The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network is advertising An evening of storytelling, listening, and delicious Palestinian food prepared and hosted by Chef Aheda occurring on Sunday:
I have two secrets for cooking. The first is not my secret but my country’s: ‘Cook with your hands.’ The second is love. You need to put some love in your cooking.
I’ve been cooking my whole life. In Palestine I was a chef and I ran a catering business. All my favourite recipes come from my grandmother and her grandmother. I need to hold onto them and share them. These recipes are my culture and I need my culture to continue.
The blood of my family has been soaked into these lands by the guns of Israeli soldiers. I have many hard stories. My children who could escape are now scattered across the world. I live alone, without my children, my land or my culture. Everything I had has been taken from me.
Every day I wake up, make coffee and chat with my plants. I ask them how they are feeling: ‘Do you need something? Some food? Some water?’ It is a very happy place for me. In summer I have zucchini and eggplant ready.
When you cook Palestinian food, the vegetables must be fresh because it’s very simple. For my mother’s baba ganoush, you smoke the eggplant on a flame, then add lemon, salt, garlic and tahina. That’s it. I like to keep it classic, the same as my grandmother.
It has not always been easy in Australia. When I arrived four years ago I couldn’t speak any English. I could only say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Now I run cooking courses for people to learn my Palestinian recipes.
My dream is to open up a food truck called Aheda’s Kitchen. I want to travel around Australia sharing Palestinian food. When people try my dishes and say, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so delicious’, it makes me feel proud.
I miss my home. I miss my country. I miss my family. I can never go back to Palestine but I will always be Palestinian. I hope and pray that one day Palestine will be free.
– Aheda
I could point out (again) how these “Palestinian” foods like baba ganoush are essentially foods that originated elsewhere in the Levant (which is fine, but then don’t complain when it is the same story with some Israeli foods). However, that is not the focus of this post.
I want to look a bit into Chef Aheda herself, who seems to enjoy cooking up anti-Israel propaganda as much as food.
On the Asylum Seeker Resource Center website, Aheda reveals why she is seeking asylum in Australia:
My story is very hard. In my country there’s no safety and we don’t have freedom. But here in Australia I feel safe. When I take the bus I am safe, when I go for a walk in the street or in the park, I am safe.
I want to know more about Aheda’s hard life in what she calls “Palestine”:
According to the below Facebook post from an outfit that seeks to “create empowering employment opportunities for people seeking asylum and refugees”, Aheda comes from Halhul:
This is what the Welcome to Palestine website has to say about Halhul:
Snow is not something many people associate with Palestine, but in Halhul, a large town just 5km north of Hebron, it snows every winter without fail. This vibrant town is the highest inhabited place in Palestine, at 916 metres above sea level. It is a hive of activity with many businesses and lots of traffic passing through.
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The Old City is the most attractive and interesting place to wander, with several hidden gems to be found, while the main street is a lively, frenetic place of business, shopping and socialising.
You can see photos from Halhul here and here. Hardly sounds or looks like a place where there’s no safety or freedom.
At least for non-Jews.
True, the IDF sometimes needs to operate inside and is met by violent residents:
According to the Israeli military, fighting broke out while troops were carrying out a raid on a Halhul business suspected of financing the Hamas terror group. Some NIS 1.1 million ($330,000) was confiscated during the operation and the business’s doors were welded shut, the army said.
“A riot broke out in which dozens of Palestinians threw stones, explosive devices, and Molotov cocktails at Israeli troops, who used riot control means and gunfire. Hits were identified,” the Israeli army said.
Sounds like Halhul is a bit of a terrorist hotbed.
I am really curious as to on what basis Chef Aheda left the palestinian-controlled territories and wants asylum in Australia. From what I understand, the requirements are strict. Merely living in Halhul would not seem to cut it.
Update: By the way, even the Welcome to Palestine website acknowledges the Jews were in Halhul first:
Muslim tradition states that the prophet Jonah is buried in this town, and the Mosque of Nabi Yunus (prophet Jonah) currently stands over the alleged site. It is from Jonah that the town takes its name, as he stayed in the area for a year, and hala (stay/live) and hul (one year) make Halhul.
Jonah was a Hebrew prophet.
