[A recent petition signed by nearly 900 food professionals calling
for a cease-fire raises, once again, questions of contested cuisines.]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

AMONG AMERICAN CHEFS, THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR HAS SPREAD TO FOOD  
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Kim Severson
November 6, 2023
New York Times
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_ A recent petition signed by nearly 900 food professionals calling
for a cease-fire raises, once again, questions of contested cuisines.
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The chef Michael Solomonov serves hummus at his Israeli restaurants,
like Laser Wolf in Brooklyn, Adam Friedlander for The New York Times

 

Theirs was an unlikely friendship.

Reem Kassis, who was born in Jerusalem and lives in Philadelphia, left
high-paying work as a management consultant to write cookbooks. She is
Palestinian, and her book “The Palestinian Table,
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broke open a new national conversation about both the cuisine and the
appropriation of its recipes.

Michael Solomonov, a chef who was born near Tel Aviv, was cooking
Italian food in Philadelphia when a sniper killed his 21-year-old
brother, an Israeli soldier who was patrolling on Yom Kippur. Mr.
Solomonov, who is Jewish, dedicated himself to Israeli cuisine and
opened Zahav in Philadelphia in 2008. The restaurant brought both him
and Israeli food to national prominence, and he has since opened more
than 20 restaurants.

Ms. Kassis nervously sent him a copy of her book. It shifted his
perspective. The two became close friends, cooking together at his
restaurant and in each other’s homes. They appeared together in
magazine articles about cooking for the holidays and at events
examining the role of food in national identity.

But now, they aren’t speaking.

“If anything,” Ms. Kassis said, “my experience of late has
confirmed for me that food diplomacy does not work and that you cannot
solve problems like the Israeli occupation of Palestine over the
proverbial plate of hummus. Anyone who claims that is deflecting from
the real work that needs to be done, first of a cease-fire, but in
general, freedom for and equal rights for all Palestinians.”

Mr. Solomonov’s restaurant and a handful of others that offer
Israeli cuisine have been targeted for a boycott by a group calling
itself the Philly Palestine Coalition, a new organization whose only
public profile is on Instagram. (Ms. Kassis is not affiliated with the
group.) He is not speaking publicly about the issue.

The war between Hamas and Israel has divided American cultural
institutions, and now it is spilling into the food world. In this
fraught moment, dishes like hummus have become weaponized like never
before.

American scholars of Jewish food describe the country’s cuisine as
an amalgam of recipes brought to Israel by the global Jewish diaspora
and merged with Middle Eastern food cooked by local Jews and Arabs.
Some supporters of Palestine argue that Israeli cooks are colonizers
who have adopted certain Arabic dishes as their own, and thus
contribute to the erasure of Palestinian culture.

Nearly 900 chefs, farmers and others in the American food business
have signed a pledge with an organization called Hospitality for
Humanity, which a group of Palestinian chefs and political organizers
began in October to push for a cease-fire and the end to U.S. support
for Israel. They want to use a boycott of Israel-based food businesses
and culinary events that promote Israel as one way to apply pressure.

Among the signatories are farmers, prominent chefs like Mason Hereford
of Turkey and the Wolf in New Orleans, and food writers, including
Helen Rosner of The New Yorker; the cookbook author and former New
York Times food columnist Samin Nosrat; Stephen Satterfield, the
founder of Whetstone magazine and the host of Netflix’s “High on
the Hog”; and Ms. Kassis, who has written for The Times.

Palestinian food businesses
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in the United States report having been flooded with one-star reviews
online, and Israeli restaurants in a few cities beyond Philadelphia
have been tagged for boycotts on social media.

“We tend to think of food as humanizing but when there is conflict,
food becomes part of the conflict,” said Ari Ariel,
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the University of Iowa who has written about and lectured on what he
calls the Hummus Wars
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battle began in 2009, when Lebanon claimed Israel was trying to steal
its national dish, turning the dip of sesame paste and chickpeas into
an avatar of hostilities in the Middle East.

Lebanese officials sought to have the word hummus declared a protected
designation in the European Union like Champagne or
Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the tensions were made literal in a contest
between Israel and Lebanon to make a tub of hummus big enough to break
a world record. Lebanon took the title after spreading a 23,042-pound
serving onto a giant ceramic plate in 2010.

“We have this romantic idea that if we eat the same food and break
the same bread somehow we can come together, but that doesn’t seem
to be the case here,” said Dr. Ariel, who is currently researching
the origins of falafel.

Indeed, any hope for reconciling differences in what has been called
hummus diplomacy appears to have been dashed.

Lia Ronnen is the publisher and editorial director of Artisan Books
and Workman Publishing, whose catalog is heavy with design and cooking
books. The argument that Israeli food is stolen Palestinian food is a
false narrative about the myriad origins and traditions of Israeli
food, she said. And, she added, targeting American businesses that
serve Israeli food is dangerous and has antisemitic implications.

“The food community is enforcing a narrative that is factually wrong
and fomenting violence against Jews in America. That is totally
tragic,” she said. “The food community is supposed to be a place
that celebrates humanity and celebrates caring and celebrates
truth.”

In the wake of social justice movements like Black Lives Matter,
questions about cultural appropriation, who owns a recipe and who can
profit from certain cuisines have forced conversations and reflections
in restaurant kitchens and food media.

The war has made these questions especially urgent, said Reem Assil,
the Bay Area chef and speaker who has family in Gaza and started
Hospitality for Humanity with other Palestinian chefs and political
organizers who were feeling isolated and grieving.

In addition to applying economic pressure, the organization is
encouraging people who make their living through food to speak out
against the bombings and American aid to Israel.

“The culture follows food,” Ms. Assil said. “Using food as a
conduit for culture is a very powerful way of re-humanizing us.”

Samir Mogannam, the chef and owner of Beit Rima in San Francisco,
describes his restaurant as Arab comfort food. He joined Hospitality
for Humanity, but said he doesn’t support boycotting American
restaurants serving Israeli food, pointing out that appropriating food
from other cultures has happened throughout history.

“But if you are going to appropriate our food, give us credit,” he
said. “If you say Israeli cuisine is an eclectic cuisine that pulls
inspiration from the Jewish diaspora and local Palestinians, that is
more respectable. But appropriating our food and erasing our existence
are two different things.”

Naama Shefi, founder of the Jewish Food Society which archives recipes
and the stories behind them as a way to preserve Jewish identity, has
her doubts about whether food can build bridges at such a scary and
dangerous junction.

“People need to educate themselves about the different cuisines,
history and cultures of the region,” she said. “I am trying to
stay optimistic. I am a believer in the power of food to educate and
connect and I will keep being a believer because if not, I don’t
know what’s left for us.”

Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok
and Pinterest. Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with
recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.

Kim Severson is a Southern-based correspondent who covers the nation's
food culture and contributes to NYT Cooking. She has written four
books and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for
public service for reporting on workplace sexual harassment. More
about Kim Severson

* israeli-palestinian conflict
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* food history
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* food culture
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