I am reading a book titled Jerusalem. It is about Jerusalem, but it is also a cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. I've been following Ottolenghi's career ever since my husband and I were on our honeymoon in London. We stayed in Notting Hill and around the corner was a lovely little bakery - or was it a restaurant? I don't remember now, but I do remember the amazing desserts in the window, and I have always regretted not going in and buying something. Yotam Ottolenghi is Jewish, and his head chef and co-author, Sami Tamimi, is Muslim. The were born the same year and in the same city, Jerusalem.
For decades, Jerusalem has been in the news. Just a week ago, a gunman was shooting at vehicles near the Old City's Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall. Eight people were injured. The gunman was Palestinian. Ottolenghi and Tamimi write about the never-ending violence. "Four thousand years of intense political and religious wrangling are impossible to hide. Wherever you go - in Jewish parts in the city center or within the walls of the ancient Old City - people are zealously fighting to protect and maintain what they see as their piece of land, their endangered culture, or their right to a certain way of life. More often than not, this is pretty ugly. Intolerance and trampling over other people's basic rights are routine in this city. Currently, the Palestinian minority bears the brunt with no sign of it gaining control over its destiny, while the secular Jews are seeing their way of life being gradually marginalized by a growing Orthodox population." The authors go on to write that it is sad that people with so much in common (hummus! baba ganoush!) stick together in their little groups where "dialogue between Jews and Arabs, and often among Jews themselves, is almost nonexistent".
Read about Jerusalem:
Jerusalem : one city, three faiths / Armstrong, Karen, 956.94 ARM
Jerusalem, stone and spirit : 3000 years of history and art / Bahat, Dan. 956.9442 BAH
The lost Ark of the Covenant : solving the 2,500 year old mystery of the fabled biblical ark / Parfitt, Tudor. 296.493 PAR
The lost book of Moses : the hunt for the world's oldest bible / Tigay, Chanan, 098.3 TIG
American priestess : the extraordinary story of Anna Spafford and the American Colony in Jerusalem / Geniesse, Jane Fletcher. 266.0092 GEN
At the entrance to the Garden of Eden : a Jew's search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land / Klein Halevi, Yossi, 296 HAL
A beggar in Jerusalem : a novel / Wiesel, Elie, F WIE
Where the streets had a name / Abdel-Fattah, Randa. J F ABD
This reminded me of two articles that I wrote a number of years ago, "Give Peace a Chance" and "Give Peas a Chance". Here they are - with more about hummus:
"We didn't achieve independence through peaceful means. Talking and protesting weren't getting the colonists who wanted to separate from England anywhere. So they revolted and out of a bloody war, the United States was born.
"Peace is such a huge topic. We wish and hope and pray for it so fervently, but again and again, history repeats itself and violence breaks out. Will the world ever live in peace? Will disagreements between nations be solved without resorting to war? For some reason, mankind is drawn to war. Read War is a force that gives us meaning (Hedges, Chris. 355.02 HED).
"Still, we work towards peace, and there have been times when peacemaking has worked. This isn't feeling like one of those times. There isn't peace at home with constant assaults on the values that have defined the United States. There isn't peace around the world with the rise, once again, of nationalistic governments, here and abroad. ("nationalistic: having strong patriotic feelings, especially a belief in the superiority of one's own country over others" per the dictionary - sound familiar?)." And then I went on to write about what was happening in the United States of Trump: "With our country backing out of treaties, insulting world leaders, and showing in so many ways that we are no longer a beacon of democracy and freedom it will be hard for many to celebrate on Wednesday. [I guess that was Independence Day]
"What can we do to regain pride in the United States? Celebrate the good news that we see every day when people protest against injustice. Support those who work to safeguard the freedoms and the ideals that we hold dear and that made up the Constitution. Vote. Be involved. Refuse to countenance a president who refers to a whole political party as his enemy, to the media as his enemy, to anyone who disagrees with him as his enemy. Like the patriots of almost 250 years ago, we may not be able to do everything peacefully.
"Ultimately, for Americans to live in peace, we must find a way to heal the tremendous rift in our country. I don't know how that can be done, but maybe a peacemaker will come along to unite us. The Library has so many books on peacemakers. Try these: Albert Schweitzer's ethical vision : a sourcebook (Schweitzer, Albert, 170 SCH) or Rabble-rouser for peace : the authorized biography of Desmond Tutu (Allen, John, B TUT).
"Finally, words from a bumpersticker: "Who Would Jesus Bomb?"
So then, the next week, I wrote: "Okay, I couldn't resist the title "Give Peas a Chance" after last week's "Give Peace a Chance". These two articles aren't as far apart as you might think - one about peacemaking and one about food. People come together around the table. A sense of community is established. There are traditions around food. Religious traditions of feasting and fasting, of sacrifice and sacrament. Food is a weapon when it is withheld from people, but providing food to the hungry (or providing the means of growing food) helps peace to grow."
Of course, this doesn't always work well. Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi wrote about the hummus wars. Was it the Arabs or the Jews who first made hummus? Who makes the best hummus? Hummus provides countless opportunities for debate. Instead of arguing about food, here is what I did to provide peaceful meals:
"Make time in your home to share meals. One Sunday, something our minister said made me think about how important a shared meal is so I created a tradition with my children called "Elegant Dining". Every Sunday night, I would serve dinner in the dining room using pretty china and napkins. No television. We would have topics of conversation, sometimes drawn from a favorite book. My boys looked forward to these dinners. Sometimes they would make a "cookbook meal". They would look through cookbooks and plan and cook the meal themselves. (They both like to cook now that they are adults.)
"We have some really great food books in the library. I found The Meaning of Food (349.1 HAR) to be fascinating. There are some recipes, but the book focuses on the place of food in life. Feasting with God: Adventures in Table Spirituality (641.5 WHI) is more about rituals and conversation than it is about recipes, but they are there, too. Here are some more titles on food - and I bet you can find something about peas in them.
A continual feast : a cookbook to celebrate the joys of family and faith throughout the Christian year / Vitz, Evelyn Birge. 641.5
Happy times: Habitat cook book 641.5 HAP
Kitchen life : real food for real families, even yours! / Smith, Art, 641.5 SMI
The kitchen shrink: food and recipes for a healthy mind/ Savona, Natalie 641.5 SAV
Three bowl cookbook / Scott, David, 641.5 SCO