“Dear Noam, let me invite you to dinner with my relatives,” began Noam Waksman ’15, reading aloud a letter written from his friend, Hani Azzam, in their blog “Until Next Year In Jerusalem.” The letter was from the blog’s first post, and its opening perfectly fit both the context of the blog and the event it was being recited during. In one of the most exciting and delicious events of the year, Connecticut College’s Hillel and Yalla Binna teamed up to offer the College community a Food Tour of Jerusalem, one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. Dinner was served on Feb. 25 in the Hood Dining Room of Blaustein, and close to 100 students attended to try the many homemade dishes being served.
The event also featured the talk from Waksman, who recounted his experience visiting Israel with his high school friend Azzam. Waksman, who is a dual American and Israeli citizen, and Azzam, whose father is Palestinian-American, are linked through the unique connections of their heritages, and in discussing some of the most complex issues of the conflict between Palestine and Israel have found a common ground in food.
As Waksman shared photos from the trip he took to Israel with his friend, many of which featured the food they shared between the two of them, meals with distance relatives still living in Israel and new-found friends who invited the pair into their homes, it became clear that food and the act of sharing a meal can be a unifying force unlike any other.
The act of bringing people together through cooking was seen in the process of planning the event, as president of Hillel Sarah Joelson ’15 recalled how both Hillel and Yalla Binna came together in the day before the event to make all the food offered in the kitchen of Hood Dining Hall.
The experience of cooking for such a large group of students brought the two clubs together, and she explained that it never once felt like two separate groups of students working in the same space, but instead felt like an extended group of friends working together to prepare a meal with a shared vision for the overall event. In preparing for the event, the two groups equally split the work, including planning which dishes to prepare and shopping for the ingredients. Joelson laughed when recalling how the groups needed to buy “tons and tons of chick peas” to create the dishes.
As for the dishes themselves, students who attended the event enjoyed a wide display of Middle Eastern cuisine. From two different types of salad, homemade falafel, humus, baba ghanoush, mint tea and flaky baklava, everyone’s plates were piled high. Joelson and Yalla Binna president Michael Fratt ’15 welcomed everyone to the event and encouraged students to try everything, especially the food that looked
the most intimidating: the baba ghanoush. Baba ghanoush and humus are prepared in similar ways, but while humus is made mostly from chickpeas, baba ghanoush is comprised of eggplants and has a smokier and more intense flavor. I ate my humus inside the pita and falafel, and cleared away all the baba ghanoush on my plate with an extra piece of pita. The baklava, too, was a delicious way to end the meal. It was flaky and sweet and sticky, and left me wanting just one more piece.
Besides the food, what made this event so interesting was Waksman’s talk. Waksman reminisced about the debates and discussions between himself, Azzam, their families and friends, many of which were held over a meal. This idea of coming together over food was apparent not just in Waksman’s talk, but in the organization and preparation of the event itself. Joelson explained that it was important to show the College community that we are supportive of each other, and that the goal of the event wasn’t to “delve into the is sues surrounding the conflict, but more to bring together our shared culture.”
In the same way Waksman began his talk with a line from Azzam’s blog post, he ended his talk by reading the final paragraph:
“You may not like what some of those seated [at the table] have to say, and those same people may dislike what you have to say even more. However, I can guarantee you two things: you will not leave hungry, and you will get offered coffee…in this communal fulfillment of one of our most basic instincts, the need to eat, we find that brotherhood of mankind can overcome divisions of race, ethnicity, and politics. This gives me hope that, eventually, we will craft the perfect meal to bring Palestinians and Israelis together to share in this experience. We have been in the kitchen for over 60 years, after all.” •
