Seeds And Their People - Ep. 9: Anan Jardali Zahr’s Palestinian Kitchen

Episode Date: May 26, 2022

In this episode, Palestinian chef Anan Jardali Zahr describes her beloved foodways and ingredients, including Molokhia, Kusa, and Zaatar. Anan was born in Akka, Palestine and came to California at age 11, after the Six-Day War of 1967. She graduated from University of California at Berkeley’s Department of Near Eastern Studies and attended Graduate School at West Chester University in the Department of Education. She and her family have lived in the Philadelphia area since 1980 where she previously taught in the school system. From 1995-2001, Anan had a Mediterranean restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware and she continues to share her love for Palestinian food through cooking demonstrations (which is how we first met, at the Culinary Literacy Center of the Free Library of Philadelphia) and through Instagram: @ananzahr   SEED STORIES TOLD IN THIS EPISODE: Palestinian Molokhia Palestinian Kusa Squash Lebanese Za'atar   MORE INFO FROM THIS EPISODE: Interviewee: Anan Zahr Anan on Instagram: @ananzahr Seeds and Their People: EP 5: RAU ĐAY, LALO, SALUYOT, EWEDU, MOLOKHIA, Mar 16, 2020 Ingredients Across Borders: Sumac at the Culinary Literacy Center of the Free Library of Philadelphia   ABOUT: Seeds And Their People is a radio show where we feature seed stories told by the people who truly love them. Hosted by Owen Taylor of Truelove Seeds and Chris Bolden-Newsome of Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio   SUPPORT OUR PATREON! Become a monthly Patreon supporter! This will better allow us to take the time to record, edit, and share seed stories like these.   FIND OWEN HERE: Truelove Seeds Facebook  |  Tumblr  |  Instagram  |  Twitter   FIND CHRIS HERE: Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden   THANKS TO: Anan Jardali Zahr Maebh Aguilar Sara Taylor

For me, in my work right now, and I am retired, but I like to work a lot around food, so I'm always like to say, this is a Palestinian dish, and this is a Palestinian dish, and this is a Palestinian dish, and this is a Palestinian dish, because we don't want, we feel that basically the occupation, the Israeli occupation of our land is, Palestine is trying to make us disappear. So we try many different ways in saying, hey, we've always been there and we are alive. Welcome back your face. Oh, my goodness. Welcome back to Seeds and their people.

I'm Chris Bolden Newsom, farmer and co-director of Sankofa Farm at Bartram's Garden in sunny southwest Philadelphia. And I'm Owen Taylor, seedkeeper and farmer at True Love Seeds. We're a seed company offering culturally important seeds grown by farmers committed to cultural preservation, food sovereignty, and sustainable agriculture. This podcast is supported by True Love Seeds and now also you. We just started a Patreon a few weeks ago so that you can help support our seedkeeping

and storytelling work. And we already have 11 patrons. Thank you all so much. We encourage more of you to sign up to help us make this podcast. So you can become a monthly donor or patron for as little as $1 a month. I wanted to read a message from one person who signed up named Allie. I just wanted to thank you guys for the podcast episode on Karen Farmers in Philly. I really enjoyed it.

It's so interesting to learn about the diverse seedkeepers in this city. I work as an ER doc in South Philly and it's always great to learn more about the community I serve. Your podcast is my favorite thing to listen to on my way home from a stressful shift. Thanks again. Your work is wonderful. And congratulations on the baby. Thank you so much. So we're going to launch into a new episode here, obviously, and it's about a non-zar, a Palestinian chef friend of mine here in the Philly area. If you have the seedkeeping calendar on your wall, You have a few more days of looking at Anon and her husband, George's face, and they're holding a bunch of Malachia in their arms. Anon is the one who gave us our Palestinian Malachia seeds and our Palestinian Kusa seeds.

