Launch Of Teta’s Kitchen: A Palestinian Travel And Cooking Series

Rābet by PIPD (The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy) launches “Teta’s Kitchen” on its YouTube channel, a travel and cooking series with Palestinian grandmothers (“tetas”) that showcases Palestinian food, culture and history. Hosted by Bethlehem-based chef Fadi Kattan, the series takes Chef Fadi to different regions of the country to cook with tetas and learn about local dishes, tradition and daily life.

The first season of Teta’s Kitchen will include ten 18-25-minute episodes, in English and Arabic, that will take you to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Jaffa, Hebron, Sebastia, Birzeit, Nablus, Nazareth and the Jordan Valley. Each episode will highlight a region’s signature dish like maqluba, molokhiye and warak enab with mahshi (stuffed vine leaves and vegetables), as well as seasonal specialities, like Palestine’s olive and date harvests or local beer.

Teta’s Kitchen is a celebration of Palestinian cuisine and culture and is meant to offer a more intimate picture of Palestinian society and identity that is often misrepresented. With the growing popularity of Palestinian food all over the world, Teta’s Kitchen showcases the origins and history of the cuisine and introduces us to the people who help maintain it every day. As chef Fadi Kattan said “I enjoyed travelling across Palestine, meeting fantastic Tetas, those women who are the resilient guardians of our kitchen and cooking up a storm with them.”

The series also highlights and challenges many of the issues Palestinians face, whether Israeli oppression and injustice, suppression of the right to movement, cultural appropriation of Palestinian cuisine, social justice issues and gender norms. Fatima, a teta featured in the series from the town of Sebastia, who works with a local women’s empowerment organization said, “We have used our cooking to break barriers, find work in an economy dominated by men and show that women can run restaurants. It has given us financial and social independence. ”

Teta’s Kitchen is one of many upcoming projects from Rābet by PIPD to promote a different image and narrative about Palestine, one built on shared values and global intersectionality. Salem Barahmeh, Executive Director of Rābet by PIPD said “Our mission is to uplift Palestinain voices that been ignored for so long and humanize our struggle for freedom and rights through the universal language of food and personal stories.”

Episode one of Teta’s Kitchen will air at 6pm Palestine/ 4pm London/ 11 EST on Thursday November, 26.

RESOURCES

• The trailer
• Full Episode 1 - Bethlehem with Teta Laurette Zoughbi - ( Waraq Enab wa Kusa Mahshi) Stuffed Vine Leaves and vegetables

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