"The Arab-Israeli
Cookbook," a stage show that has been part of London theatre this
year, stitches together narratives between 42 characters performed by eight
actors. While thankfully humanizing both peoples, food and cooking are
integral parts of the action and dialogue between the Jews and Palestinians.
Peacemakers Forsan Hussain
and Jewish Michael Bavly -- an Arab and a Jew, one
Palestinian, both Israeli citizens -- created perhaps the first Web site that
illustrated how food and recipes link our peoples and create an environment
for coming together. It's at:
"Cooking is very important for us, and
we do most of our peace work in the kitchen. We recommend you do the
same," they say together. And they have sustained their
relationship begun in college, where they co-hosted their own radio program,
"Just Like You," until now when they recently helped create and
facilitate the successful "Peace Camp Canada" for Palestinian and
Israeli youth, seen at:
Today, on Thanksgiving eve 2005, we again realize that
totality and dedicated, authentic relationship-building is usually
rewarded.
This morning, it is acknowledged in newspaper print,
so others can read and consider being part of this great public peace process
that works in real life.
Published in The San Francisco Chronicle -- Friday, 26
November 2005
On the Web at http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Cookbook-brings-Israelis-Palestinians-to-the-2633616.php
Cookbook brings Israelis, Palestinians to
the table
By Cynthia Liu
Earlier this month, the Jewish-Palestinian Living
Room Dialogue Group of San Mateo County published a 100-page "Palestinian
and Jewish Recipes for Peace."
"The book has recipes for the table and
recipes for building relationships at home, in the Middle East and the
world," said group member Len Traubman.
The 71 featured dishes range from roast leg of
lamb, chicken sumac and stuffed grape leaves to potato knishes, borscht and
brisket braised in chili sauce.
There is a recipe for maza,
a lamb dish simmered with garlic, olive oil and chili peppers that is served
for lunch on the second day of every Palestinian wedding, as well as a Hanukkah
recipe for Brazilian doughnuts, submitted by a Brazilian who is married to an
Israeli.
Then there is the squash recipe: "squash
stereotypes, squash indifference, squash blame, squash violence."
The book's introduction says, "One of many things
that connect Palestinians and Jews is their love of delicious food." Since
the group's inception in July 1992, "you can see that many of us have
grown, in size as well as spiritually and emotionally."
"A natural avenue to do relationship building
has been to share food," said member Libby Traubman, Len's wife.
Apparently the oldest dialogue of its kind in North America, the group of 15
Jews and 15 Palestinians held its 151st meeting this month.
In the book, recipes are interspersed with stories
behind some of the dishes, childhood food and holiday memories, and other
anecdotes.
"By listening to one another's stories, we
are able to make a heart connection," Len Traubman said, "and
once a heart connection is made, fear diminishes and reason starts to work better."
The stories in the book include that of Fanny Botto, a Palestinian raised in Chile who shares her
mother's recipe for meat-filled empanadas, and Sandra Kahn, a Mexican American
Jew who submitted her grandmother's recipe for Veracruz-style gefilte fish with
a tomato-caper-jalape?o sauce.
Dialogue member Hilde Gattmann
includes her grandmother's chocolate almond cake recipe. Gattmann
was born in Germany and loved both Hanukkah and Christmas as a child. With the
rise of Hitler, she escaped to America when she was 11.
"Having gone through that, I've often said that I
don't want to see anyone else suffer from prejudice," she said.
Henriette Zarour, raised in the Palestinian West Bank town of Beit Jala, has fond memories of
Easter and gave her recipe for Easter cookies made from semolina -- one shaped
like the crown of thorns, the other shaped like the sponge used to moisten the
lips of Jesus as he carried his cross.
Common ingredients in Palestinian cuisine include
bulgur, tahini (sesame paste), dried mint, orange
flower water and the popular za'atar spice blend of
sesame seeds, thyme, marjoram and sumac.
Sephardic Jewish cuisine draws upon Mediterranean
flavors, using dates, rice, pita, fenugreek leaves and cardamom, while the
Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews eat paprika, bay, dill, potatoes and cabbage.
Dialogue member Nahida
Salem, born in the Palestinian West Bank city of Ramallah, is the chef/owner of
Campus Cafe in San Mateo. "We share hummus, falafel and tabouli," she said, although she believes the
Palestinian versions are spicier than the Jewish ones.
Proceeds from the cookbook will go back to the
cookbook project for reprints. Dialogue members used their own money to publish
the first edition. The group has sold 91 (330 by 11/26) copies, including
orders from New Mexico, Australia and Israel.
In addition to presenting workshops around the
country, the group has sent $20,000 worth of medical equipment to hospitals in
Gaza and western Jerusalem, raised $10,000 for Israeli and Palestinian schools,
and hosted what they believe to be the largest dinner dialogue in North America
for 420 people in 1997.
The group's first public event was in 1994. The day
before the event, Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Muslims in Hebron, so
organizers considered canceling the event. However, Len Traubman said they
decided, "We're not going to go up and down with the headlines," and
went ahead as planned. Gattmann said, "It was
good to be together."
The group has experienced marriages, births and deaths
together.
In fact, dialogue member Nadim
Zarour died of a heart attack in 2000 while
facilitating a live broadcast dialogue between a rabbi and a priest at Grace
Cathedral in San Francisco. Yasser Arafat sent a personal letter of condolence.
The group has met with Congress, gone to the State
Department and teleconferenced with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer. However, "there are things government can do
that we can't and there are things we can do that government can't -- and
that is changing relationships," said Len Traubman.
Salem's husband, Adham, met
with Arafat this spring and "Arafat encouraged him and other Palestinians
to engage Jews in citizen relationship building, which he felt was a vital part
of the peace process," said Len Traubman.
Arafat, considered by many Palestinians to be the
father of their country, "championed his people unlike anyone else,"
said Libby Traubman.
Yet, her husband said, "What he did not understand
is you cannot use violence against the Jewish people and win their minds and
hearts. He did not understand Jewish fear and the Jewish stories."
The group hopes to continue to share stories from both
sides to build relationships and promote peace. So far, the greatest unresolved
conflict within the group is a culinary one between the Traubmans and Salems -- the Salems feed the
Traubmans regularly and refuse to accept payment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get cooking
The "Palestinian and Jewish Recipes for Peace"
cookbooks are available at http://traubman.igc.org/recipes.htm .
E-mail comments to penfriday@sfchronicle.com