The Road to Peace is Paved with Humous

Surely I jest, but I thought I’d share with you all one of the programs we put on at the centre Sunday night. It was the second monthly “Seeds Café” where we invite members of the Seeds of Peace community, including former Seeds, delegation leaders, friends and family to come together for some informal mingling. We have started doing these events on the first Sunday of every month, and they have been very successful so far. Last month, the theme was story-telling, and there was an Israeli and a Palestinian storyteller who each talked about their culture’s tradition of storytelling, and regaled the audience with some stories. Then the audience got to participate with some stories of their own.

This month, the theme of the event was achieving mutual understanding through food. The center invited an Israeli and a Palestinian chef to come and prepare some of each side’s culinary delights. The food was incredible. I got to have some excellent falafel, as well as some local delicacies like stuffed, baked figs and Jerusalem’s unique form of kugel (a traditional Jewish dish). We then had a group discussion where members of the group were encouraged to discuss the role of food in their culture and elaborate on the similarities and differences between the cultures.

It was a very enjoyable (and filling) experience for all, and it was a particularly good opportunity for parents of Seeds, who tend to be more conservative than their children, to socialize with peers from the opposite side of the conflict.

Here are a few pictures from the event:














This is Tamara, (Palestinian), Alon and Moran (both Israeli) who are all Seeds from 2004 who came to help out with the event. They were posted at the registration/ name tag desk.



As the discussion kicked off, we partook in a symbolic "breaking of bread". Interestingly, both cultures have a tradition of extending hospitality with bread and salt, which can be traced to the story of Abraham's travels to the Promised Land. As you can see here, participants are tearing pieces off a giant challah (or egg-bread) and dipping it into a bowl of coarse-grain salt.




















Here's a shot of me and some of the other volunteers and staff members who helped out with the event.

I really enjoyed myself at the event and it re-affirmed for me that what we are doing here to humanize this conflict is paying dividends. As one participant noted, when you break bread with your enemy, and you see them eat, you are confronted by the fact of their humanity. They eat just like you do, they have the same basic needs for survival and they enjoy the same luxuries of delicious food.

If only it were as easy as having people over for dinner... at least it's a start.