And she's just a great friend. And you can get those seeds in our catalog. This story was definitely, well, all about everything that we, I think, get the blessing and the opportunity to talk about. about on this show is always very exciting and always has, you know, some particular rewards and surprising twist to it. But I am very excited to learn more about Molokia, this wonderful green that Anon really goes into detail about, you know, in terms of how it is the basis of really an entire food culture and a connecting food and crop to so many people. She focuses on people in the Levanton and the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

But, I mean, I think that, you know, just in doing even more research, you can see that this is a green that's eaten by people all over. And she definitely alludes to that to some of the cross-cultural. connections that she was able to make even outside of her cultural and language group for other people who eat this. So I was very excited about it. And again, it gives me a deeper reference for this green that we also grow as part of our African diaspora collection at Sankofa Community Farm. Yeah, and you know, we did a whole episode about Malchia. So you get to hear from a lot of our friends from Nigeria and Vietnam and the Philippines and

Haiti and so on in that episode. And this is kind of a re-release of her interview that was part of that episode. But I wanted to make it its own thing and honor more of her story. We put in more pieces of her interview to this episode that you're listening to now. And also, I was able to go a couple days ago to interview her a little more in preparation for this episode. So if you heard our Molokia episode, a lot of this will be familiar, and some of this will be brand new. Yeah, and I think that, you know, talking about how food is a connector, but it's also, you know, sort of a touchpoint or a springboard to so many of our other life and sovereignty issues. And I will get into, you know, what Molokia means for Palestinians.

And it will become a sort of a backdrop to talk about her experience as a Palestinian woman growing up, you know, a part of her life in Palestine under occupation. And what all that is meant. So she's going to get into, you know, some of the life issues as well as talking about the crops that are connected to this wonderful food. So I would advise everyone to go out and learn more about. and it I and I actually I was surprised in there you know she talks about the difficulty of growing it here and I guess I don't have the experience of of growing it anywhere else outside of the East Coast but I thought it was pretty easy to grow maybe because I have a lot more space but it's it's definitely a crop that I would encourage everybody to plant a little bit of

and learn to love just to note that the noises you're hearing outside are You know, our street is being redone right now, and there's lots of big trucks, and we're going to get a nice, fresh paved new street, but it's loud. And this is our only time to record this. Thank you, city of Philly. Thank you. Another quick note is that we talk about Malachia so much in this episode, and I don't think we mentioned that it's what we call jute or Egyptian spinach. In other languages, it's called saluyot, a wedu. Lalo. It's got a lot of names. Apoth. And so that's what we're talking about in this

episode, jute or Egyptian spinach, when we mentioned malachia, malagia. And the cusa is the same species as our summer squash like zucchini. Okay, we're going to go in now to the interviews. And this first one, again, was from February 2020 at Anon's house in Glen Mills. And we will also hear a quick clip somewhere in there of Anon's visit to our farm last fall, 2021, to bring some cuttings of Zatar oregano and some tasty treats. And then it'll finish with an interview from earlier this week, May 2022 at Anon's house again. All right, enjoy the episode. Thank you. Thank you so much for speaking with me and our listeners. Can you say, your name and explain where we are and who you are?

Yes. My name is Anan, Jardali, Zahar. And I live in Glen Mills, PA, which is about 22 miles southwest of Philadelphia. And we've been in this area since 1980 because of jobs. My husband used to work in a local company here. And I have four children. I am Palestinian. I came to this country at the age of 11.

but to California. So the first 12 years in this country, I did live in California. Then I lived in the Middle East for three years, and I've been here since 1980. And I had, I actually was a teacher, and not a certified teacher, but I taught privately in the Philadelphia, in the PA Department of Education in the summer program. And, but I also had a restaurant from 95 to 2001 in Wilmington, Delaware. And it was mainly Middle Eastern food, Mediterranean food, which I mean, I love to cook. I'm a great cook, and I have four children,

so I really had to cook. Ah, great. Can you describe a little more about, or can we start with your earliest memories of Malachia? And can you tell us how you pronounce it? Okay, I pronounce it Melchia. pronounce it milchia. Okay. And this is due to my regional accent of northern Palestine. Some people in the south, in Gaza and in Egypt, they pronounce it Melchia. And it's a, it's a very, very delicious

dish that we prepare. And I make it, I personally still make it once a week in my house. And it's prepared differently. Now, I make it different than maybe a village that's only 10 kilometers from where I am in Palestine. So it even has regional differences in preparation of the actual dish. So how, well, before we get to the preparation, because I'm very excited to hear how you make it, what are your earliest kind of sensory memories of interacting with this plant and this dish? Oh, my earliest one is, and we all dreaded it. You know, my mother would buy huge bushels in lachie, and then we would sit on the floor, and we would have to sit for hours, taking the leaf of the stem, okay, and then she would wash it, and then we would put it on. In those days, she dried it. And, of course, when we first would prepare it or take the leaves off the stem, she would cook it fresh. And then for the rest of the season, she would dry it and store it in Muslim bags.

