Massoud Hassani

short review on BBC and Discovery Channel

2012-02-16T16:26:00.008-08:00

watch it here on BBC
watch it here on Discovery Channel

Designs of the Year 2012 - Design Museum London

2012-02-15T15:48:00.007-08:00

Last week, Feb 8th, was the opening of Designs OF the Year 2012. Mine Kafon is nominated in Product category along some established products. It is really a big honor for us to be nominated. We are glad that people are now aware of land mine problems in the world. There are 270 million landmines spread across a lots of countries. If we get all those effected areas in the world and put them next to each other, that will create a whole continent by it self which is not useful for human beings and animals. Its a wasted land. Still don't understand, how is it possible to get this far, producing this amount of explosives to injure innocent people including kids and animals.

However, we are now working on an improved version of Mine Kafons. This will be better in many ways and cant wait to test them and use them in the real life.

We still need lots of support and help from organizations/governments to fund this project in one way or other.
Looking forward for a better and a safer future. Using a tool like Mine Kafon to remove landmines in countries like Angola can help repair and rebuild economic opportunities in wasted deserts, allowing people to work and live the safe life that they deserve, like every person on this planet.
Best,
Massoud

www.designsoftheyear.com
As the Designs of the Year opens to the public, online reviews and previews of the exhibition come in from:
Financial Times
The Guardian
BBC
Creative Review
It's Nice That
Azure
Dezeen
Core 77
Design Academy
Mine Kafon Facebook

Selected for the Common Pitch in Cape Town on Feb 29th

2012-02-15T15:19:00.005-08:00

Mine Kafon is a wind-blown, wooden, bamboo-spiked ball, based on homemade childhood toys, and designed to decommission land mines by blowing them up. The ball uses GPS to map its path along the way, creating a record of safe pathways. Thousands of square miles in countries all over the world are afflicted with land mines, rendering land useless and disrupting those who rely on it for their livelihoods. The country of Angola currently has nearly a 2:1 ratio of land mines to people: 20 million mines to 12 million people. Using a tool like Mine Kafon to remove landmines in countries like Angola can help repair and rebuild economic opportunities in wasted deserts, allowing people to work and live the safe life that they deserve, like every person on this planet.

http://www.commonpitchsa.com/

Mine Kafon project on Discovery Channel

2012-01-30T12:53:00.000-08:00

Discovery Channel will broadcast a review about MK project on the Daily Planet in Canada.. So anybody in Canada??? turn your TV on.
www.discoverychannel.com

DESIGNWORLD – DESIGNING THE NEW WORLD

2012-01-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

Design Museum’s Spring Exhibition from 27 January to 6 May 2012 in Helsinki

How will design respond to the challenges and needs of our changing world? How can the means of design be used to address the problems of society or to improve the wellbeing and quality of life of individuals?

Produced by Design Museum and curated by the museum’s debuty director Jukka Savolainen, Designworld – Designing the New World considers various areas of contemporary design and the significance of the design sector at the levels of society, ecology and the individual. The exhibition addresses current issues and proposed solutions with reference to international and Finnish design concepts, projects and products. Design Museum’s exhibition schedule for 2012 is part of official programme of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.
read more www.designmuseum.fi
photos by suomenkuvalehti.fi

Release of Disegno Magazine - a long interview about Mine Kafon project

2012-01-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

Twice a year, Disegno releases a printed magazine. This biannual tome is dedicated to key events in architecture, design and fashion over the last six months. It is an essential read and flick for both laymen and professionals and gives a flavour of the current stylistic and intellectual preoccupations of architects, product and fashion designers.

http://disegnomagazine.com/magazine
fotos by http://renevanderhulst.nl/

MK2 @ DesignWorld Helsinki - Jan 27th \ May 6th 2012

2012-01-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

On January 27th the Design Museum Helsinki opens “DesignWorld”, its first major exhibition for 2012.
A not unimportant fact given the Finnish Capital’s tenure as World Design Capital 2012.

And very much in keeping with the Helsinki 2012 Manifesto – if we can use such phrase, apologies if that’s going to far – DesignWorld asks how design can help, influence and improve man, society and the ways we interact with the world around us.

