her own chutney on Mexican takeout (and encourages you to do the same).

LAURA REGENSDORF