And we loved it. And my mother, I believe, only made it with chicken. And that's how I make it now. And it's made several ways. But it is a dish that most Palestinians and most Arabs love. Okay. And it has this consistency of, and that's why some people don't like it, especially non-Arabs, because it has a slimy consistency, like Okra in a way.

But we do things to get rid of that. and not completely. I mean, it will always be there, but it is extremely nutritious and delicious. It could be eaten like a soup, or the way my mother made it, which I do not make that way, she makes it very thick, okay, with chicken,

and she takes pita bread and scoops it. So she doesn't even eat it with a spoon or a fork. So she would take the pita bread, and because it's so thick, she scoops the melchia and the chicken, and that's how she eats it in her mouth. Awesome. And have you always eaten it even when you moved to California, even when you moved here? And where did you get it? Oh, now, for example, when we moved to California, my mother, our family really missed it because we couldn't find it anywhere.

So my mom always had a garden, so she grew it. Okay, in California, she grew it. And then later on, I would say in the last, because of the Arab American community has grown in this country. So we find it now in Middle Eastern stores, and most of the time it's frozen. So I buy it frozen, and it is from Egypt. Yeah. Okay, wow. And so, but you also continue to grow it yourself for a while? Yes, I grew it for actually at least 10 years here in my backyard garden, and maybe I'll grow it this year again, but it needs a lot of care.

You know, you have to make sure you get all the weeds. You really have to weed. and it was attacked a few times by some insects. I don't know what kind, and I don't spray, so I would lose that a lot. And then the minute it gets, Melchie really loves hot weather. If it goes down to like 68, 69, you know, it turns yellow and that's it. So I don't think it's that easy to grow. Also, on the East Coast here, it rains a lot.

So I'm not sure if Melchia likes that much water. I mean, it does. You have to water it. In the Middle East, we water it. But here the precipitation, the rainfall is so high that the leaf actually looks so much different than if you grow it in California. Here the leaf gets very big and it's very, very green. Where if you buy it in the Middle East or in California, the leaf is rougher and it's not as shiny. And there's a different taste.

So how did the look of my plants in my field and the taste of those plants compare? I'll tell you the look is the leaves are bigger and of course you grow it very high you know it grows very high they are more silky they're softer you know it tasted delicious so I'm not going to say what's grown in California in the Middle East tastes better it tastes different yeah it has a different taste and also like I said it depends on how you prepare it you know I for example like it very finely minced. Some people cook it with the whole leaf. They don't do anything to it. So you get a totally different taste there. And then what garnishes you put, what we put lemon and maybe some people throw in tomatoes to also get rid of that slimy taste that it has. But the milchia is

delicious and the fresh milchia is definitely more delicious than dried and then the frozen. Awesome. I wonder if you could, just because it's an interesting kind of backstory, describe what your family was doing when you first got to California around agriculture and food, and what was the kind of atmosphere at that time in the Central Valley of California? Now, when I first came to California, I lived in Davis, California, which is in northern California, very close to the city of Sacramento. We came there because my father is an agribusiness, actually, and he studied at UC Davis. And then after two and a half years, we moved to central California and specifically the San Joaquin Valley. And where I had, I lived in a town, I would say 40% of the population were farm workers.

because at that, in that area, I believe it was, they grew a lot of almonds and peaches and grapes. And then also a lot of people thought I was Mexican because I look very Mexican. And they would speak to me in Spanish. And then I would first say, I don't speak Spanish, and then I stopped saying that, you know. And I remember that in the summer, my father insisted on it because he wanted to teach us what, you know, hard work is. And even in Davis, there would be programs for students to work out on the farms. So I remember that mainly tomatoes, we would pick tomatoes, okay, and it was a lot of hard work. We were young.

