LOS ANGELES — Local organizations held a Palestinian cuisine workshop on October 5 in downtown Los Angeles, teaching about the history of the region’s food culture and commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas War.
As the sun set on Adams Boulevard, people started entering All Power Books, a volunteer-run community bookstore serving the South Los Angeles neighborhood. The event was a collaboration between the Peace and Freedom Party, which calls itself “California’s Feminist Socialist Political Party,” and Gogoroot, a nonprofit group that sells homemade affordable Middle Eastern food and donates profits to people in need in Gaza.
Inside the bookstore, two chefs from Gogoroot, Aiya Kanawati and Maribel Chavez, prepared food for the evening.
Spreading mashed grilled eggplant and boiled chickpeas separately on the plates, Chavez finished each serving by decorating each plate with ruby-colored pomegranate seeds.
Kanawati and Chavez explained that the food made from chickpeas is called hummus, and the eggplant dish is baba gnanouj. They said both dishes are commonly seen on the tables of Palestinians and in other Middle Eastern countries.
While cooking, Kanawati and Chavez taught the group how to make the dips, and some of the history of Palestinian food.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP), people in Gaza have suffered severe food shortages since October 2023. The UN WFP declared that 48% of households in northern Gaza experienced “severe levels of hunger” in late 2023. According to Human Rights Watch, Israel deliberately blocks the delivery of water and food into Gaza, widening gaps in resources and health.
For Kanawati, food, or the lack of food, is closely tied to the Palestinians’ history of resistance.
“During the first Intifada, Palestinian prisoners used food to resist brutalization inside the prison and to protest against unjust imprisonment,” Kanawati said.
Kanawati shared more insight into specific Palestinian dishes, such as Mlukhyeh Stew, a stew that is made with Mlukhyeh leaves and chicken broth. However, due to food shortages, some families in Gaza started to replace Mlukhyeh leaves with grass.
“The agriculture is being destroyed, so people have no way of recreating or keeping their recipes alive,” she said
Kanawati said the cooking workshop is also a part of her efforts to restore the Palestinian flavor of hummus. “Every [Arabic] store, says they sell Arabic food…. But it’s not really made by Arabs, or it’s not really like an Arabic recipe,” Kanawati said.
Reflecting on the Israel-Hamas war, Chavez said she felt heartbroken for the duration of the conflict. As part of the Palestinian community, she encouraged herself by saying, “The longer [the war] keeps going, the more we’re gonna keep fighting. We’re not gonna give up.”
Anthony Yen, an instructor at ABC Technical College, said he was happy to learn new things at the cultural workshop.
“It was just absolutely delicious,” he said.
Yen decided to attend after he saw the event announced on Instagram..
“Anything, any event that explains Palestinian culture and history… I just think it’s remarkable,” he said., “We have to be here, present, to remind ourselves about Palestinian people, and stand in solidarity with them too.”
Peace and Freedom Party member Aaron Reveles said that when he was a student in college, he had put on similar events to show the culture and tradition of Palestine cuisine.
“We spend a lot of our time looking at the Palestinians as victims, but we never look at them as people just living their daily lives,” Reveles said.
Besides the cooking workshop, Reveles said his organization has planned a series of events for this month, including Dabka dance lessons and an exhibition of Palestinian art.
“It’s always just good to find new ways to collaborate with people, try and do new things to support Palestinians,” said attendee and musician Roddy Connor.