A Pittsburgh take-out stand recently featured a menu of Palestinian dishes, and members of the area Jewish community are not amused.
Pittsburgh’s Conflict Kitchen features a rotating menu of foods from nations that are “in conflict with the United States,” and hosts performances, panel discussions, and other events to bring the food and culture of our “enemies” to Pittsburgh diners.
“Conflict Kitchen uses the social relations of food and economic exchange to engage the general public in discussions about countries, cultures, and people that they might know little about outside of the polarizing rhetoric of governmental politics and the narrow lens of media headlines. In addition, the restaurant creates a constantly changing site for ethnic diversity in the post-industrial city of Pittsburgh, as it has presented the only Iranian, Afghan, Venezuelan, North Korean and Palestinian restaurants the city has ever seen.”
However, members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community have taken exception to the Palestinian menu, fearing that Palestinian takeout dishes may turn the hearts and minds of patrons against Israel. Gregg Roman, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, likes what the Conflict Kitchen is trying to do, but says that featuring a Palestinian menu is in bad taste.
“Conflict Kitchen’s focus on countries in conflict is honorable, but Palestine is not in conflict with the US. The restaurant is stirring up conflict for the sake of trying to be relevant.”
However, Conflict Kitchen founder Jon Rubin doesn’t see it that way. Via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , Mr. Rubin says that the some $30 billion the U.S. has pledged in military aid to Israel is proof that the U.S. is, in fact, in conflict with Palestine.
“You can’t always separate food and culture and politics, but food is a way of looking at our common humanity.”
In the past, Conflict Kitchen has offered menus from Iran (which included ground beef kebabs, lamb and chicken dishes, and several desserts featuring rosewater), North Korea (largely noodle-based stews), and Venezuela (which included lots of beans and plantains). The current Palestinian menu features hummus, baba ghanoush, tomato and cucumber salad, and Arabic bread.
Jezebel food writer C. A. Pinkham opines that the Jewish community’s response to the Palestinian menu has changed his beliefs about Conflict Kitchen.
“The Pittsburgh Jewish community’s outcry about this has made me strongly re-think my position there, though — we’re going tomorrow for lunch.”
Conflict Kitchen is hardly the first restaurant to find itself caught up in the midst of a political or social controversy; earlier this year, according to this Inquisitr report, a restaurant took down a sign promoting bacon after a Muslim complained.
Do you believe that a restaurant serving a Palestinian menu is making an anti-Israel political statement? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
[Image courtesy of: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ]
