It is difficult to celebrate eating Palestinian food in Dublin knowing that the Isreali army is purposefully blocking food from entering Gaza. It is important to remember that no famine has ever occurred in a sovereign country. As a way to grapple with the incomprehensible, many Palestinian and Middle-Eastern restaurants in Ireland have transformed into centres of solidarity, where fundraisers are held, Palestinian flags are sold and cultural education is as important as the food. The common thread found in all of the Palestinian food places in Ireland is that food, community and solidarity always intersect.
In 1995, academic Micheal Billig coined the term ‘banal nationalism’, which is the idea that it is not borders which form a country but rather a national identity. It is the everyday, mundane actions such as the clothes you wear and the way you cook your food that is what a nation consists of. This means that one of the ways that Palestinians all across the world can resist attempts made by the world’s most powerful militaries to deny the existence of their country, is by asserting their culture. For example, in her article for Bon Appétit, Elena Dudum found that traditionally, many Palestinian chefs in the US describe their restaurants as Middle Eastern or Lebanese in order to avoid anti-Palestinianism. But now, more and more of these restaurants have re-branded and spoke out about the US foreign policy in relation to the war in Gaza. In her essay “A Cuisine Under Siege” Leila El-Haddad wrote, “Recipes were a sort of treasure map to a largely invisible, or invisibilized, world of Palestinian history going back well before the 1948 Nakba, the year Palestinians refer to as their “catastrophe,” or mass expulsion and dispossession.”
Bringing Palestinian food to the rest of the world involves not just fighting through misinformation and racism, but practical obstacles as well. Some food, such as a strain of wheat called kaf al-rahman which makes a rich, cake-like bread, is only grown in the West Bank and it is impossible to export due to the war. Before the war broke out, Israel forbade Palestinian fishermen from going more than fifteen nautical miles from shore, preventing them from getting the best fish. New York Times writer Ligaya Mishan wrote “If cooking is in part an act of preservation, a way to sustain cultural identity across time and distance, it is also an art of resilience, demanding the ability to adapt.” Kanefeh Kingz, a food truck in Tallaght serving delicious Palestinian desserts from Sunday through Thursday, certainly takes the act of cooking food as a symbol of resistance. They recently posted on their instagram (@kanefehkingz) saying “Our shop stands as a symbol of Palestinian resistance” and “Kanafeh was and will always remain a means through which we show the world the story of Palestine”.
I spoke to Cathy Alheajneh, an Irish woman married to a Jordanian man. She is involved with Mothers Against Genocide and has helped to raise over twenty thousand euros for Palestine through various fundraising events (such as Plates for Palestine, hosted by Shaku Maku). I asked what she loves most about Palestinian food and her answer was instantaneous. “It’s home.” she said firmly. “And I’m as much home in Ireland as I am in the Middle East, in Jordan. My favourite thing about being over there is sitting in the kitchen with the women cooking rolling Dawali, which is grape leaves [with rice and vegetables rolled inside]. It’s the sense of community, not just about food. And I think most Palestinian people would say the same thing, I often meet with Palestinian women in Ireland, and it’s just spending time in the kitchen making Sumakiyyah [traditional stew] or making Dawali, just cooking and talking at the same time.”
According to Cathy, Shaku Maku is the best place in Dublin if you want to try proper Middle Eastern/Palestinian cuisine. She told me, “all the Palestinians agree it’s the best restaurant in Dublin for a Palestinian”. Its menu is extensive, serving hot and cold plates, mezze for groups and a variety of traditional Palestinian desserts. The interior is bright and colourful, it is a place of community, good food and solidarity.
There’s also Al Wadi Falafel in Wexford, a food truck run by a couple with three small children, selling homemade Baklawa and gorgeous falafel platters. It’s also completely vegetarian. Irish people are enthusiastic about supporting these Palestinian food businesses. Cathy told me “I have a really strong Palestinian community around me for my children and my husband. We’re seeing more and more people want to learn about the culture.” She went on to say, “My friend makes falafel wraps in hummus, and he sold out 300 falafel wraps in a couple of hours, because people really want to try foods that are genuinely Palestinian, 100%”.
After spending eighteen months in a direct provision centre, Izz and Emam, the Palestinian couple who run Izz café, wanted to tell the story of their country through food. So in 2019 they opened their doors in Cork city and since then Café Izz has become a cultural institution. Magloubah: fried potatoes sandwiched in between layers of spiced chicken, fried aubergine and fragrant rice. It is served upside down alongside stuffed Medjool dates and yoghurt dusted with chilli powder. Manooshet: traditional dough, stonebacked or cooked over coals, topped with labneh and honey or a blend of cheeses. Hummus: a spread consisting of chickpeas, creamy tahini, rich olive oil and crushed garlic, a wedge of lemon optional but encouraged. These are some of the dishes you can enjoy at Izz Café
Places like Izz café do a fantastic job of re-creating traditional Palestinian dishes as well as selling Palestinian groceries which are notoriously difficult to source. You can buy Palestinian olive oil, Zaatar mixture and jars of sumac. They also publish a blog sharing news of Palestinian solidarity and recipes that you can try at home.
Cooking and serving food has always been and will always be, an act of love. It is out of love for their country and their community that these restaurants remain open and remain welcoming. In keeping the Palestinian cuisine alive, chefs and restaurateurs are resisting the Israeli narrative in their own small way. Izz, of Café Izz, told the Echo, that the whole reason she began the café was because she saw the joy her cooking brought people in the direct provision centre, to be able to taste the flavours from where they left, even just for a brief moment. This is the power of food: it connects you to a people and a history.
