Hearty Tables – Hanan Rasheed: Kunafeh Nabulsieh complete edited Transcript

Video Intro Text:

● Originally from Deir Dibwan, a Palestinian city

● In American, she missed her home and began cooking her mother’s dishes
from memory
● Now she is a mother of five and a successful chef, life coach, social activist,
and a TEDx speaker
● She founded My Healing Table to bring together various religious and political
views over food

Dialogue (0-15 min.):

BASMA: Thank you so much for being with us. I really appreciate your story, and the
many things you do, actually, in life, not just cooking, and how you use your cooking
to bring people together and to advocate for really, your own story and your own
community. Now, I want you to start by introducing yourself the way you want to be
introduced.

Q: Please introduce yourself.

HANAN: [Laughs] Thank you. Thank you, girls. It is really an honor being here with all
of you. As you know, I love cooking and I love sharing it with people. I’m Hanan, and I
came from Palestine in 1973. Years later— So, I immigrated from Palestine to the US
in 1973. We were first refugees. We fled to Jordan in the 1967 war and went back to the
country [Palestine], and then I immigrated [to the US] in 1973.

Q: How did you first start cooking?

I started cooking, honestly, just to feel close to my mom and her food, ’cause I feel like
I didn’t get enough. I left there at fourteen. And so, I started to tackle cooking [laughs]
– it wasn’t successful for many years – just to bring the smell, you know, the taste, of
Palestine and my mother’s kitchen. And then, years later, of course, I continued
cooking to feed the five kids that I have. So, [laughs] it was kind of like cooking for
survival [laughs].

But then, as things progressed and as the kids grew up, I started, like, loving to cook
and sharing it with people, ’cause I feel this is the way I can introduce Palestine and,
and teach people who don’t know what Palestine is, through our food. And I, you
know, food, as we all say, is a huge connector and a, and a common denominator.
Everybody loves to eat. And, yeah, I took it as, you know, getting closer to my mom’s
kitchen in Palestine, then learning how to cook to feed my five kids, and then, later, I
saw that it’s a huge, it’s a, a beautiful segue. That if I’m sitting in a gathering, that
they have no clue what Palestine is, but I took a dish— As most of you know, as Middle
Easterners we never go [to a gathering] empty-handed. We take [bring] something,
and people wanna know what’s in it, where is it from. And so, I thought it was a
beautiful opening to teach my friends and my neighbors in the US about our beautiful
food in Palestine.

Q: Do you cook with your family?

And then, later on, you know, after those five kids, they all had kids. And so, I have
nine grandkids, and, honestly, they’re the ones who taught me to love cooking,
because they want to cook with me. And so, nine of them, and they each have a
specialty, and they each help out when I’m visiting their homes. And, you know, they
add that beautiful, loving touch through their hands. So, yeah!

Q: How was your childhood in Palestine?

I had, I had a nice childhood. You know, I come from a modest family, middle-class.
We— I was born— Back then they called it a village. If they’re listening now, they’d
disagree with me. It’s a beautiful, huge town, self-sufficient. But it’s a small town
near Ramallah called Deir Dibwan. And we had a house that my father loved.

Oh, he had a green thumb! He had every fruit tree, every plant. We had everything
around the house. So, when you hear people— Like, I’m in New York, and they say
“farm-to-table” – it’s like, the most expensive food is when you’ve served farm-to-
table – I’m like, “Well, we cooked farm-to-table. That’s how our life was in
Palestine.” Everything is fresh. So, we had orchards of, it’s olive trees, apricots. We
had grapes. Then we had, my mom had her vegetable garden and herb garden. We had,
actually, beehives. We had some chickens. We had, we had everything in that house.

It was a happy home. I was, you know— Compare it to when you look back, and
Basma, you know our traditions. I, I was really free. I was, like, always out and
jumping rope. Maybe because I was young, they didn’t ask of me to come in and help
in the kitchen. But my favorite is when I would come home from school and the first
room I would go in is the kitchen to see whether my mother has cooked, and she never
disappointed. She’ll always have a pot of either the grape leaves or eleneb or, you
know, the stuffed zucchini – the mahshi with the labneh. There’s always— Or the
maqluba. So, there’s always something cooking.
Q: Growing up did you make desserts at home?