Featuring market products, prototypes and “concepts in development” DesignWorld looks at design in numerous contexts, such as sustainability, responsibility or safety.

DesignWorld at the Design Museum Helsinki runs until May 6th 2012. Finnish Design Unwrapped – A Deeper Look until Janury 29th

Design of the Year nomination

2012-01-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

We are nominated for the Designs Of the Year 2012 by the Design Museum in London. It's really a great honor to be a part of this selection. It gives us more hope and trust to keep hard working on this project.

Here below you can see our latest test session with the Dutch Defense. We tested the antiland-mine ball with several explosions. It worked out pretty well. In the future are more tests planned to bring this project to the next level

Thanks
Massoud Hassani

Six of the Best cultural highlights of 2011 @ Icon Magazine

2011-12-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

Massoud Hassani’s Mine Kafon, a wind-powered land mine clearance device – which has garnered huge excitement since its Milan Furniture Fair debut – is without doubt this year’s stand-out piece. Made of bamboo sticks exploding out of a plastic centre with an integrated GPS device, it rolls over the land, deactivating mines and keeping check of clean paths. The designer hopes the product, which is cheap and easy to assemble, will help small communities in his native Afghanistan claim back land that is out of bounds at present.

word by Anna Bates

3rd testing day with the Dutch Defense

2011-12-01T22:23:00.000-08:00

and we are off again!! today is our 3rd test session with the Defense and EOD (explosive special forces) from 10 o'clock we gonna blow things up, probably the big black ball will be gone... FEEL LIKE MYTHBUSTERS

@ gimmii magazine

2011-11-11T06:02:00.000-08:00

Mine Kafon
De ´Mine Kafon´van Hassani is een anti-mijnen object die gebruikt kan worden om mijnen die ´in zijn pad rollen´ onschadelijk te maken. En elke vernietigde mijn betekent dat er minstens één leven gered is.

www.gimmii.nl

radio interview with Monocle 24 - by Emiel Elgersma

2011-11-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

Mine Kafon reportage for Monocle Weekly by emielelgersma

Born and raised in Afghanistan, Massoud Hassani’s roots influences his work on a daily base. The graduate student of the Design Academy Eindhoven, is currently displaying his work. Monocle 24 reporter Emiel Elgersma visited the graduation exhibition at the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven and talked with Massoud about the two products he has on display these days: The Mine Kafon (pictured below) and Silk Cooking. (Play the radio reportage by clicking the orange arrow above. iPad-users can listen to the report on Soundcloud.)

(Aired on Sunday 30th October at Monocle 24 – list to the entire show as podcast. )

Russian national TV

2011-11-02T14:20:00.001-07:00

RTL Boulevard

2011-11-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

Check for video on RTL Boulevard

Dutch Design Week - Aflevering 1 - #ddw11

2011-11-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Nos 8 hour Journal (Dutch Notional TV News)

2011-11-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

AVRO - Kunstuur (Dutch National TV)

2011-11-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

AVRO kunstuur

Bekijk de video in andere formaten.

ED - daily newspaper

2011-10-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Princess Maxima is referring about Mine Kafon in ED - Eindhovens Dagblad. She is having a special interest in this project. It's really an honor for us to receive this comment.

DDW opening by Princess Maxima at Designhuis - Spring

2011-10-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

Today we had the Spring opening at the Design Huis in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Mine Kafon project is exhibited there. Maarten Baas was asked to choose a young new designer for this exhibition. He choose Mine Kafon project as his favorite for this exhibition. It's of course a big honer for me and for Mine Kafon project.

Today, 24th of October was the Official opening of DDW at the Design Huis - Spring. Princess Maxima was invited to open this event.

After the opening I was allowed to present her the Mine Kafon project. Surprisingly she really liked!!!!!!

