-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email Chef Fadi Kattan, whose new cookbook "Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food" was released in May, says that he " couldn't understand and I still don't understand what's happening" in his home country, referring of course to th e ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza . Kattan doesn't mince words, his immense passion and love for his country suffusing every word in our conversation. He says that he has " no words to describe the horror " and even sometimes "lose[s] the focus on what I'm trying to do.
" Related Gazans’ extreme hunger could leave its mark on subsequent generations As he puts it, though, "I still live in Bethlehem and for me, telling the story through food is telling the diversity of the Palestinians." For Kattan, who comes from "one of the oldest Christian families in Bethlehem," championing Palestinian cuisine is one of the most important things. He discusses the varying terroir (the coast, the desert and the inland), the standout ingredients, what caused food to be so important in his life — both personally and professionally — and why food waste management and cooking sustainability are "not something new" and are something that have been practiced for generations.
"It's not a trend," he says. "W hat I have to say is cook Palestinian ..
. wherever you are," Kattan tells me, adding that he hopes people can "entertain the hope that we have that my book doesn't become an archeology history book, but is actually just .