IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
Palestinian-American Profiles
Chicago-based Palestinian-American chef Abeer Najjar creates fusion dishes inspired by her Palestinian upbringing, using food to keep her heritage alive. “Our narrative as Palestinians is being erased.”
20 hours ago
Photo Essays
Ramadan is a sacred time of year for devout Muslims. The holy month began days after the Israeli military killed 62 protesters in Gaza’s Great Return March. Despite the sorrow over the killings, and despite the ongoing suffering Palestinians in Gaza experience due to the Israeli-imposed blockade, four hours daily of electricity, lack of drinking water, and chronic unemployment — families in Gaza still mark Ramadan with devotion, and with dignity.
about 1 week ago
News Roundup
Anthony Bourdain brought cuisines from around the world to viewers who might never otherwise have contemplated them. But his shows were always about so much more than that.
about 2 weeks ago
News Roundup
It was the year 2000 and the Second Intifada was underway. It was nearly impossible for people to cross short distances between cities and villages in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, let alone deliver beer. Yet Palestine’s Taybeh Brewery successfully transported 50-kilogram kegs of beer across military checkpoints on donkeys while an increasingly violent and repressive occupation escalated around them.
on May 9, 2018
News Roundup
Sometimes the way to really figure out who you are, what you’re supposed to be, where you go next, is to drop everything and find your way back home. With apologies to Mr. Wolfe: You can and should go home again—back to the beginning, to the place that made you and set you on your course. If you’re lucky, like Bay Area chef Reem Assil, it’s a journey that might even touch a place inside you that you couldn’t have reached on your own.
on January 2, 2018
News Roundup
Reem Assil on her Muhammara dip: “Muhammara is my homecoming. I discovered this addicting dip as an adult and fell in love with it when I went back to Syria in 2010. At the time, I was soul-searching in my father’s homeland and started to open my eyes to all the richness of my Syrian identity, particularly through the food and hospitality."
on December 18, 2017
Videos
A Palestinian-owned bakery with a social justice edge. Loved by the community and widely celebrated. Attacked by Breitbart and right-wing Israel supporters. Reem's California is standing strong to provide locally-sourced food that brings freedom seekers of all stripes together.
on November 24, 2017
News Roundup
In 2016 alone, about 1,300 Palestinians fled their homeland amid the country's long and violent territory dispute with neighboring Israel. Their fate couldn't seem further removed from an American celebrity cooking competition, but when one actor...
on January 5, 2017
News Roundup
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) got a gift from Kal Penn this past week, as the actor — best known for his role in the Harold and Kumar films and for serving in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011...
on January 5, 2017