First testing session at Reek (dutch army)

2011-10-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

today we had our first testing day. after building the Mine Kafon-2 we tried to detonate anti-personal landmines. Surprisingly the new prototype worked out pretty good. Really grateful for that. Tomorrow we will do the 2nd session with the tripwire mines. See how that go.

thanks
Massoud

Testing day with the Dutch Army - Vog Genie in Vucht

2011-10-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

have been working for the last weeks on a new prototype for Mine Kafon. It's improved in a lot of points.. on the 13th and 14th of October we will have a testing day with the dutch army. they will organize a land mine field to test the prototypes. We are really looking forward to those dates. Hopefully it will work out perfectly and hit some land mines!!

link on the Defense website

Interview on Mocoloco

2011-08-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

a wind-blown, wooden, bamboo-spiked ball, based on homemade childhood toys, that decommissions land mines by blowing them up, and maps its path along the way.

The ball loses a spike or two with each detonation. On-board GPS, reporting to a web site, is used to chart a safe course. As a child in Afghanistan, where there are literally millions of landmines, Hassani made similar toys that did at times wind up in minefields, inspiring this Mine Sweeper.

www.mocoloco.com

Interview with the Design Guide TV

2011-08-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

Mine sweeper from robertanderson on Vimeo.

During his childhood in Afghanistan, Massoud Hassani would make toys to be blown by the wind. Sometimes they would end up in a minefield, where he could not retrieve them. Now Massoud’s wind-powered creations are re-designed specifically for clearing minefields.

http://www.designguide.tv

lecture on Dezeen Screen

2011-06-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

In this next movie we filmed at the Design Academy Eindhoven My Way talks in Milan, academy graduate Massoud Hassani presents his device for seeking and destroying landmines.

The My Way talks were held in April to discuss the evolving roles of designers and were moderated by Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs.

you can watch the full-length movie here.

My Way debate in Milan - Giving lecture

2011-05-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

This debate was organized by Design Academy Eindhoven filmed and edited by Dezeen Screen. Hosted by Marcus Fairs from Dezeen and overviewed by
Poala Antonelli from Moma.

At the end of this video you can watch my lecture. from 30 minutes. It's about the Mine Kafon project and the idea's behind it.

Meeting with the Queen's Commissioner

2011-05-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

this article was published by ED.nl

The Milano Thing - magazine

2011-05-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

After the launch event held in Milan we are pleased to announce that The Milano Thing is finally out. A 48 pages magazine in an edition of 1000, all numbered and packed by hand, documenting the most insiprational projects from the Milan Design Week 2011. It deals with the best design schools and the new trends, reflects on the revival of craftsmanship and the process of making, tells you Milanese stories, and much more. Interviews and fresh insights, covering both high-end furniture and indipendent productions, all mixed up with a contribution by Studio Formafantasma and a goodbye drawing by illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli.

Gholdan - herbs & flowers

2011-05-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

In this project I wanted to bring herbs and flowers in one whole.
The big hole is meant for different kinds of herbs and the small openings are
meant for the eat able flowers. You can fill the pot with water and then put the herbs and flowers in it. In this way you keep them fresh for a long time and it smells good as well.

This pot is made from liquidclay. Molded and then baked.

more pictures here...

Spider Couple - Stools

2011-05-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

This is one of the Spider Couple stools. They are called Spider Couple because of their strength and the lightness. They are designed with a very strong construction. Only 1 kg each. They are made from 3 mm iron wires, welded.

more pictures here..

Mewa - Fruit bowl

2011-05-24T09:05:00.001-07:00

This fruit bowl is inspired by the sea fruits. I wanted to translate organic forms in repeated nice shapes.
It's made with bio plastics. The white bowl is double layered with a transparent plastic sheet. That gives it more dimension.

more pictures here

reflection of Mine Kafon @ Saskia's Water Lens

2011-05-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

water lens by Saskia van der Steen

Items Magazine - Onwerpers voor de echte wereld

2011-05-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Publication pdf
www.items.nl

This Way - Exhibition in Milan

2011-05-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

Domus Magazine - issue 947

2011-05-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

publication in Domus Magazine

Domus Issue 947
May 2011

Israeli webstite - The Marker Cafe

2011-05-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

הכדור העצום הזה של Massoud Hassani הוצג בתערוכת בוגרי האקדמיה של איינדהובן. הכדור
אמור לשוטט לו בשדות מוקשים עם קצת עזרה מהרוח. ייצור של כדור שכזה יעלה כ 40$ לעומת 1000$ ליום של מפנה מוקשים אנושי. אני מניח שהילדות של מסעוד באפגניסטן תרמה לפיתוח המעניין הזה.