We were only like 15, 16, 17, and it's very seasonal work. And we would, they give you buckets, you pick, and of course, the faster you pick, the more money you make. And in those days, they give you a card. time you had a full bucket they punch your card and at the end of the day that's how you got paid and I now that I think about it I really loved it and and that's probably why since you know I've had I've always had a garden I always grow tomatoes in my garden were you a fast picker I don't know I don't think I made that much money so maybe not but I'll I'll tell you, some of the adults, you know, the farm workers who depended on that, I mean,

that was their main source of income. They picked very, very fast, very fast. I mean, they would turn that tomato bushel over, put the bucket between their legs, and you would see the tomatoes fly into the bucket, you know. Wow. And that was the time of Sitsa Chavez and a bunch of union organizing. Were you aware of that at the time? Yes, I was.

I was because I even saw a few protests, you know, when I lived in California. And I was aware of the United Farm Workers Union and also so interesting. Now, I had been in the U.S. only a few years, but there were, in those days, Yemeni farmworkers. You know, just like they are Yemeni workers in the car industry in Detroit, there were Yemeni farm workers in California. And I know that we got so excited because they spoke Arabic and we got to meet them. Yeah. Awesome. Do you remember any other farmers from other parts of the world there as well, farm workers? They were mainly Mexican and very few Yemeni, but Yemeni in the San Joaquin Valley in Lodi, California.

Farm workers from other countries, I mean, if there were, I didn't know. So it's possible, you know, I thought they were all Mexicans, but I'm not sure. I was just listening to an episode about the Filipino diaspora yesterday where they talked about actually how a lot of Filipino farm workers were involved in the union. There were the boycotts as well. That's very possible, but I didn't know. But that's interesting that you mentioned Filipino because when we first came to this country,

my mom would find Molokai in Filipino stores. And yeah, I don't know how they cook it, but they like Melchia. but I have no idea how they prepare it. I was just at a seed swap at the library, and there was a Filipino man there who I think calls it Saluio, if I'm remembering correctly, and he was describing how important it is to their culture as well. Okay, okay.

Switching gears a little bit, I would love to hear more about your culinary kind of journey and, you know, having had a Middle Eastern restaurant or Mediterranean restaurant, What are the most essential ingredients and dishes kind of to your taste of home, so to speak? In Arabic, Middle Eastern, Palestinian, Mediterranean cooking, we use a lot of extra version olive oil, okay, rice, But a hundred years ago, we really did not use rice. We used wheat, something like freaky.

We have a lot of stews. And we cook, we have a lot of vegetarian dishes, but we do cook with lamb and chicken. It is, we use a lot of garlic, onions, and parsley. Like, for example, I don't think I make any dish without onions. You know, when I saute any kind of meat or even vegetables, I start. with onions with extra version olive oil and onions. We use a lot of beans, for example, chickpeas, which we make the hummus out of. We use a lot of white beans and stews and a lot of fresh vegetables, lots of eggplant, and the kusa, which is the gray squash. And we core a lot of these

vegetables and we stuff them with meat and rice and cook them in a tomato broth. Yeah, the kusa is basically a zucchini that's very light green colored or gray. And it's interesting because it's also used a lot in Mexican cooking. Yes, it's used a lot in Mexican cooking. But the way we use it is much different than the way it's used in Mexican cooking. We use it, and we like the small ones. And what we do is we core it, we take the inside out, and we save that. We cook that separately. And then we stuff it with the spiced meat and medium grain rice. At least that's how I make it. And we make it in a tomato broth. Awesome. And so, you know, with your restaurant and with your work that I've witnessed at the free library with the culinary literacy center,

and I'm sure in many other instances, you are really kind of carrying the torch for your traditional cuisine. And why is that so important to you and to the world right now? Well, You know what? It is so important to me, and I like to concentrate on a few dishes that are distinctly Palestinian. And because of basically what's happening to Palestinians, otherwise I would not concentrate so much on just Palestinian food. Because Palestinian food is also very similar to Syrian, Lebanese, and Jordanian. Of course, each region has their own distinct dishes. And so I've done actually, after I close my restaurants, I have done some fundraisers. Like, you know, I invite people for dinner, and it's for a specific charity organization.