I have to say, though, growing up, I never watched, like, my mom make desserts.
Why? And Basma, again, knows that, and the Arab listeners know why. It’s because
it’s so abundant, and it’s so available in the cities that you go the, you know, Mahalen
halawiyat. You go to the sweets [shop]. You go to the bakery. You bring all that [home
or to a gathering]. Like, the katayef. When I used to say to people that I make katayef
in the house, they’re like, “You make? Why?” Because it’s not available in America.
We have to learn to make our recipes that have, you know, [that] bring us back, with
our memories and our taste buds, back to our country. But they would buy— Like, the
kunafeh is bought. I’ve never seen any of my family members make it, because it’s
available and it’s authentic and it’s there. It’s us that immigrated and [were] still, you
know. yearning for that smell and that taste of back home, that we had to learn and
teach ourselves to cook these specialties.

Q: How does cooking keep you connected to Palestine?

As you know, everybody brings their spices with them. So, we do when we go back [to
Palestine]. I, when I go to Palestine, I bring my spices with me. Or, if I need to make
something [here in the US], like, you know, yesterday I had to go to two Middle
Eastern, you know, markets to find the ingredients. And, you know, now, with COVID
and with what’s going on with this unrest right now in the US, nothing is [as]
available as it was before.

Q: Do COVID-19 and other crises right now remind [you of] your life as a refugee?

Yeah, well, you know, Palestine was split in half in 1947 when the Israeli occupation
moved in and took half of the country. So, we called it the Palestinian territory. Forty-
eight territories, so that’s, you know, like, Haifa, Yafa, Abken, that side of Palestine.
And then, in ’67 the occupation moved into the West Bank, where I’m from, and they
took the rest of that. So, I remember it since I was nine years old, in the 1967 war. So, I
remember that because we had to flee to Jordan, and we stayed in Jordan for two years.
And, as I said, we had to sneak back into the country [of Palestine] before they took
the census, so we could be counted. Otherwise, if we weren’t counted, we could never
go back.

So, the people who live in Palestine already, you know, [there are] three religions. You
know that. I mean, not too many people know that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
exist and [that] they coexisted there for a long time. So, we have our holy places. We
see holy places there. It’s— But I, where I’m from is, I’m from a town near Ramallah,
as I said, so we would go to Ramallah. We would go to Jerusalem. As Palestinians who
are living there now, if they’re living there and they have a Palestinian identification,
they cannot leave beyond that apartheid wall that was built. They need a visa, and they
need permission, and that, you know, takes forever. So, if you gonna go, wanna go
pray on Friday, which is our holy day, or, like, our Eid, which just passed, they need to
apply for a visa. But it doesn’t come in in a day or an hour. – it takes months. So, it
defeats the purpose of you going at the moment of praying at your holy places.

Q: Have you gone back to Palestine?

We’re, husband’s name? and I are American citizens. A lot of people from Palestine
are American citizens or citizens of some other country, because we all fled from the
war. We’re allowed to be there [in Palestine] for three months. So, when we visit we
land in Tel Aviv airport. Yes, we rent a car. You know, they’ll ask us, they’ll detain us,
so, for a while, asking us why we’re there, what are we doing there, all that
annoyance. But it’s okay, you know. We got used to it [laughs], and then became
patient. And then we can go. We can travel from the forty-eight territories to the
Palestinian territories. We can drive, and, but we can only stay three months.

We can’t own, like, land. If I want to live in Palestine, I would have to ask to get a, like,
a Palestinian hawiya, and it’s not gonna happen because it takes a while. And that
means I have to, can’t go beyond the wall or can’t, like, go to Jerusalem. If I wanna go
to Jerusalem, then I would become just like the Palestinians who live there and ask for
a visa and permission. So, I choose to keep my American citizen[ship]. After all, my
kids live here and my grandkids. So, life is here for now [laughs].

I love visiting [Palestine], you know, visiting, and I have family that live there. My
mom and dad passed on, but I have brothers that have homes, and [I] have aunts and
sisters. So, I try to visit every other year. Believe it or not, with all this unrest and
these uncomfortable [things] and [the] annoyance of checkpoints and [them]
searching you and giving you kind of, like, a third-degree deposition every time you
pass by a checkpoint, it’s so expensive to go back. It’s, the ticket is very expensive. So,
it— You can’t make it every year, so I try to go every other year and stay two, three
weeks, and come back. But we’re only allowed three months.

BASMA: We always cook a lot because we are always expecting visitors. And if visitors
come at around the time of lunch, they cannot leave without eating. So, share if that’s
something [that] goes with your family, too [laughs]. And, if so, what was your first
dish learning how to cook with your mom?

Q: What was the first dish you learned to cook?

