Roads & Kingdoms
Jan 9, 2020 / An Elegy for Karachi’s Empress Market - Roads & Kingdoms
The dismantling of Karachi’s markets and informal shops isn’t just robbing the city of its soul. It threatens the survival of the very people that make it a city.
September 25, 2018 / Eating Black Forest in Lahore - Roads & Kingdoms
What do Germany and Pakistan have in common? A beloved cake.
March 2018 / Amman Guide / Walking Tour: Start with Falafel, End on Kanafeh - Roads & Kingdoms
February 8, 2018 / The Sandwich That Ate Pakistan - The Trip / Roads & Kingdoms
How an unassuming KFC chicken sandwich became a permanent part of Pakistani food culture
November 2017 - Pakistan’s Martha Stewart - Roads & Kingdoms / Slate
A profile of Zubaida Tariq: home cook turned TV star, 72-year-old grandmother - and an inspiration for memes
(I appeared on Christopher Kimball's Milk Street podcast to talk about this story - listen here.)
On breakfast obsessions in Beirut
2017 / The Universal Struggle to Get to the Bar Before Happy Hour Ends
It's 5 p.m. on a Thursday, and there's a line for a cab in Amman
2017 / 21 Things to Know Before You Go to Karachi
Revel in the irreverence of Pakistan's largest city
2016 / The KFC Chicken Sandwich That Ate Pakistan
How a fried chicken sandwich became a part of Pakistan's food culture
2016 / 5 O' Clock Somewhere: Relearning the Art of Procuring Alcohol Legally
Dispatch from a liquor store in Amman, Jordan
2016 / 17 Things to Know Before You Go to Lahore
A guide to navigating Lahore
2015 / Dispatched by Bourdain: A Stage Set for Slaughter
Longform story on the sacrificial animal market in Karachi for the Islamic holiday of Eid, and the culture of consumerism, crime and cattle
2015 / Breakfast: The Under-Appreciated Cousin of the World-Famous Naan
The best breakfast meal in Karachi is a paratha
The story of a beloved rooster and a cockfight that will determine its future
Karachi's grease-and-spice laden breakfast of survivors
2014 / In Karachi, the delivery man cometh
On how food delivery businesses took over the city
Scenes from Lyari's Baloch Culture Day celebrations - and the criminal syndicate running the show
The Karachi home-grown burger: the bun kebab
2013 / Tea in the Boiling City
In chai, Karachi trusts: why tea is the binding force in the city
2012 / Chicken Soup for the Shiite Soul
A stew called haleem has become synonymous with the rituals around the Shi'ite mourning month of Muharram
Finding the Christmas spirit in a city dominated by violence