But they get to taste really delicious Palestinian dishes. What I've seen with specifically Malachia, but with so many of the seeds that we carry in the catalog, but none more so than malagia or malagia is that kind of spark of recognition and this like quenching of a thirst for this taste of a home that has been longed for for ever since having to leave in a lot of cases by force or with a restrained like not it's not an ideal situation most people don't leave their home because they want to And so being able to reconnect with this food has been so satisfying from what I've witnessed with Malachia. And I'm hoping, you know, as we introduce more Middle Eastern varieties like the Kusa and Zatar and so on,

just to be able to reconnect people with these tastes of home when they've been disconnected from their homeland. Have you witnessed that as well through your work? Yes, of course. I mean, especially about, like I said, Mlchia Kusa, now we can find more in the last ten years in the stores. But Mlachia until now is to buy green Mlchia is very difficult. I mean, I would have to drive, and it's only available two months to like Northern Jersey where there's a large Palestinian community. And there are a few grocery stores that do sell it. It is, I mean, when you, when most Palestinians, I know, love Melchie. So it does, you know, it's almost, eating Melchia is almost emotional, you know. And of course, Egyptians, you know, it's kind of considered like, or Egyptians claim that it's their food or one of their primary dishes. I'm not sure if I agree with that, because I've always known Blu Kyi.

And, and I, as I said, it is. prepared in many different ways probably in Egypt's people prepare it a little bit differently than the way I do but but look he is like it is it is I mean you know if I call people and tell them which I did a couple of years ago when Owen was growing the green lookie they just said are you sure they got so excited and and and and you could tell that they were really happy to have to be able to get green lookie is very rare yes your friends who came out then came out again the following year and they said if you plant a whole field of this

we will come and we will tell everybody we will buy it this is so important to us and they bring it home and they have their kids pluck the leaves like you did and like they did when they were kids back home yeah it's beautiful awesome could you speak tell us quickly how you um just like an overview of how you prepare it. Oh, okay. First, I like, I make Melchiyi when it's very finely minced. So I start with that, and I only like to use chicken. So I use, I take, let's say, two quarts of water. Well, it doesn't really matter how much, depending on how much chicken you have. I put just salt and pepper, okay, and I will throw in there like maybe four or six flows of garlic. When it boils, I throw the chicken in there, and I cook that for maybe about half an hour

when it's almost all cooked, almost falling off the bone, and I use chicken with the bone because you want to get really nice broth. Then I will throw in the very fine milchia, minced Melchie and I let that boil for maybe five minutes and there's another trick about Melchigi is at least this is what my mother taught me is that you do not cover the pot okay we just we you, after you put the melchia in the broth you don't cover the pot we let that it should take that will take about 10 minutes and then on the side I crushed some garlic okay I saute that in with a little bit of salt and pepper. I don't use coriander. A lot of people use coriander. I crush the garlic, I saute that,

and then I put it on the top of the Melchie that's still cooking and let that cook for maybe three, four minutes. And that's really what gives Melchiy its final touch. And then I serve it, so I make it not very soupy and not thick. So that I, it's like a stew and I serve it with rice. And now some people make it very, very thick, and they actually use the pita bread to scoop it. But the way I make it, I make it, I know in Egypt, or I've had it at an Egyptian friend, they make it more soupy than I do. I don't make it very soupy. And that's it. But then I also, after, you have to have lemon. We squeeze lemon on it when we're eating it. And I also make another thing, just crush some more garlic, keep it raw, and mix it with lemon juice and hot pepper, halapeno or whatever green pepper you like.

And that, we always put that right after we serve it in our individual plates. Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And actually, a quick side note, because I may do this to this episode or maybe a future episode, I'd love to hear, since we met at a workshop at the, the Free Library of Philadelphia about Sumac and Zatar. Any thoughts you have that you could share about Zatar? I know you've grown it, that you use it. I just started offering a Lebanese Zatar, which is really like a fine leaf, very pungent time.

