In Person of Interest we talk to the people catching our eye right now about their projects past and present. Next up, we chat with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is in the closing weeks of his campaign, about food affordability and Detroit's food scene.
Sharia law? Abdul El-Sayed has a different proposition: shawarma law.
In an April cooking video published on TikTok, Egyptian American U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, wearing a Detroit Lions apron, joined Lebanese American food creator Summer Homayed to prepare beef shawarma, a staple of metro Detroit's Arab food scene. As they grilled marinated flank steak, drained potatoes, and mixed garlic and herbs, Homayed peppered him with political questions. (“We don't usually grill shawarma,” he said in the video, alluding to the use of a traditional spit.)
El-Sayed responded with food-adjacent commentary. The steak was purchased without corporate money, just like his campaign. He’ll compromise on how to prepare shawarma, but never on Medicare for All.
El-Sayed is campaigning on bread-and-butter issues: getting money out of politics, putting money in people's pockets, and Medicare for All. His Republican opponent, former congressman Mike Rogers, has sought to cast suspicion on El-Sayed’s Muslim identity by invoking alleged ties to extremist groups, claims challenged by independent fact-checkers.
“People are worried about that Sharia law, especially Michiganders. What do you have to say about that?” Homayed asked in the video.
“Look, I was born and raised in America. I believe deeply in the U.S. Constitution. So Sharia law? No, I'm here for Shawarma law,” El-Sayed quipped.
The Nov. 3 election could determine control of the Senate and make El-Sayed the country's first Muslim senator. Born to Egyptian immigrants, he was raised in suburban Detroit by his father and stepmother, a white woman born in Michigan. El-Sayed grew up eating his stepmother's meatloaf for dinner and his father's ful medames, an Egyptian fava bean dish, for breakfast.
In an interview with Bon Appétit, the former Detroit health director chatted about Michigan's food culture, grocery affordability, and the foods that shaped him.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Bon Appétit: If we were able to meet for an interview over a meal, where would you want to meet, and why?
Abdul El-Sayed: I'll give you four spots. There's a place near my house called Ricewood, a barbecue joint. They have a Friday and Saturday burger special, and they always rotate it. It's one of the best burgers I've ever had. Then, there’s Dearborn Meat Market, a butcher shop with a grill in the back with these two guys grilling up some of the best kebabs you've ever had. Third would be Sicily’s Pizza in Detroit. I think it's the best Detroit-style pizza. [It’s a] three-ingredient, aged fermented sourdough, but they figured out how to make Detroit-style pizza without making it oily or too heavy. And then a fourth one would probably be going out for ice cream. I love Midwestern-style ice cream, just the joy of eating it outside on a summer day. It's the joy of childhood and one of my favorite things to do with my kids.
BA: Can you share some early childhood food memories?
AE: As a child, some of my favorite memories were going down to the Eastern Market and picking up our groceries. We’d go to the cheese counter, sample everything, and pick one to bring home. My dad would spend Saturday afternoon cooking, and we’d have a meal together as a family. Food is how my parents said I love you, and it's a profoundly universal human language.
My mom would make traditional Midwest meatloaf or tuna noodle casserole. On Sunday mornings my dad cooked ful, a fava bean paste, which is a traditional Middle Eastern breakfast, especially in Egyptian families.
When we made burgers, it was always kofta in a bun. But you know, as a kid, I wanted the authentic thing. So now, I make traditional pizza, traditional burgers, traditional steak. My wife is Indian American, and so my kids always prefer the spiced food.
BA: Metro Detroit has become a food destination, with an abundance of halal restaurants. What do you make of how the region's food scene has evolved?
AE: When I was a kid, that whole ecosystem of halal burger shops and pizza didn't exist. It was a rare treat to be able to have a straight-up burger. A lot of that's changed and is catering to all kinds of different taste buds now.
The beautiful thing about food, art, and music is that you can fuse all kinds of different emotions and backgrounds into them. You have the most traditional burger or the fusion restaurants, like Warda Patisserie, which is just phenomenal. I love that so much of our history and culture in Michigan is about bringing together different kinds of people.
The job of a campaign is to communicate about shared values, and food is a tool for communication. When we share food, we’re also sharing history, culture, and traditions with each other. It’s an amazing way to gather community and talk about where we’ve been, and where we’re headed.
BA: You talk regularly about affordability and the cost of groceries in your campaign. If you're elected to the Senate, what are some things you could do to provide relief to Michiganders who are struggling to pay for groceries?
AE: There are a couple of reasons why groceries are so expensive right now that we should put an end to immediately: the war in Iran and the tariffs. Diesel is at an all-time high because of the war; every item in your grocery store was shipped there by truck and needed diesel. Our local farmers need potash fertilizer. A lot of it comes from Canada, which is now being tariffed.
Additionally, few corporations dominate our food space. Eighty-five percent of our meat supply comes from four meatpackers who are able to suppress the prices they pay farmers and raise the prices you pay at the grocery store. We need to stand up to monopolies who use their power to suppress our markets.
We also need to invest in local agriculture, create opportunities for local farmers to sell their products to local school districts, or fight for their right to repair their own tractor. We can take on ways that their prices have gone up.
It is becoming far harder to operate a profitable small business or restaurant in America, in large part because of the prices of inputs and the ability of people to afford it.
BA: I'm a longtime journalist who lost my job last year and had to apply for food stamps. As more of the workforce turns to freelancing and contract work, documenting income and employment can make it difficult to meet new SNAP work requirements and impending Medicaid requirements. How would you ensure these workers can access the safety net when they need it?
AE: It's a crazy thing that we've put so much time and effort into telling people what they can't have, rather than just creating good universal programs for everybody. Medicare for All would address all of the time that people have to put into figuring out how to provide paperwork, to then give that paperwork to somebody employed specifically to tell people they can't have the service.
Think about the way they've raised work requirements in place for Medicaid and SNAP. People are really going to face a bigger burden next year. We need to be building out a much broader safety net. Things like childcare should be free. Education should be free. Healthcare should be free. Think of the waste, fraud, and abuse being created to keep people off these programs, rather than making sure folks have the food they need—it’s backwards. All to cut taxes for the richest people and fight wars we have no business fighting.