Assyrian cuisine tomato sauce and baked in the oven, not unlike the Levantine version of moussaka), "shamakhshi" (fried rolled eggplant stuffed with ground beef in tomato sauce), "Dolma" (rice and tomato sauce stuffed in grape leaves, cabbage, various peppers, zucchini, and eggplant), "Masgouf" (fish spiced with olive oil, salt, and turmeric, topped with tomatoes, potatoes, and onions then oven-baked) and "Lahmacun" (flatbread topped with ground beef, tomato paste, spices, and onions). Sesame seeds are important to the cuisine and used to make tahini, there is even an Assyrian folk tale about the gods drinking sesame wine on the night before they created
Ali Baba's Tahini the album "Limbo Boots". The departure of Engelmann, one of the band's main songwriters and singers, was a drastic change for the band. A few months later, Cinninger disbanded Ali Baba's Tahini to join Umphrey's McGee, where he remains to this day. Three years later in 2003, a four-man Ali Baba's Tahini (with Smylie on bass and Engelmann on guitar) reunited for a one-off performance in Niles, Michigan. The following year, the original lineup of the band (Engelmann/Cinninger/Krojniewski) reunited in the North Carolina mountains to record the album "Rockstars and Lawnmowers". Engelmann fronted Asheville-based rock band Mother Vinegar from 2004–2007,