So what any thoughts you have about that? Well, Sumac, of course, is a very nice spice. I'm not sure if I would call it spice, it's actually the meat of a berry, and it's very, very red, and we use it in a very traditional, quote-unquote Palestinian dish, which is called musachan. And that's usually prepared at the olive harvest season. And, you know, also the Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians will use sumac in different ways. Okay. Now, the oregano, which is what we make our Zatar mix out of, okay, and I just actually happened to make some the other day. And there are different varieties of oregano. Now, this year, I am growing some, a friend of mine, Palestinian friend of mine gave me some that is more pungent, stronger, and I'm growing it, but I have to dry it to make the actual Zatirme.

Zadr, I don't know if you know, but just about, I mean, I have it on my counter. I eat it, if not every day, every other day. And basically, it's a mix of ground oregano. Some people will put Marahram in there. We use sumac in there, and then toasted, of course, salt and pepper, and toasted sesame seed. And it is, I can't even describe the taste. It's so heavenly. And we take the bread, dip it in olive,

and then dip it in the Zadar mixture. And it's really not any old oregano or time will do the trick, right? Yeah, yeah, you have to have the right oregano and time. The oregano, most of the oregano that's grown in this country or the Italian variety, you can use it, but it's not as good. It's, it's, like I said, the Palestinian Zhaatar, or the oregano that we use is more pungent. It's more potent. It has a sharper taste.

Okay, I'm going to take us really quick to a little clip from last fall to 2021 when Anon brought some clippings of Zatar or oregano to our farm and also had me try some mena-ish with some Zatar on it. So you can hear kind of my impression of that delicious pastry. You can, for example, make a pastry out of it, which is called Mana'ish, which I just made this morning, and you make some very nice dough, and mix the zata with olive oil, spread it like a little tiny pizza, and eat it. I can't wait. Thank you so much for bringing that and for bringing the cuttings last week. Oh, I'll take a bite on Mike. hmm pretty good right that's delicious yeah yeah yeah oh the sesame no i can taste that oh that is awesome and it's flaky yeah and there's the tartness of the sumac yes absolutely and the pungent pungent herb of the zatar of the you know we say

He's not an outbreak, but it's a kind of a regular. Yeah. I love that. And I love olive oil as it. I use the best. For something like this, you want to use really good oil. I only use extravision and all I use. Now back to 2020.

It would be cool to like talk about the social, kind of political aspects of this being that it's a food, a diasporic food that, you know, why is there a diaspora? You know, why is it that so many people have had to leave? you know this it was nice about talking about these specific foods is it's like the the hope you know it's the ways that people have stayed connected to their homelands but it's often harder to talk about why did people have to leave you know and so i don't know if there's any kind of closing thoughts you have on that um i like to be able to offer the literal seeds of these very important foods to people who have been disconnected from from where they come from and a lot of times it's hard to talk about why is that disconnect there?

So how do you kind of deal with that? You also work in the hope side, you know, the food side, the side where people are staying connected to their culture despite being halfway across the world from where they're from. How do you think about that? Since I am Palestinian, I will talk about most Palestinians who came to this country came after the 1967-4, when Israel occupied. the rest of Palestine. And by the way, Israel has been in existence only 71 years, and that's really not such a long time. Basically, in 1948, about 700,000 Palestinians were displaced. They were

expelled. They were terrorized. They fled just because they had children to take care of their family. They were kicked out. And what's the most important thing about all of this is when there is a war, people will go to a safe place to guard their children, but then they're able to come back. But the Palestinians have not been able to come back. On the contrary, if some tried to return from the borders, they would be either imprisoned or shot or just thrown back into whatever country that they are refugees in. So, for... For me, you know, I don't know, I'm sure you have been listening a lot to the news lately. Actually, the issue of Palestine is coming up now in the American run for president.

