What could be better than a true and authentic Palestinian dining experience and meeting the women and men working hard to grow fresh and delicious produce, the ingredients of a unique Palestinian culinary? Through Farayek, Nadeen and Christine want to bring back food to the central stage of Palestinian cultural and social life.
The name Farayek refers to a special pastry made by the local women of Bethlehem. The recipes of Palestinian grandmothers that stood the test of time inspire Nadeen and Christine. These recipes, with a few tweaks and sometimes with a bit of a modern twist are gems in every family. Farayek aims to bring those recipes out into the open, from the homes to local and international visitors of Palestine.
Since starting this culinary experience in 2018, they have targeted mainly foreign visitors of Bethlehem offering two different food experiences. The first is the “Bethlehem Market Experience”, which starts with a visit to the local farmers’ market alongside local chef Fadi Kattan of the Hosh-Al Syrian Guesthouse. The second experiences is the “Taita’s Kitchen” (Taita in Arabic means Grandma), which starts with a visit to the local market and is followed by a traditional Palestinian lunch at the home of a local grandmother.
Since starting the project, Nadeen and Christine started receiving requests from Palestinians themselves who wanted to join the tour and learn more about the producers, seasonal produce, artisan shops and growers. They see this as an organic growth of their initiative, revealing a need in the local sphere that they are eager to cater to as the core objective of their initiative is to preserve Palestinian culinary culture. They have also received numerous invitations from local producers to visit their fields, farms and workplaces, so they expect that Farayek’s work to expand and grow in the near future. The tours are offered in English, French, Arabic and Armenian.
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Volunteering Opportunities: media outreach, writing of blogs, documenting experiences.