HANAN: Oh, my god. Well, I didn’t learn how to cook with my mom, or from my mom,
’cause, again, I left at fourteen. So, I was in school, and I was, actually, a good student.
So, my mom never asked me. You know, our chores when we were young was, like,
helping them clean, pick up the laundry off the laundry line, but it wasn’t the food.
Actually, it’s the matriarch of the house who’s in charge of the food. It’s part of, like,
this respect that if there’s a grandmother living in the house, then the mother, no one
touches the food but them. It’s kind of, like, a respect. It’s kind of like a hierarchy. So,
they’re the ones who cook. I mean, who— Us, as young [ones], it’s dishonorable to go
stand there by the grandmother and the mother and say— We, we could, maybe, peel
the garlic for them, or something hideous like that. But, no, the mom or the grandma,
that’s kind of the honor that they’re in charge of feeding the family.

Arabs are generous about sharing food!

And, yes, the pots are huge. You should see, like, I’m, you know, I’m visiting with my
daughter, but you should see, like, my kitchen – huge pots like, like the old country.
It’s because you are used to cooking for the people who are gonna walk off from the
street to say hello to you. People can wave from outside and it’s not enough for an
Arab. “No, you gotta come in. I have to have some coffee.” And that goes on all day
long. You could be eating at five, six homes a day [laughs] and having, like, maybe ten
cups of tea and coffee a day, because it is disrespectful to say, “No, I’m sorry. I just
had some.” So, you always, you always count on that, that if I say hello to somebody,
they’re sitting under their grape leaf trellis, that I have to go in. I have to have coffee. I
have to have tea. I might have to have a sweet. Oh, my god! I’m gonna have to have
dinner, and I can’t refuse him because that is disrespectful. So, yeah, we feed people,
and we eat a lot.

It’s all about food and families!

It’s all about food, and families.

kunafeh has variations across Palestine, Lebanon and Syria

Okay, so the dish we’re making today is a famous dessert. It’s called kunafeh. So, if
you’re talking to a Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, they know that.

Palestine, Lebanon and Syria were all under the Ottoman Rule before the European
colonialism

Because, as everybody knows, that Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria were one. They were
called Bilah Dishan before the French colonized Lebanon and Syria. The English
colonized Palestine. So, we have the same similarities. You’ll see that people look the
same, we talk the same, same traditions, same food.

There is a town in Palestine called “Nablus”

And there’s a town in, in Palestine, in the West Bank, called Nablus, and this kunafeh
is called kunafeh Nabulsieh.

Kunafeh Nabulsieh is famous because of their cheese

They’re famous for that because of their cheese.

The Nabulsi Cheese!

You know, the cheese they send you so you can tell your viewers to buy [it], which is
the jibneh Nablusieh. They make it there, so, of course, they make the kunafeh.

Q: Tell us more about your scarf.

Scarf! I grew up watching my mom [laughs] wearing it. So, they wear it under their— I
don’t know, Basma, if you know the gold coin? Okay, so that was the tradition. They’d
wear that and the gold coin, and they’d wear their beautiful, like, long scarf. Now
everybody wears more of a hijab, and that [long scarf with gold coins] tradition went
only for, like, happy occasions. You have weddings. Like, [at] henna parties you would
wear that because it’s really fancy. You can’t wear it every day. But I do remember my
mom, every day that was her uniform. When she needs to leave, she’ll wear the dila
Nebulsieh, then her gold coin – coins, yeah, real coins – and then her long, beautiful
scarf. And that was, like, what they wear.

So, this [scarf] is made in Nablus, too. That’s why there’s a correlation between that
and the cheese and the kunafeh, that it’s, it’s produced and fabricated in Nablus.

Saboon Nabulsi (Nabulsi soap)

As well as, you know, the saboon. You know, the saboon. It’s called saboon Nabulsieh.
Nablus is famous for that, too.

Nablus is a beautiful town. I mean, I love it. I visited two years ago, and I went with a
friend of mine. Everywhere you go there’s kunafeh places, kunafeh sweet places. And
you can smell the kunafeh in the street, and that gooey cheese. And it’s, it’s actually
nestled on top of a hill. So, they, they call the town Jabal an-Nar, because they’re
resilient, and they’re steadfast people on the cause of the Palestinians. So, we call it
Jabal an-Nar. And [there are] very smart, highly educated people from Nablus. So, I
have a lot of friends, and I respect them. And, of course, I love that kunafeh because it
was always present at weddings, at events, at holidays. Anytime you want to give
someone on their Eid a gift, we would go get these beautiful boxes full of kunafeh, and
giving them, like, to the aunts and the families. So, it means a lot ’cause I’ve seen it in
the house on happy occasions.

