One + September 2010 - (Page 46)

The International Association of Culinary Professionals’ 2010 conference shows that food can be the ﬁrst step in bridging a divide between different countries, religions and generations. Breaking Bread BY KEVIN WOO KAMAL MOUZAWAK WANTS TO BRING PEACE TO THE MIDDLE EAST, and his weapons of choice include ﬂatbread, baked goods and chickpeas. Strange ammunition you might say, but he says food is key to bringing people together. Without question, the most serious disagreement in the Middle East is over the occupation of land. Other arguments, Mouzawak says, center on the origin of food. Arabs and Israelis argue about who invented falafel. Egyptians lay claim to its origins, Israelis have adopted it as their national dish and the Lebanese Industrialists’ Association once contemplated a lawsuit asserting that the Lebanese own the copyright to the food. For a humble little chickpea, being caught in the middle of a cultural dispute is like going from the cliché frying pan into the ﬁre. To bridge this culinary divide, Mouzawak founded Souk el-Tayeb, a farmers market in downtown Beirut, where Arabs, Christians and Israelis set aside their differences to shop (peacefully) for baked goods, yogurts, 46 one+ 09.10

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + September 2010

One + September 2010
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
Share Your Mind
Agenda
Thoughts + Leaders
Five Years Later
Focus
Overheard
What You Missed
Top Spots
Connections
Irrelevant
TMI at Your Peril
Men Behaving Badly
You Can Go Your Own Way
Falling for Food
Breaking Bread
Community Service
Controlled Chaos
The Quick Guide to Keeping Your Top Talent
Generation Why
What’s the Right Risk?
Let’s Talk
Get an (Economic) World View
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again

One + September 2010