{"id":32740,"date":"2024-05-03T07:37:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T05:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/?p=32740"},"modified":"2024-05-03T07:37:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T05:37:26","slug":"palestinian-culture-under-assault-celebrated-in-new-cookbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/palestinian-culture-under-assault-celebrated-in-new-cookbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian Culture, Under Assault, Celebrated in New Cookbook"},"content":{"rendered":"
Amid mass destruction of generations of Palestinians and their cultural heritage, Chef Fadi Kattan\u2019s latest book uplifts every season of Palestinian life and resists cultural erasure.<\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food<\/span><\/i>, by Fadi Kattan<\/span>
\nHardie Grant Books<\/span><\/a> 2024<\/span>
\nISBN 9781958417287<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mischa Geracoulis<\/span><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Published at a pivotal moment in the history of the Holy Land, the greater Middle East and Southwest Asia, global non-west and western empire, chef, restauranteur, author, and educator, Fadi Kattan\u2019s <\/span>Bethlehem, A Celebration of Palestinian Food<\/span><\/i><\/a> is at once a sumptuous cookbook of Palestinian fare, an invaluable contribution to Palestinian cultural heritage, and an ode to family legacy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Bethlehem
Bethlehem<\/em> is published by Hardie Grant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bethlehem<\/span><\/i> can easily be read cover-to-cover. Filled with pages of stunning photographs showcasing delectable dishes, elegant tables, and picturesque scenes in and around Bethlehem, the book works as something of an educational travelogue, as well. Sectioned by seasons, Kattan narrates a trip down memory lane, replete with regional and historical details. Each recipe and ingredient recounts personal and familial memories, imparts intriguing facts, and conjures a range of emotions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For those familiar with Palestinian or Levantine fare, those emotions are likely to be heartwarming. For those new to the cuisine, feelings of anticipation to try out the recipes or empathy for the Palestinian struggle may be evoked, and for vegans or anyone leery of eating animal parts, the head-to-tail cooking exhibited in recipes such as Lamb Testicles with Spicy Tahinia, and Musakhan-inspired Chicken Liver P\u00e2t\u00e9, or the details of the inner workings of Bethlehem\u2019s Natsheh family butchery might elicit shock.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Spring
\n<\/b>Beginning at breakfast in springtime, readers are invited into the Kattan family home and treated to an array of ceramic artisan plates adorned with varieties of olives and fruit, jams, dips, cheeses, breads, halawa, and more. These recipes are as abundant in herbs as is the West Bank itself. Za\u2019atar, <\/span>the ancient herbal blend<\/span><\/a> of ground and dried oregano, thyme, marjoram, sumac, and toasted sesame seeds, most identified with Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean cooking, is mentioned in the first paragraphs of the chapter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Za\u2019atar can also refer to the single herb scientifically termed, \u201cOriganum Syriacum.\u201d Known in English as Syrian oregano or wild thyme, za\u2019atar is a foraging herb native to the Levant, and Palestine in particular. However, in <\/span>1977, the Israeli government banned<\/span><\/a> Palestinians from picking za\u2019atar, falsely claiming it a protected species. Palestinian foragers found in possession of za\u2019atar can be <\/span>fined and\/or imprisoned<\/span><\/a> for up to three years. <\/span>In a 2021 podcast episode of This is Palestine<\/span><\/a>, human rights attorney <\/span>Rabea Eghbariah<\/span><\/a> termed the criminalization of foraging herbs as \u201cun-fooding.\u201d In other words, the government treats these native, edible herbs traditional to the Palestinian diet not as food, but as illegal contraband. Eghbariah posits that \u201cun-fooding\u201d is a tactic to alienate Palestinians from their land.<\/span><\/p>\n

Visualizing Palestine<\/span><\/a>, a multidisciplinary research and data organization that illustrates data through infographics, reports that Israeli bans on Palestinian agricultural use endangers Palestinian <\/span>food sovereignty<\/span><\/a>, \u201cthe <\/span>right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.\u201d Food sovereignty is both an environmental justice and human rights issue, <\/span>contends Visualizing Palestine<\/span><\/a>. Seen through the lens of colonial-settler apartheid, Visualizing Palestine argues that Israel\u2019s denial of Palestinians to forage wild herbs and produce their own food, violates the principles of food sovereignty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of <\/span>Bethlehem<\/span><\/i>\u2019s 70 recipes, seven call for za\u2019atar. While Kattan doesn\u2019t get into the specifics of food bans, his pages on Jericho mention the impact that colonialism [via military occupation] has on Palestinian agriculture due to Israel-imposed restrictions on Palestinian use of land, water, and the foraging of wild plants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n