Q: Has living in America changed your kunafeh recipe?

We couldn’t find it, of course, in the US. Now, it’s everywhere. You can find it. You
know, there’s Arab, like you said, and Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese communities all
over the US, thank God. So, there’s a lot of stores. They have it, but I still like to make
mine because I know what’s in there. If you really have a Middle Eastern dessert, it’s
gonna be loaded with fat, loaded with sugar. So, I try to modify my food to fit my
American kids’ tastes, not my Palestinian pallet. So, I do it with less sugar and less,
less, less samneh – less butter.

**END OF SECTION 1 (0-15 min)**

WeaveTales

Q: Has living in America changed your Knafeh recipe?

So I use less sugar and less samneh, less butter. But yeah, when I first tried to make
it, I believe in like the late 70’s, I’m like I want knafeh since I hadn’t gone back to the
old country since I came in ‘73. It took me maybe 10 years to go back. So, we started
making it with the shredded wheat cereal. We would put the shredded wheat, and
grind it with our hands, and then spread it and then we would put some cheese (I’m
sure mozzarella). We’d make the syrup to get it close enough to that taste because it
wasn't available. But of course now, everybody makes it [the syrup]. You can ship it
from Palestine but it would take like two days, or you could bring it with you when you
go. Honestly, when I go back, I can’t have it; it’s so rich for me. Like ok, I'll have one
piece, but when I make mine I make it very light. I know I’d eat more than one piece.

Q: Tell us about the ingredients

I sent you guys the ingredients, this is what I use and it’s every Middle Eastern
market. I know you can order it online through Zlyad products, but remember,
nowadays nothing is coming, yknow, Amazon Prime - theres no more Amazon Prime.
It takes a while now.

You can order it through Ziyad Products or Amazon

So this is what I use. This is one, this is enough for one tray and it comes with this
inside. You keep it frozen until, maybe half an hour before you use it because I like it to
stay solid and I’m gonna put it in a food processor.

Keep it frozen until 30 minutes before use. That will keep the dough solid enough to
be shredded.

This is the dough shredded and that's why we were using shredded wheat. So, the
first thing I do, because I use pistachio, and I’m in the house so I only have one food
processor,
If you have two food processors GREAT!

and I don't want to keep washing and drying it, so I tell always my audience or
students or my kids when I teach them to start with the pistachio or when you have
time, once a week, to bring your pistachios. If you want to peel them, y’know, peel
them yourself. Grind them almost powdery, and have a jar ready because I love to top
all my Middle Eastern desserts with pistachio. So I have that ready. And then I always
have on hand in an Arab house rose water or some blossom water so we can put it in
the syrup.

Some Rose Water to use in the syrup.

Today, what we are going to do is we're gonna use this and I'm gonna cut it in half
(again you can use any tray). The traditional tray in Palestine is the huge round one
because, like Basma said, we feed an army at every moment. When you see them it’s
with the round one, the huge one, but for the sake of you guys, I'm gonna do this. I did
one already so you'll see the round one, but this is what we're gonna use on camera.
You could use a half sheet, or you could use a (? pint) or a pan, same thing. My favorite
pan when I'm cooking for my clients in the West Village in New York is the ramekins.

Ramekins could be a good alternative!

Americans are not like us Middle Easterns; they leave the whole tray. They’re very
modest and moderate in their diets, so this would be enough for one person. You can
make it in those ramekins and it comes up so cute because you're gonna flip it upside
down and then you're going to syrup it and put some pistachios. It's really cute and
pretty. It was like a hit all of last year.

So what I did this morning was take my cheese out. That’s the first thing you should
do, you have your pistachios already done. You don't need to wash it, you can just
grate it because even if there's still a little pistachio left it will be in the knafeh
anyways, so you leave it dry. Take your cheese, you wash it, you put it in cold water for
about an hour and then take it out on a paper towel and you dry it. You let it to side and
in the meanwhile, you cut this, and open this. I’m also only going to make half. As a
disclaimer, nobody could ever be right or wrong about knafeh.

There is no right or wrong way of making knafehs

So, with the knafeh, I’m sure if my fellow Nabulsi people who see this will say “What?
That's not how we do it! She's a counterfeit.” It is a personal preference. Which,
yknow, with the cheese you use, you can use only mozzarella or you could mix it.

