Mehdi Boujrada is the Moroccan chef determined to put his native cuisine on the map. From waiting tables in Portland, Boujrada is now the founder of the award-winning Villa Jerada foods. As featured in the Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast, Villa Jerada is making a name for itself as the place for quality Moroccan produce.
For Boujrada, Villa Jerada is born of duty and a mission: ‘We see a lack of adequate narrative about our cuisine and our food, and it almost becomes an ambassador act to recorrect the narrative’ he says. The spices, condiments and oils on sale at Villa Jerada all hold personal significance for Boujrada. Each evokes a food memory of his childhood.
Their produce reflects this. In fact, the much loved Harissa sauce, now stocked on Milk Street, won a Good Food 2021 award. Their highly lauded Chermoula spread also earned such an award.
Mehdi Boujrada: humble origins
In 2003, Boujrada quit business school in Morocco to pursue his dream of moving to America. There, he started off waiting tables at his half-brother’s Italian restaurant in Portland. He soon began to notice the subpar quality of harissa and other Moroccan staples in the supermarkets.
“My humble culture has a very rich culinary and agricultural past, but ask anyone and they have no idea . . . so I thought, ‘Why don’t we give value to the ingredient, which will give value to the cuisine itself?” he says.
Boujrada began contacting family and friends from home (saffron growers and olive oil makers) and importing their products. At first, he went knocking door to door, convincing Seattle restaurants to try his Moroccan olive oil. In 2011, with the help of his mother, Boujrada set up Villa Jerada. Over the years they have expanded their small-batch produce of sustainable and organic ingredients. With stockists in nearly 20 US states and Canada, Boujrada’s dream of spreading his native flavours far and wide is taking off.
Mehdi Boujrada: quality produce
Quality is the defining feature of the products at Villa Jerada. To date, their award-winning Harissa sauce has over 30 five-star reviews on Milk Street.
Originally from Tunisia, harissa spread to other North African states. Now it is made by Villa Jerada in America with the highest quality Organic Moroccan olive oil. Their signature recipe features a ‘melange of layered flavors from spices, fresh mint, tomato paste and preserved lemons’.
Highly renowned chef and creator of Milk Street Chistopher Kimball had this to say about it: ‘Villa Jerada’s Harissa is our favorite version of this North African red pepper paste for its bright, complex flavor.’ Many other customers agree – “best of the best”, “best spice blend in my kitchen” and even “the BEST ‘hot sauce’ I’ve ever had” are just a small sample of the glowing reviews to be found online.
Mehdi Boujrada masterminds Tusk
Boujrada is also the mastermind behind the Middle-Eastern menu at hit Portland restaurant Tusk. There too quality and authenticity are the driving forces.
‘We’re not trying to be hipster with everything cool, but we’re trying to make sure every single product is good,” he says.
In collaboration with chef Sam Smith, Tusk looks to unearth precious gems of Moroccan cuisine. This they have done to full effect; in fact, Tusk was one of Food and Wine’s restaurants of the year in 2017.
To check out some of their produce, recipes and other merch (including a harissa t-shirt modeled by the man himself) head over to Villa Jerada’s website.
