When Naomi Mobed was a child, her Pakistani family moved frequently, often internationally. It was a lifestyle that turned food into a grounding force, even if it often meant struggling to find familiar flavors in unexpected places, including buying Indian spices out of neighbors’ garages during a stint in a small Oklahoma town. Today, those lessons and flavors stay with her, showing up in the artisanal chutneys made by her company, Le Bon Magot.
“Each one of the flavors has either a memory behind it or a family recipe behind it,” she says. “These recipes evolved over time based on what we had available to us when we moved from location to location. They are very authentic, yet they borrow from each place we’ve moved to.” Le Bon Magot’s Spiced Raisin Marmalata is inspired by a raisin spread Mobed tasted while traveling through Turkey, while the Sour Cherry Pomegranate Conserve comes straight from her childhood in Iran.
“Getting ingredients today is not what it was 20 or 30 years ago. You can find anything pretty much at your fingertips.