link to the website:
http://cafe.themarker.com/post/2174178/

comment by Yves Behar

2011-05-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yves Behar - Mine exploding design from Eindhoven academy bright kid massoud hassani

yfrog Photo : http://yfrog.com/h0ezhrsj Shared by yvesbehar

comment by Fabio Novembre

2011-05-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

Fabio Novemre - Design with a heart! From Eindhoven Design Academy! Chapeau!

yfrog Photo : http://yfrog.com/gyqazxmj Shared by fabionovembre

Working with Damian 'O Sullivan and Theo Jansen - Kinetic Artist

2011-05-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

Theo Jansen helped me out on this project. Hope that I can work with him in the future again.
www.strandbeest.com

My tutor at the academy was Damian 'o Sullivan. Because of his help and support I succeeded in this project to graduate at the Design Academy Eindhoven

www.damianosullivan.com
www.designacademy.nl

italian article - Chometemporary.it

2011-05-11T14:40:00.000-07:00

Mine Kafon, giovane designer di origine afghana, presenta Every Life Counts.
A prima vista non riuscivo a dare una esatta spiegazione a questa palla fatta di bambu e laminato ma lui, con sorriso cortese, è arrivato a soccorrermi munito dei suoi video esplicativi.

Ha progettato delle macchine che sono in grado di compiere movimenti meccanici con l’aiuto del vento. Queste macchine sono state pensate per l’afghanistan e per lasciarle correre libere nel deserto così da poter rilevare le mine anti-uomo. Infatti hanno un sistema gps annesso che consente di tracciare mappature delle zone percorribili e nel caso invece vi si trovasse una mina l’oggetto salterebbe in aria lanciando come ultimo segnale un allarme di pericolo. Macchine mappatrici contro le mine antiuomo, credo che il background di mine sia decisivo nella progettazione di questo sistema e credo che sia il suo “abbraccio” da lontano verso il suo paese.

read this article in English:
http://english.chometemporary.it/2011/05/04/2261/

interview with Xnet - Israeli website

2011-05-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

link
http://www.xnet.co.il/design/articles/0,14563,L-3082410,00.html

STERKER door immigratie / Gerd Leers

2011-04-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

Onterecht, ervoer ik vorige week bij een ontmoeting in Maastricht met Massoud, een afgestudeerde van de Design Academy van Eindhoven.

Op zijn veertiende was hij ons land binnengekomen als vluchteling uit Afghanistan. Zijn vader was omgekomen in de burgeroorlog en zijn moeder en zusjes werden bedreigd. Nederland leek een goed land voor een nieuwe toekomst.

Hij kreeg een verblijfsvergunning, ging naar school en leerde de taal. Zijn leven lang, ook in Afghanistan, had hij allerlei ideeën omgezet in schetsen. Hij bundelde zijn beste ontwerpen in een portfolio en werd uiteindelijk toegelaten tot de Design Academy. Hij liet me zijn prijswinnende afstudeerproject zien. Het was een door de wind aangedreven mijnenvernietiger.

Een reusachtige ronde bol met schoepen aan de buitenkant die hij over de winderige Afghaanse vlakten wilde laten rollen.
Als het in aanraking komt met een landmijn ontploft deze. Voor alle duidelijkheid: in Afghanistan liggen zo'n tien miljoen oude landmijnen.

Ik heb zijn ontwerp doorgegeven aan mijn collega van Defensie; wellicht kan het worden getest en wordt zijn droom werkelijkheid.

Het mes zou dan aan twee kanten snijden, een impuls voor de economie van Nederland en een bijdrage aan een veiliger Afghanistan.

