UPPSALA UNIVERSITY Department of Theology Master Programme in Religion in Peace and Conflict Master thesis, 30 credits Spring, 2019 Supervisor: Gabriella Beer Gastronomy as a tool for peace and resistance in the Holy Land Ulrica Söderlind 1 Acknowledgement I would like to thank the department of Theology at Uppsala University for having the international master program “Religion in Peace and Conflict”. It has been enlightening years for me, even if the study pace is intense with a lot of writing on a weekly basis I am very grateful for the growing I have made as a human during the course of the program. I also would like to thank Nathan Söderbloms minnesfond for believing in my idea regarding making field studies in the Holy Land in search for gastronomy as a tool for peace and resistance, and funded the field research. I am indebted to my informants for allowing me to interview them and that they shared their view of gastronomy and culinary arts in the Holy Land with me. Abstract This thesis is a study within the international master program “Religion in Peace and Conflict” at the department of theology at Uppsala University. The study should be seen as a microstudy over the role gastronomy plays as a tool for peace and resistance in the Holy Land. Jerusalem represent Israel and Tabye and Bethlehem represent Palestine in the study. The method used is the so-called abductive method or reasoning, where I am the one who is observing and analysing data from an ethnographical standpoint. The study is interdisciplinary in the way that cookbooks, interviews, personal observations and photographs are used as primary sources. The theory “The gastronomic man” are the theoretical framework. The theory deals with the factors that are of importance for the choices humans make when it comes to food and beverage. The results of the study indicates that gastronomy is present at least on two levels in society in the Holy Land, on a high political level manifested via diplomatic gastronomy and on a more personal level where the informants works with gastronomy both as a tool for peace, and for the Palestinians also a way to overcome the effects of the occupation. The results also indicates that education within the culinary arts are of great importance in order to understand other groups’ cuisines than one’s own. The cuisines that falls back on heritage, culture and nations. It is suggested that gastronomy can take the part of religion itself for its practitioners since themselves constructs what is sacred. Key words: Gastronomy, The Holy Land, peace, conflict, religion, interfaith relations, resistance, food, beverage, education, sacred order 2 Table of content Chapter 1 Introduction 4 1.1 Purpose and question 4 1.2 Theoretical framework (the gastronomic man) 4 1.3 Method 9 1.4 Source criticism 10 1.5 Dietary regulations in short 10 1.6 Previous research 12 Chapter 2 The Survey 2.1 Diplomatic gastronomy/Culinary diplomacy 12 2.2 Cookbooks 19 Breakfast, Snacks, Bread 19 Sauces/side dishes, Soups/stews, Fruits/vegetables 20 Meat 21 Fish/shellfish/snails, Egg dishes, dairy, Desserts/sweets 22 Beverage 23 Mezze, Salads, Soups, Vegetable dishes, Rice dishes 24 Stews, Mahashi, Meat dishes, Poultry 25 Fish and shellfish, Bread and dough, Sweets and deserts 26 Jams, Refreshments, Pickles and sauces, Falafel and Maqluba 27 2.3 Chefs for peace 29 2.4 Education 31 2.5 Palm trees and alcoholic beverages 34 2.6 Hospitality and culinary arts 42 2.7 Two restaurants 44 2.8 Baked goods 48 Chapter 3 3.1 Closing discussion 51 3.2 Further research 56 References 57 3 Chapter 1 Introduction Meals are often described as an activity that is undertaken by humans in order to satisfy the physiological need of providing the human body with nourishment. However, that is not the whole truth about eating and drinking, regardless if it is done together or alone. The foodways of Israel has its origin in several cultures and if one asks an Israeli what is typical Israeli food they will tell you that there is no such thing as a typical Israeli food. The influences of the Israeli cuisine have been influenced by immigration by Jewish people from over 80 countries from the Middle East, North Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, Central and Eastern Europe to India. Of the 7 million persons, it is estimated that a little more than 76 % are of Jewish origin, approximately 19.5 % consider themselves as Arabs, mainly Muslim, however there is also a minor percentage that are Christians. The remaining little over 4 % comprise Druze, Circassians and other that do not classify themselves by religion. Food that are typically considered to be “Israeli” has its origin from a wider cuisine of the Middle East, falafel and the so called “Israeli salad” consisting of cucumbers