Thursday Mezze: July 4th + Bethlehem + Palestine Poem + Gazans Eat Leaves
Mezze - المزة - a wide selection of small dishes served as appetizers, including such delicacies as hummus, cheese, eggplant, brains, stuffed grape leaves, calamari, and much more
July 4th
Good morning Family, Friends, and Colleagues,
I want to share some thoughts on how we, and others, sustain ourselves:
While most of the Arab world uses the Arabic word for bread, khibz, in Egypt the word for bread is aish, which means 'Life.' Indeed, Egyptians often call it aish baladi — “Life for common people.” **
I like that.
I like that I dip 'life' into the blend of spices called za’atar that I often mix with olive oil for breakfast. I like that the bread I prefer is baked by Lebanese in Montreal, trucked to America, and purchased from an Middle East grocery store in Manchester NH.
I like, too, that my yoghurt is Chobani and that my lahmajoon, thin flatbreads topped with lamb, veggies, and garlic, comes from an Armenian shop in Watertown.
I love that the poached eggs I’m served in Portsmouth are Egyptian.
My 'Greek' pizza with chicken and fresh garlic is made and served by Turks and Pakistanis, my shakshuka is spicy and North African, my souvlaki Greek, my shawarma Lebanese, and my medium-rare American burgers are topped with veggies and Argentinian chimichurri sauce. I buy gasoline from a Palestinian who offers me coffee every time I see him.
What hair I have left gets cut (perhaps not often enough but it happened yesterday) by a Lebanese friend from Tripoli who finds time for me between visits abroad to see their family.
As you know. my hotdogs are all-beef, always on a New England-style roll.
I never attend displays of fireworks.
**I wrote the introductory paragraphs above, in slightly different form, a few years ago… I like them enough to reintroduce the today!
++++++++++++++++
It's the Fourth of July today and while I try to embrace every opportunity to celebrate life in communities where I live with companions who are pluralistic, diverse, tolerant, and welcoming, I'm finding that living the American Promise is becoming increasingly difficult.
Given the current state of our nation, the state of our president, the state of the world, the state even of 'Justice' - especially the states of desperation in occupied Palestine, in Sudan, in Afghanistan, I'm hesitant to wish my readers Happy Fourth.
We've had 248 years of independence. I'm increasingly doubtful we'll get to 250.
A friend of mine used the expression "Fourth of July Commiseration" today. That suits my state of mind. Today, as America celebrates people I know and love are in dire circumstances; they don't get to take a day off and neither should we.
At least, dear friends, say a prayer, give a thought, donate to anera or to Save the Children or to Médecins Sans Frontières - let others have a shot at having a life free of hunger and conflict - at least for a day.
I’m off to visit family now …
Salamaat,
Robert
Bethlehem by Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Nancy Harmon Jenkins is an old and beloved friend. We've known each other since the early '70s when Nancy and her family, and I, were all living in Beirut. Her husband at the time, Loren Jenkins, was Newsweek bureau chief and he and I often worked together.
We have all stayed in touch over the decades. I'm still so thankful for a piece she did for the New York Times on my mother's cooking - it's still the best baklava recipe extant.
I was touched by this piece Nancy wrote recently on Bethlehem. I hope you agree - and if you do, go to her substack and subscribe to her offerings.
" … And Chef Kattan’s recipe for Palestinian watermelon salad, which is a little different from the watermelon salads you may be used to. It also comes with a story: “Watermelon became highly symbolic. . . when, after the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in 1967, Israel made it illegal to carry the Palestinian flag. In the early 1980s, Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour circumvented this ban by painting the watermelon, its colors being the same as those of the flag.”
Arab Poetry and Fiction
I'm currently loving an amazing book - Girls That Never Die - by Safia Elhillo, a Sudanese-American poet whom I heard read recently here in Exeter. I've been reading a lot of Arab poetry and fiction lately - mostly by courageous woman authors who describe worlds often ignored and un-described by their male counterparts.
I hope in the next week or so I can put together a suggested reading list, along with some thoughts about my being invited into spaces previously unimagined.
In the meantime please read this offering by poet Trish Saleh on poem-a day:
[Palestine] without a word
…
if the word for this is Palestine
this love this steadfastness
…
https://poets.org/poem/without-word
_____________________________________________________________
Israel’s Starvation Policy in Gaza is Forcing People to Eat Tree Leaves
“I’m starting to deal with my kids as adults,” he said. “I’m telling them this is war, and our enemy wants us to starve. I’m telling them that we should be thankful that we have been able to survive so far. I promise them that when this war ends, I will bring them whatever they want.”
______________________________________________________________________
Resist. Stay strong.
Keep your keffiyeh close.
Salamaat,
Robert
theother.azzi@gmail.com
Thanks to you, Robert, for your kind words.