Daar wordt hij beter van, maar daar wordt Nederland ook sterker, innovatiever van.

bron:
http://www.limburger.nl/article/20110409/REGIONIEUWS01/110409579/1056

Art That Can Save Your Life | wbpllc.wordpress.com

2011-04-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Justin Mcuirk on design - The Guardian

2011-04-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Designs for life won't make you a living
The 50th Milan furniture fair was crawling with millionaires – but are designers being exploited by having to make work for free?

Finally, the show by recent graduates of the Design Academy Eindhoven demonstrated again that no other school consistently produces such imaginative work. Massoud Hassani's wind-powered anti-landmine ball was inspired by his native Afghanistan, a country rumoured to have more mines than people. Even more impressive was Dirk van der Kooij's use of a retired production robot from a Chinese factory to print out chairs made of plastic from old fridges.

Eindhoven's students are going places. The question is: where? As design schools churn out ever more graduates, their future looks ever more precarious. There are some important lessons to be learned, though. Today's designers need to be tougher business people; they need to negotiate harder and hold on to their copyright. But if there is one moral to this story it is this: design is a way of life that so many people want to participate in, they'll do it whether or not there's a viable living in it. Even some of the manufacturers are haemorrhaging cash to hold on to this dream within a dream.

read the whole article at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/apr/18/designs-milan-furniture-fair

Eindhovens Dagblad

2011-04-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Van een heel andere orde is 'Mine Kafon' van Massoud Hassani. Vroeger maakte de Afghaan graag kleine modellen die door de wind werden meegevoerd. Nu heeft hij een bal gemaakt die eveneens door de wind wordt meegevoerd met de bedoeling om landmijnen te laten exploderen. "Er zijn 30 miljoen landmijnen in mijn land en 26 miljoen mensen..." Met zijn bijna poëtisch uitziende objecten moet dat recht te trekken zijn. Hoop je.

read the whole article at:
http://www.ed.nl/uitcultuur/cultuur/8503997/Piano-maakt-muziek-op-kaart-van-Eindhoven.ece

A wind powered ant!landmine ball

2011-04-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

During his childhood in Afghanistan, Massoud Hassani would make miniature models to be blown by the wind. Sometimes they would end up in a minefield, where he could not retrieve them. Now Massoud’s wind-powered creations are designed specifically for minefields. Like a giant clump of dandelion seeds, his Mine Kafon will roll about, detonating any mines in its path. “There are 30 million land mines in Afghanistan and 26 million people, so that’s more mines than people,” Massoud says. Each deminer is to have a GPS tracking device linked to a website showing which areas have been cleared

link to the website
http://www.designacademy.nl/SaloneMilan2011/Work/tabid/1842/ctl/Detail/mid/2958/xmid/8711/xmfid/3/Default.aspx

Core 77

2011-04-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

As always, the graduate projects fro m Design Academy Eindhoven had quite an impressive showing this year with everything from material explorations to animal habitats and repurposed tooling machinery. Check out our quick snapshot of some of our favorite student work from this year's presentation.

Design Academy Eindhoven
curated by Ilse Crawford
Studio Zeta
26, Via Fruili, Milano

http://core77.com/blog/salone_milan/salone_milan_2011_design_academy_eindhoven_19070.asp

Designer blog.it

2011-04-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

Finire a Porta Romana durante la design week milanese è un po’ come andare ad una gita “fuori porta”: hai sempre la sensazione di dover affrontare un piccolo viaggio, lontano dai circuiti più affollati e frequentati del Fuori Salone. Ma questa volta il viaggio vale il suo scopo, merito dell’esposizione -a detta di molti- più “intensa” dell’intera settimana.

Qual è, dunque, il protagonista di questo celebrato passaparola? La risposta è prevedibile solo a metà: trattasi infatti della Design Academy Eindhoven, istituzione universitaria guidata da illustri designer (Bakker, Edelkoort) e da anni fucina di talenti (Baas, Forma Fantasma), mai in grado, fino a questo momento, di rendere un vecchio adagio, quello per cui l’allievo supera il maestro, vicino alla realtà di fatti.