and tomatoes cut in small pieces. In addition, Jewish traditions from East Europe have an important significant´s in Israeli cooking with different dishes such as borsht and blinier (origin from Russia). Food custom in Israel also carry markers of the Mediterranean region where lunch instead of dinner is the main meal of the day.1 1.1 Purpose and question The purpose of this microstudy is to investigate the role gastronomy plays for some of the inhabitants in Jerusalem and Palestine. For the latter the city of Bethlehem and the village of Tabye represents Palestine. Within the purpose itself, one finds the question for the study imbedded, namely: How is gastronomy used as a mean for peace and for residence in Jerusalem and Palestine? 1.2 Theoretical framework (the gastronomic man) The specific range of drink and food (gastronomy) is established very early in the history of a nation and its inhabitants. Some factors are of importance for the gastronomy to take form and manifest itself. Need is one, humans are by nature physical beings and their bodies are dependent on nutrition or food of a certain composition. The supply of nourishment to the body needs to be fairly regularly since the human body have limited store resources and are therefore limited. The human body’s working capabilities depend of both physique and the 1 Gila, Levine, T, Simply Israel- a collection of recipes from the people of Israel, 2016: introduction, Israel 4 supply of food. Edibility is another important factor and within edibility, one finds habits. Human habits in this context mean that certain foodstuff is so self- evident that people eat it continually, while rejecting that which they find foreign, or eating it with great caution. Some mean that gastronomy here related to natural science as well as physics and chemistry, due to its classification of nutritious substances, it composition and properties as well as the analyses and solutions it provides.2 Individual eating habits do not have much to do with the individual’s personal taste; they are shared with those of the members of the family and the people living in the neighbourhood. The repetitive element in human eating habits is not restricted to a person´s private life; it belongs to the cultural heritage of humankind and is remarkably steady. One example of that is that Scandinavian immigrants to the US shows that they are faithful to their Scandinavian Christmas fare even in the third and fourth generation, long after they have stopped speaking the native language. Within the framework of edibility, there is also technology in all different ways, in order to receive food and beverage. This includes hunting, fishing, cattle farming, agriculture, industry and so forth. If this broad term is applied to a more local level in the community, it becomes more limited, comprising food preparation techniques such as preserving, butter-making, cheese-making, baking, brewing, distilling and so forth. These techniques are very ancient as well as being essential for life since many of nature´s resources will only keep for a limited time in their natural state. Here gastronomy is linked to culinary science and arts due to the preparing of food and beverage in order to make it enjoyable for the human taste, and by doing so, also preserving identity and culture.3 Ideology is yet another factor that affects the edibility of foodstuff or food items for humans. An ideology in itself is governed by various factors like religion, medical or moral concepts. In religion, it is the rites that are the visible or practical aspect of the ideology that govern to a great estate what is considered edible or not; such rites often originates in religious writings. That means that religion in this case stands for an ideology that controls the choice of food at mainly feast days. Fasting before festivals or feast days have taken and are taken place in many religions.4 Sacred order is a concept of sacredness that has been developed by several researcher. The sacred order does not exist in a social vacuum. It is invested, maintained and given texture via territorialism, tradition, bonding, honour, solidarity, law, membership, respect for role status 2 Bringéus, Nils-Arvid, Mat och måltid, 1988:13-16, Lund 3 Bringéus, 1988: 17-18 , Brilliant-Savarin, Anthelme, Smakens fysiologi,1958:15-16, Stockholm 4 Bringéus, 1988:12- 18 5 and other similar constraints and obligations. Bonding is of importance for every individual as a source of belonging, it can be bonding within the family, clan, ethnic linage, a church, a nation or in elective group affiliation. Within the mind set of sacred order tradition means a pattern that is repeated over and over and over again so in time things are done in the same way it always have been done.