Posted on 10/09/2014 11:42:35 AM PDT by SJackson
Pittsburgh eatery showcasing foods from countries with which the US is in conflict angered the local Jewish community this week after featuring Palestinian cuisine and Palestinian-centric discussion events as its theme for October.
The restaurant, Conflict Kitchen, features food from a different country or culture every month. In the past, it has featured the cuisines of Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela.
This month, starting October 6, it has showcased its first Arab-themed menu, featuring a range of Palestinian specialties — many of which have long since become Israeli staple foods — such as falafel, hummous, shawarma, baklava, and fresh mint lemonade.
Before featuring the Palestinian theme, the restaurant’s staff went on a trip to the region to research and sample the local cuisine before holding a taste-testing event with the local Pittsburgh Palestinian community.
Among the images of scrumptious dishes and cozy West Bank family kitchens posted on the restaurant’s blog, images of the security barrier and Israeli checkpoints were featured as well.
But it was not the menu of the restaurant, which operates as a takeout joint, that angered Pittsburgh’s Jewish community and cost Conflict Kitchen a University Honors College sponsorship.
The restaurant has not only served Palestinian food this month, but has also held a controversial panel discussion event centering on the Palestinian narrative and cause, co-sponsored by the college.
Freshly fried falafel (photo credit: Rachael Cerrotti/Flash 90) Freshly fried falafel (photo credit: Rachael Cerrotti/Flash 90)
Featuring both Palestinian and Israeli left-wing speakers, as well as US academics, the event drew 35 participants. The local Jewish community, however, voiced concern that the mainstream Israeli perspective was not represented on the panel.
“We’ve been getting pushback from members of the local Jewish community that aren’t in support of us presenting those types of viewpoints,” Jon Rubin, co-director of Conflict Kitchen, was quoted by Pittsburgh News as saying.
He said that while the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh had asked that the Israeli perspective be represented at Palestinian-centric events as well, that would go against Conflict Kitchen’s mission.
“The goal of our project is to represent the voices of the people that we are working with, [the Palestinians], so it does not make sense to have someone from Israel on every one of the panels,” Rubin was quoted as saying. “We may have an Israeli perspective at some point, and I understand their desire to have their narrative told, but they have plenty of other formats to do that.”
The newspaper quoted JFP community relations council director Gregg Roman as saying the one-sided focus on Palestine had created a “breakdown between two different camps” rather than starting an “open, humane, civil conversation about culture” both in the US and in conflict areas.
“The Jewish community as a whole has certain expectations of institutions that receive public funding, like Conflict Kitchen, to not carry out programs that may delve into the area of discrimination on national origin,” he reportedly said.
The University Honors College withdrew its sponsorship amid the controversy, but said it would continue to participate in Conflict Kitchen discussions and sponsor free lunches.
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be careful, with the new arab menu you may wind up with explosive diarrhea. and watch what they’re doing with the knives around head level.
Stupid to give them this publicity. The local Jews should have just ignored this leftist stupidity.
What difference does it make? (Heard that somewhere before.)
The vast majority of American Jews will continue to vote for their downfall by electing liberals.
I’ll start giving a s*** about what Jews feel when they start joining us in getting rid of liberals.
Oh, forgot to mention in my sarcastic post above, I fully and wholeheartedly support Israel.
However, it would appear that many American Jews do not.
Do they have an extra wide door for suicide bombers?
So, what, they should exempt certain cuisines due to ongoing conflicts in the regions in question? What a dumb thing to get offended over.
Yeah because ignoring Palestinian, Hitlarian, and other similar thoughts in the past has worked out so well.
I understand your point, but ignoring these haters doesn’t really help. They should be heralded in every thing they do.
Let the public come to terms with what the Palestinians are doing every days.
someone call the Zohan!!!
North Korea? Boiled grass with a side of tree bark?
This is quite a bizarre business model.
I disagree. Particularly when it’s supported by multiple charities and an institution like Carnegie Mellon, it’s worth raising the issue.
The idea of foods from around the world is a great idea. The “conflict”, not so much. Shut up and cook.
A large majority of Catholics voted for Obama in both elections. Jewish voters exceeded them, but it was not orders of magnitude in difference.
The idiot leftist owner is a Jew! He is making a project of aligning himself with every enemy America has. It is accurate to include "Palestine". He is an heir to the Rosenbergs, a traitor. You can't fix stupid, but you can give it a platform to attract more stupidity.
there are a lot of (IMHO) very tasty Middle-Eastern dishes but there cannot be any “palestinian cuisine’ since there is no “palestinian nation’ or people to have created anything (more or less an entire cuisine)
the only reason for a restaurant to feature ‘palestinian cuisine’ is to propagandize for the IslamoNazi ‘cause”
this is the kind of KRAP our WashDC admin has been importing into America
Okay, then the Jewish community needs to recognize this guy for who he is too.
If the vile among us don’t get addressed, they can operate in secret. I don’t think that helps.
I understand you not wanting this guy’s infected mind to get wised spread notice, but the folks who would buy in would find a way anyway. It’s the innocent that don’t realize there are people like this out there, that need to know. At least that’s my take.
I think you express a valid point of view. I am not sold on it. Others may agree with you, and you folks may be right.
That’s not my perception at present. Still doesn’t make you wrong.
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