Solamente fino ad ora, però. Il merito dell’esposizione, molto omogenea nella qualità dei lavori presentati, sta tutto nel metodo che li accomuna, centrato su un’attività di problem solving che parte con una ricerca, arriva a una domanda, e fa del progetto una risposta logica, concreta, e allo stesso tempo immaginifica e umana. In poche parole quello che a Eindhoven chiamano “conceptual design in contest”.

Guardate ad esempio all’immagine che vedete sopra: la grande palla è una sminatrice a bassissimo costo progettata da Massoud Hassani per mettere in sicurezza i territori dell’Afghanistan, ricorrendo solo alla forza del vento ed eliminando il rischioso intervento umano. I lavori tessili sullo sfondo, invece, sono pensati non in funzione dei consumatori finali ma dei suoi designer-artigiani, persone con malattie mentali che, a seconda del tipo di handicap, possono tessere con più facilità una trama o un’altra.

Begli esempi di applicazioni innovative, a cui si affiancano molte altre ricerche tese ad esplorare nuove soluzioni formali, funzionali, o a lanciare idee provocatorie che mettono in discussione punti di vista apparentemente scontati. Vi siete persi l’esposizione? Non mancate allora di visitare lo speciale di Eindhoven dedicato al Salone, dove troverete tutti i progetti e i relativi designer.

Vogue Living Australia

2011-04-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

This Way, Design Academy Eindhoven graduate exhibition, Studio Zeta, Via Friuli 26 

The Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) graduate exhibition is an eagerly anticipated part of Milan design week. This year’s exhibition was called ‘This Way’ and was once again curated by British designer Ilse Crawford (coincidentally, the guest editor of the May/June issue of Vogue Living), who is head of the school’s Department of Man and Wellbeing. Projects from over 40 graduates from the school’s 2010 Bachelors and Masters programs were on display.

Some of the work that caught the Vogue Living team’s attention included an anti-landmine device, below, inspired by the Afghan-born designer Massoud Hassani‘s experience growing up in areas littered with minefields. The wind-powered creation takes its shape from miniature models Hassani created as a child and clumps of dandelion seeds, and is designed to roll around a field detonating the mines it encounters. According to the Academy, the Dutch department of Defence is in talks with the designer about using a GPS-linked version of his device.

Article by Vogue Living Australia
http://blog.vogueliving.com.au/2011/04/15/milan-design-week-thursday-14-april-2011/

Afghaans kookboek uit Eindhoven

2009-12-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

EINDHOVEN - Het Afghaanse kookboek van de Eindhovense Design-student Massoud Hassani wordt zaterdag 19 december officieel gepresenteerd in Selexyz-boekhandel Van Piere in Eindhoven.

Tussen 14.00 en 16.00 uur zullen daarbij diverse Afghaanse hapjes worden geserveerd.

'Moeders gerechten, Afghaanse traditionele recepten' is door Hassani samengesteld op basis van de gerechten van zijn moeder Parwin Zamani. Hassani had het boek eerder dit jaar in een kleine oplage uitgebracht, maar wegens grote belangstelling is het nu op de markt gebracht. De Eindhovenaar werkt aan een groot Afghaans kookboek dat medio 2010 moet verschijnen.

'Moeders gerechten' laat de culinaire en ambachtelijke kant van Afghanistan, het moederland van Hassani, zien. " In dit boek proberen we Afghanistan van een andere kant te laten zien. Elk recept vertelt iets over onze cultuur, het belang van maaltijden in de opvoeding en welk gerecht je wanneer eet.", vertelde Hassani eerder dit jaar in het ED. Een deel van de opbrengst van het boek gaat naar stichting Ariana. Die helpt vanuit Nederland Afghaanse meisjes bij het studeren in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Meer info: www.moedersgerechten.blogspot.com .

2009-12-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

Op zaterdag 19 december van 14:00-16:00 wordt het boek Moeders Gerechten gepresenteerd in het Selexyz filiaal Van Piere in Eindhoven. Daarnaast kunt u een kijkje nemen in het vervolg (concept)boek. De heerlijke Afghaanse hapjes zullen op deze dag niet ontbreken.