You can use mozzarella for a more gooey taste

I mix the Nabulsi with mozzarella so I can give it a more gooey taste; you can make
your knafeh (kushner?) which is just like this.

You can make it without the cheese

You could not do anything to it or you can make it fine; I like to make it fine. In Nablus
and Palestine and the other Middle Eastern countries, they make it with a (?) semolina,
that's what they call the fine knafeh. It’s usually up to you, your family and the
preference of how you’d like to eat it. I’m not going to make something that my kids
are not gonna eat just so I can show them “Oh yeah, that's how we make it in
Palestine.” I really have to relearn, infuse, and change things.

Coconut can be a good substitute!

My daughters love it when I cook with coconut, it’s always better than using butter.
They’re health-concious, so they watch what they eat.

She likes to use clarified butter that she makes at home

Though I still love to use clarified butter. I make my own but if you don't know how,
you can just take the butter you're going to use, put it in a microwave, let it rest and
just use the top (don't use the white stuff which is the dairy). You could do that in the
moment while you're making the dessert or you could make your clarified butter a bit
before. I made clarified butter last night and I’m going to melt it while this is gonna go
in there.

Melt the butter while you prepare other ingredients.

My pistachios and cheese are done. For time’s sake, some people only put one layer of
the shredded wheat at the top and then put the cheese and just leave it as that. I like to
sprinkle more of the knafeh dough to support the cheese so it doesn’t have to be by
itself going all over the tray. I do most of the amount for the top layer. By the way, if I
know I’m working somewhere I wash my hands frequently for 20 seconds with hot
water and soap. It’s not only because of COVID, it is the Islamic way as well. If I was to
be making this for my clients or somewhere else, I would be wearing my gloves. I wear
them when I do the dye so I won’t dye my hands, but I’m doing it for us in the house
so I rather use my hands.

Since she is cooking at home she is going gloveless.

I always say “the chef who makes the food puts their own chemistry in food,” so
when you have all these layers between you and the food, you kind of lose something
from the taste. Today, there's going to be no gloves because it's for our household.
We'll make half. I’d take it out a half hour before from the freezer because I like it to
stay frozen for it to become thin and fine without the doughy feeling. Y’know what I
mean?
When the dough is half-frozen it’s easier to shred them.

It grinds better when it's all the way. I might not use all this but I just want to make
sure that I have enough. I’ll use 3/4ths of this. Everytime I use it I never learn, so I’ll
show you guys. See it? Yes, some people just take this and put it on the tray with the
cheese on top of it, bake it for 10-15 minutes, put their syrup and call it a day. I don't
know, maybe I'm a complicated cook. I like to cook it. This is how I will achieve the
taste of Palestine.

We are keeping our knafeh closer to Palestinian this way!

Now take out the clear butter.

I just heated up the clarified butter, see? There is no dairy in there, it's just butter. I'm
sure you guys in Jacksonville have this - where is everybody from? Jacksonville,
Florida, Philadelphia?

Basma Alawee: We have things and people from everywhere, so we do have a couple of
ethnic stores which is really amazing. I think I echo you in the fact that even as the
whole Arab community cooks grape leaves, not every country, every house cooks it
differently or it tastes differently. I have tasted many grape leaves and every single
one tastes different from others. So, I do agree with you in that there’s no master
recipe.

Hanan Rasheed: No, there isn’t. I’ll say it again and I’m gonna say it again, when you
go to Palestine or when you go with other families, I have not met a Palestinian who
does not know how to cook Palestinian food?. I’m not the best cook, maybe they see
me cook and think ”Oh my god what is she doing?,” but I do have to modify it so it
agrees with my American kids who cannot have so much sugar or too much of the
ghee, the semneh.

How has cooking helped your new life in America?

I also didn't start cooking because I loved to cook, I started cooking because I wanted
to bring myself back home. I was so sad that I left home and my mom in 1973, and that
the US knew nothing of Palestinians or even Arabs. It was very difficult and isolating,
so I started to tackle the kitchen years after I came just to fill that void that I had in my
soul and in my heart. Then later on it was because of the kids; just to survive. After
many years, like for the past 25 years, I have cooked because I wanted to bring
Palestine to every table; I want to introduce Palestine to everyone. I wanted to show
and teach them about the beauty of all the beautiful dishes we have. I figured if people
love to eat, then they’re going to want to learn about the dish, and if they love the
dish, they’re going to have to love us too.
Later on, I started to cook as a form of bringing people together from the two
communities - the Palestinians and the Israelis. That’s why when I came to
Jacksonville, it was for that. It’s not so much about my food; people would say “You
don’t know how to do this, we shouldn’t do anything different,” and that I am not the
best cook. There are amazing cooks who cook for food. My reason involves bringing
people together with familiar foods and introducing my kids and grandkids to my
culture, my friends, my neighbors, my country, and my second country here.