You know, I mean, it was never mentioned before, okay? Because it's when you think about it, it's really also a human rights issue. You know, a lot of people don't know that basically when the state of Israel was established, let's take Jaffa. Jaffa was a very beautiful Palestinian cities. It had hospitals, it had theaters, it had culture. I mean, basically, the people were kicked out and another set of people were just put in their place. and, you know, why should the indigenous people of that land, okay, who have lived there for centuries, become refugees, because another group of people that was basically brought the majority of them from Europe to take their homes. so for me in my work right now and I am retired but I like to work a lot around food so I'm always

like to say this is a Palestinian dish and this is a Palestinian dish and this is a Palestinian dish and this is a Palestinian dish because we don't want we feel that basically the occupation, the Israeli occupation of our land is Palestine, is trying to make us disappear. So we try many different ways in saying, hey, we've always been there and we are alive. Beautiful. Thank you. No, absolutely beautiful. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. And thank you for your work, because just this simple act of cooking these dishes, you just put the perfect context for it. It's so much deeper than how delicious it is. It's about so much more. Thank you for that.

I also follow me on Instagram. Ananzar at Instagram. That's it. Can you spell it for people? A-N-A-N-Z-A-R. And you will see a lot of the dishes that I prepare, some recipes. And the whole idea of me having an Instagram account is to inspire you to cook the dishes that I post. And it is very inspiring and beautiful.

So thank you so much again. You're welcome. You're welcome, Owen. Thank you for everything that you do. Now let's jump. ahead to just this week, May 22 at Annan's house. Okay, we're back at Anon's house. It's been over two years since we were in the same room, and I didn't know at that time that we would be farming temporarily, but for a couple years in the same town as you. So I just zoomed on over

after the farm to talk to Anon again since it's been a while to see how it's been going for the last couple years? It's been going well, and also it's been kind of maybe stressful the last couple of months since I am a Palestinian and what's been going on in the West Bank and in Jerusalem. So it has been challenging. Yeah, can you talk to people about that? Because that'll also give some context and background to, you know, the importance of your work with Palestinian food.

What's going on in Palestine right now that people should know about? Well, I mean, the bottom line is it's occupation. It's military occupation of pretty much half the Palestinian people. About half of them live in the West Bank. And also Gaza is blockaded, so that's really difficult. And also what has happened in the last week that's been really distressed. the assassination of the journalist Shireen Abakli, which is very, very sad. It's not new. Fifty journalists have been killed in the last 20 years, and almost every other day,

a young man is killed in the West Bank. So it's been, you know, sort of like very stressful and upsetting for the Palestinians and for the Arab people. And actually, just last week was the something that we called the Nakhba, which is the catastrophe, which happened 74 years ago, when Israel got established and about 750 Palestinians were expelled from the homeland, over 400 villages were systematically destroyed. And actually in the U.S., in just about every major city, last Sunday, there was a huge protest. One in Philadelphia, I know New York, San Francisco, L.A., Houston, and many, many cities in between. Were you able to attend?

Yes, we did, yeah. Can you describe it a little bit? Yeah. We attended last Sunday in Philadelphia. We all met at Rittenhouse Square and then walked for maybe a mile. And what I found very interesting and made me very happy is that usually at these demonstrations, mainly the attendance were Palestinians, but this time they were not, which tells me that more people are finding out.

about what actually happened when the state of Israel was established. I think it's the biggest highest of the century, that you basically create a state by kicking the people who used to live there and bringing others that are not indigenous to live in their place. For many Palestinians in the diaspora, the hope is to one day return to a free Palestine. Can you talk about what that could look? like or how that could happen? You know, a lot of Palestinians hope that that would happen. And I believe

that it can only happen also not by having their own state. It's too late for that, way too late for that. You know, the only way that this conflict will be resolved is that we have one state where Palestinians and Jews live together, of course, under laws that perspective. everyone. I believe in a one-state solution. You know, I don't believe in two states. Not anymore. I probably did maybe 25 years ago, but

it's been looking less and less that that's going to happen. And I think the only resolution is to have a one-state solution. How can we get there? We're going to get there by, I believe, by Israel also getting

weaker. You know, And I believe they are. From the 73 war to the fact that they withdrew from southern Lebanon, they occupied Lebanon for 18 years. And that they also withdrew from Gaza, even though Gaza is suffering and they are terribly, you know, they are blockaded by Israel. Israel determines what can go in and out of Gaza and who can leave, and very few people can leave.