Moeders Gerechten is te bestellen via het internet www.moedersgerechten.blogspot.com. Daarnaast is het boek verkrijgbaar bij Selexyz Van Piere in Eindhoven, Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht en Selexyz Gianotten in Tilburg . Een gedeelte van de opbrengst van het boek gaat naar de stichting Ariana www.stichtingariana.nl. Zij helpen Afghaanse meisjes bij het studeren in Kabul, Afghanistan.

2008-12-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

Eerbetoon Afghaanse keuken

EINDHOVEN - Hij ziet het zelf als een poging om een andere kant van zijn land van herkomst te laten zien. Nederland, zijn nieuwe thuis, associeert Afghanistan na dertig jaar oorlog alleen nog met ellende. "Weinig mensen weten dat het een land is met een hele rijke cultuur, zeker op het gebied van eten. Dat wil ik graag laten zien."

Massoud Hassani (25) is student aan de Design Academy in Eindhoven. Hij maakte een kookboek met traditionele recepten uit zijn vaderland. Hassani baseerde de recepten op de kennis en kunde van zijn eigen moeder, Parwin Zamani. Elk gerecht heeft een betekenis. "Het is ook een eerbetoon aan mijn moeder."

Zij had in de jaren negentig de moed om de risico's te nemen die haar gezin een beter bestaan moesten bezorgen. Haar man, een voormalig hoogleraar en vooraanstaand bestuurder in Kabul, was door politiek geweld omgekomen. "Mijn moeder heeft mij meegegeven aan smokkelaars. Ik was toen vijftien jaar."

Na een barre reis van een jaar, met vele omwegen en gevaren, kwam Hassani in 1998 in Nederland terecht. Twee jaar later ontvluchtten ook zijn moeder, broer en twee zusjes Kabul, waar de fundamentalistische Taliban de macht had gegrepen.

Het duurde jaren voordat Massoud in het Nederlandse onderwijs zijn weg vond. Drie jaar geleden werd hij toegelaten tot de Design Academy. Bij de studierichting 'Activity' bedenkt hij industriële producten en concepten. "Maar ik wilde ook altijd al iets met eten doen. Het viel mij in Nederland op dat er veel buitenlands eten is. Chinees, Italiaans, maar wij vinden Afghaans eten gewoon veel lekkerder. Als mijn moeder voor vrienden had gekookt, hoorden we dat altijd. Omdat Afghanistan eeuwenlang op de zijderoute lag, is onze keuken heel gevarieerd, met invloeden uit China, India maar ook uit Italië."

Hassani besloot een boekje te maken, 'Moeders gerechten'. Bij elk recept staat ook een toelichting over de betekenis. Het boekje werd slechts in een oplage van honderd exemplaren gedrukt. Omdat de vraag veel groter bleek, is hij nu een veel omvangrijker boek over de Afghaanse keuken aan het maken.

"Twee dingen neem ik daarbij als uitgangspunt. Elk recept vertelt iets over onze cultuur, het belang van maaltijden in de opvoeding en welk gerecht je wanneer eet. Daarnaast staat gezondheid centraal. Het moet met verse ingrediënten, liefst lokaal, gemaakt kunnen worden."

Alles in de Afghaanse keuken draait om smaak, zegt Hassani. Rijst is niet zomaar rijst in Afghanistan. " De zoektocht naar de aroma's van de rijst beslaat een heel leven." Veel gerechten horen in Afghanistan bij speciale gelegenheden. Vis met jelabi (deegslierten die in siroop worden gedoopt) wordt met Afghaans nieuwjaar ('Nawros') gegeten. Net als samanak, een deeggerecht dat mannen kracht en potentie zou geven. "Bij de bereiding van samanak moet je uren roeren. Daar horen speciale liederen bij."

De gerechten die hij beschreef, worden deze hele week gereserveerd in het opleidingsrestaurant van ROC Eindhoven, De Witte Tafel in de Witte Dame. Aan het plafond hangt daar nu traditionele Afghaanse kleding. Iedereen kan er tot en met vrijdag tussen 17.00 en 21.00 uur terecht voor een Afghaans vijfgangenmenu. Morgen is er een speciaal feest, met Afghaanse amuses, cocktails, traditionele muziek en modeshow.