Please Pass the Peace

A good meal is one of the most pleasurable activities of man. It nourishes, satisfies, and puts man in a peaceful mood; where a smile and a gentler disposition is the result of a dish exquisitely prepared and elegantly served. This is an insight all chefs have known and all mothers throughout the history of mankind have been practicing. The lack of food due to natural calamities or war is always a tragedy; and seldom, if ever, was food used as an instrument of peace. Not anymore. People from either side of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are working together, using their best culinary traditions and their deadliest utensils- knives- not to stab nor kill each other, but to create fine meals for a food festival for peace.

These are chefs who belong to the Chefs for Peace association whose members are indifferent to politics, religion or color. They are aware that the distrust and absence of mutual respect between people of these different warring faiths is the fundamental obstacle towards moving forward in the peace process. They realize that culinary practices of Greeks, Turkish, Jewish and Palestinians have more similarities and borrow from each other; and it is in the interest in food and culinary opportunities that will bring people to experience coexistence, mutual respect, and living in peace after being long separated by partisan circumstances. The approach is Peace Meal but effective.

The Chefs for Peace was established in 2001 by an Armenian Christian Kevork Alemian, and the group now boasts of 45 chefs composed of Arabs, Muslims, Israelis, and Christians. The group chose Jerusalem as its base since it is the center of the three monotheistic faiths. They know that no authentic development can take place and no future for their children will evolve unless there is peace in the region. Their focus is on human relations using the common denominator of food and cooking traditions as a venue to communicate, understand and accept. They cook for peace, it is a concept of sharing meals rooted in biblical traditions of breaking bread together. It is share the stew, not shock and awe; it is live in peace not blown to pieces; it is merge and serve, not attack and surge.

This association of culinary professionals hold food festivals for peace several times in a month and are open to invitations from people anywhere in the world. They have yet to experience a failed cook for peace event. Politicians and peace negotiators can learn several things from these chefs, since what they've been cooking up for the last several decades have not been palatable to the Middle Eastern states and communities. The difference lies in both the ingredients and intentions. Using weapons of destruction will not build confidence but fear, and an intent to take versus an intent to share will surely be met with a hostile response. These will lead to a raw deal, not to a good meal.

Why this formula of the chefs hasn't dawned on the Heads of State of powerful nations and warring states is beyond comprehension. Perhaps the future of mankind will be saved if all heads of state were themselves cooks or chefs. Then maybe we can have better slogans like "Make soups, not nukes".As it is, the problem with these heads is that they only know how to cook up schemes that will further the interest of their friends and cronies; stir up wars in other countries through manipulation and intrigue and take advantage of the chaos for their own ends; and serve lies and lip service to cover their tracks. Somebody please pass them the peace!

Haaarrrrwwwwk...Twoooooph...Ting!