Giving Palestinian Women a Place to Cook, Learn and Be

1 / 3
Palestinian women learn to prepare food and gain independent skills at Bait al Karama, a cooking school that also offers social and cultural programs.
Palestinian women learn to prepare food and gain independent skills at Bait al Karama, a cooking school that also offers social and cultural programs.
2 / 3
The Bait al Karama center also hosts courses and seminars designed to offer help for Palestinian women who have suffered loss and trauma during their peoples' political trials.
The Bait al Karama center also hosts courses and seminars designed to offer help for Palestinian women who have suffered loss and trauma during their peoples' political trials.
3 / 3
"Slow Food Almanac" advocates the belief that people have been too far removed from the cooking and creation of their food, and that simple meals made with love and care are a more rewarding and sustaining experience.

Slow Food Almanac (Slow Food, 2013) argues that something valuable has been lost in this era of fast food and instant gratification. Humanity needs the pleasure meals made with love and attention, and from locally grown ingredients. A global, grassroots organization with supporters in 150 countries around the world, Slow Food International promotes the pleasure of good food with a commitment to their community and the environment. This excerpt sheds light on a cooking school for Palestinian women in the city of Nablus.

Bait Al Karama

Bait al Karama, whose name means “house of dignity,” is the first center for women in the old city of Nablus, Palestine, and combines a social enterprise based on Palestinian culinary culture with educational, social and cultural activities and programs. It is managed as a social enterprise in order to create jobs for women who have suffered trauma and loss during and after the Second Intifada, as well as offering social, psychological and educational support. The center has a beauty salon, open to the public, and various multifunctional rooms that host courses, conferences, workshops and group lunches. Bait al Karama is also Slow Food’s Nablus convivium and is home to the first international school for Palestinian cooking entirely run by women in the West Bank.

A Cooking School for Palestinian Women

The cooking school is a response to the need to create flexible employment for around 20 women from Nablus’s old city, and is located within the Bait al Karama complex, a recently restored Ottoman building in the heart of Nablus. The kitchen, located on the ground floor, has been renovated and equipped in accordance with Palestinian domestic tradition, while maintaining the highest professional and safety standards. The project evolved out of the awareness that while Palestinian cooking offers an incredible variety of Arab dishes and specialties, it is little known in either the Middle East or the West. Nablus was once the crossroads of many important commercial routes and home to several of the country’s richest families, who supported the development of a refined cuisine. Some of its most fascinating dishes have come from the meeting of spices, meat and vegetables from distant countries. This tradition reaches its peak with the desserts, like knafeh, exported and copied throughout the Arab world. Food and culinary traditions are part of the wealth of Nablus and represent a source of pride for the city and the women in particular. In teaching this heritage to the course participants, the women also have the chance to establish an equal relationship with foreign visitors. The school wants to contribute to constructing and spreading a positive image of Nablus as a city rich in culture, history and tradition, moving beyond the classic stereotypes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  • Published on May 28, 2014
Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368