But I do believe it will happen because, I am optimistic. I think the Israelis are getting weaker. And we're looking at 74 years of history. And I believe they are colonizers. You know? And, you know, whoever wants to stay there, they will have to live with their neighbors

and treat everybody equally. That's the only way it's going to happen. I wanted to ask you a little bit about, because we talked at the last time we spoke, we were talking about your, the way that you're focusing on Palestinian food as a way to say, we're still here, and this is our culture. And I wanted to ask, how has that taken root in your family with your children, and how are you passing these things down? Well, first, I love to cook.

And probably, I would say, I mean, I eat out also quite frequently, but when I, I eat out also quite frequently, but when I, cook, it's almost always Palestinian food. So my children really love it. And as most of them now live alone, they call me up all the time. They say, well, how do you make this and how do you make that? So they are really cooking in their kitchens, Palestinian food. And that's because I, that's all I prepared at home for them.

How's it taste? How's what? Have you tasted your children's food? Yeah, actually, yeah. Because we just came back from California, visiting a daughter, and she likes stews, and a lot of our dishes are made of stews, you know, either vegetarian or meat, but we make stews, and we serve them with rice. And so she did some cooking, and she was pretty good. And then I have a daughter in New York that loves Melchie, for example, and gives it to her daughter, and she likes it, too. You know, my sons are good cooks. They're really, really good.

I have two sons. And that's what they, you know, they prepare a lot of that, especially for breakfast. We make a lot of hummus and food. And a lot of, we have a tomato stew that's really delicious that we eat. We actually scoop it up with bread, you know. So from what I see, they are cooking, you know, Palestinians slash Arabic food in their homes.

So it lives on for the next generations. Yeah, because I prepared it for them. That's beautiful. I'm really trying not to ask you about your fool and tomato stew recipes because I want to close out this episode, but I'll ask you some other time. I love both of those things. So it lives on in your family here in the diaspora, but it also lives on in Palestine. And so can you tell us what people are eating and harvesting right now back home?

Back home? Right now, it's the beginning or, yeah, almost the end of spring. So believe it or not, because I watch, and I read Arabic news, there's a lot of lochia in the market, you know, they grow it in the valley, in the hot area. People are making a lot of stuffed zucchini, kusa, and eggplants. I mean, that's a big deal there. Or stuffing, we have now a lot of fresh, I even have some tender grape leaves, So they're stuffing and rolling grape leaves.

And, of course, 50% of the food is stews. So there's a lot of peas now, green beans, some. But a lot of stews. And, I mean, L'Hia right now, people are getting it in the Arab world from the hot areas. How many years has it been since you left? I know you've visited many times, but since you left. Yeah.

Well, yeah, I came to this country when I was 11, so I came in 65. So, oh, God, how many years is that? Well, people can do the math, but that's a long time. And it's beautiful to me that you have been gone so long, but you still know what people are buying in the marketplace and how they're preparing it and what they're doing. I mean, that's probably because I always, you know, every two or three years we go back there for,

a visit. And then my son lived there for 10 years. So he just came back. So I might not go back as often. But I do go back to northern Palestine where I come from. And I was born in the city called Aka on the Mediterranean. And of course, every time we go, we have to go to Jerusalem, which is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Even though the weather is much different than my hometown. My hometown is more like Beirut weather, which is very huge. humid and muggy. And Jerusalem is just very nice, dry. I mean, it could get hot, but because it's dry, heat is very comfortable. Yeah. Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to share your life and your recipes and your love for Palestine and Palestinian food with our

listeners. I feel very honored and grateful for the time you've spent with us. Okay. Thank you very much. Check me out at Anansar on Instagram. Beautiful. What will people find there? They're going to find basically dishes that I, you know, I cook at home. Okay. And I will have them there with, you know, description of the dish. Not always recipes, but many of them I do have recipes. And if anybody wants a recipe, they can just message me and I will send them one. Great. I'll be messaging you right after this interview about. your fool and tomato stew.

Okay, okay. Thank you. My pleasure. Thanks so much to Anan Zahar for welcoming me into her home and into her story. And thank you for listening and sharing this episode of Seeds and Their People with your loved ones. Please also subscribe and leave a positive review. Thank you also for supporting our seedkeeping and storytelling work by ordering seeds, calendars, and more from our website. true loveseeds.com we actually just sold out of our calendars but we got lots of seeds uh and again

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