Food: The Gateway to Talking About Palestine

In 2015 visited the Middle East, spending time traveling and seeing family in Cairo, Amman and Hebron in the West Bank. There were so many things that I wanted to report back on during my trip, from some of the differences I noticed in Cairo since the Arab Spring to my 6 hour detainment by Israeli officers at the King Hussein Bridge, but those stories all require a longer explanation and without it could potentially feed into harmful stereotypes if not provided with historical and cultural context. I felt unprepared to provide that context, to be an expert or engage in a political discussion online.

I wanted to find some way to share my trip and to give people a glimpse into the humanity and everyday life in the Middle East. Life that is full of happiness, laughter, tears, babies, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, and everyday happenings, not just a life of headlines on war and oppression as life in the Middle East, especially Palestine, is so often portrayed. What better way to do that than with food. Food and the gathering around food has a universal and it gives people a glimpse into another culture, perhaps easing them into important context and history.

During my trip, I started posting a few pics here and there of the meals I was enjoying during my travels on Facebook and discovered that people loved them. I then started to post a bit of info about the food and people enjoyed that a lot as well. I hope to continue posting some of the dishes I enjoyed on that trip and give you a glimpse into the Palestinian and Egyptian cultures, hopefully filling your kitchen with new foods to try.

I’ll start with a very traditional Palestinian dish that was served as my welcome meal when I arrived at my grandmother’s house in Hebron.

Qidreh (also written as Kidra and Qidra) is a very traditional chicken and rice dish that is considered the most famous dish in Hebron. It is best when cooked in a special heavy-duty copper or brass pot in a communal or a restaurant wood-fired oven. This meal served as my tasty welcome lunch when I arrived at my grandmother’s house. It was served with a simple tomato salad and yogurt sauce. It was delicious!