IMEU Institute for Middle East Understanding
His food tours are on hold but chef Fadi Kattan is on a mission to preserve the traditions of Palestinian cuisine
on October 1, 2021
Palestinian-American Profiles
“A tool of mass cultural preservation”—that’s how Blanche Araj Shaheen describes her new cookbook. Feast in the Middle East (2020) features an array of dishes from across the Levant with detailed instructions and histories behind each recipe.
on February 24, 2020
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.
on June 14, 2018
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
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
As 2016 rapidly approaches, we can comfortably say that humanity has attained many a soaring feat not thought remotely possible even a few generations ago. Which makes it all the more bitter that 2015 also marked the absolute worst levels of global displacement in all of recorded history.
on December 15, 2015
As 2016 rapidly approaches, we can comfortably say that humanity has attained many a soaring feat not thought remotely possible even a few generations ago. Which makes it all the more bitter that 2015 also marked the absolute worst levels of global displacement in all of recorded history. Think about that. We have never been closer to interplanetary habitation, yet more humans than ever before...
on December 15, 2015
Videos
AJ+ visited chef Rawia Bishara at her restaurant Tanoreen in Brooklyn. She showed us how she makes her delicious hashweh to go with your turkey this year! You can read more about chef Bishara's cooking in her highly lauded cookbook “Olives, Lemons & Za'atar: The Best Middle Eastern Home Cooking.”
on November 25, 2015