She is keeping her stories and traditions through cooking

At the same time, it keeps my stories, my traditions, and my memories alive by

passing recipes onto my grandkids.

Cooking has also brought her and her grandchildren together

I have nine grandkids who range from 21 years to 7 months, and they always cook
with me. For me, it's a way of bringing them into my country, since some of them
haven't visited yet.

Through cooking, she is bringing Palestine to her grandchildren.

Through food, they get to see where grandma came from and what grandma ate
growing up. This is really my main purpose.
Basma Alawee: You came to America when you were 14 years old, which is, in a way, a
very young age. What did your first year in America look like? Where did you first
arrive and who was the first to take care of you when you arrived?

What was your first year like when you came to America at the age of 14?

Hanan Rasheed: I came into the US married at 14. I arrived in Northern California. I
didn't speak or understand any English. I was just in love and infatuated with America.
I always say Donna Reed introduced me to America through my parents in a small
black and white TV. I fell in love with America and with English, and I wanted to come
live and go to school in America and speak English fluently, but none of this was
happening at the time. I was really sad and lonely. I married into I didn’t know well.
It's not like I knew them and hung out with them and then all of a sudden I don’t
know. I met my father-in-law when I first arrived in the US. We arrived at service
through the airport, and I had no idea where I was going. I knew I was going to
America, but I didn't know where in America. At the time, the women were back in the
old town while the men were here working, sending money and going back to visit the
wives. So, when I arrived there weren't many women. There were maybe two or three
women, but not that many. When I first came here, 10-15 men came into the airport
and I'm like “Oh my God! What are these guys doing?” I found out later that these
men were happy that females were arriving since they thought there might be some
good food. I was like “Wrong!” I don't even know how to boil an egg, what's the
matter with them!
My father started teaching me to cook. I think he felt bad for me, so he started taking
me to the market. (God rest his soul, he passed away last year.) He started taking me
to the market and telling me “this is onion,” that means (‫صل‬ َ ‫ َب‬or “basila” in Arabic), or
“this is ṯūm (or ‘‫ )”ثوم‬that means garlic. So the first dish he taught me to cook was
chicken, you know, the chicken with potatoes in the oven. Okay, so, he did it. He did it
good. He made it well and he actually did the Calico Bundoora which is a (shakshuka?).
He used to make that a lot too and loved it. I learned those two dishes from him, but I
didn't master them. They thought I had, so they invited those men one night for
dinner because I then knew how to cook supposedly, but when the men arrived, I only
made one side and one drumstick for maybe like seven men.

Dialogue (30-45 min.):

Q: What was your first year like when you came to America at the age of 14?

Hanan Rasheed: They thought I had, so they invited those men one night for dinner
because I then knew how to cook supposedly, but when the men arrived, I only made
one side and one drumstick for maybe like seven men. One potato and small pyrex and
I think it cooked for maybe 10-15 minutes. They were coming in so happy I could see
them salivating at the door like “yes finally we're not going to have to go eat out.” At
the time, more people eat at McDonald's or at places called “Samples” and “Krystals”.
So they were happy. They walked in, and I’m like “okay”. I took it out, it was
uncooked, undone. I was so embarrassed I ran up to the room, honestly cried the
whole night and kept on crying for maybe, I think, two or three years.

Q: How did you learn English

So I had to make a decision, you know. I wanted to come to the US, so I did come to
the U.S., okay. What would I do now? I mean I had a choice, I could have gone back and
live maybe with my mother-in-law, had my kids over there, but no, I chose. I’m like,
“you know what, I’m gonna stick it out, I’m gonna learn English, and I’m gonna learn
this country called America.” And so I started. I bought a notebook, I think, from a
supermarket called Romney's next to us. I walked, bought a notebook and a pencil,
and every time I passed by something in English, I would just copy it and go back to
my handy-dandy dictionary that they give us when we get married. The Arabs, when
the daughter leaves, they give you a dictionary—Arab-English dictionary— and they
give you a cookbook. So there you go. There is your prerequisite for being a mom and a
wife in a foreign country. And so I would go back and I would sit in a room and just
seriously just translate what I heard or what I saw on the freeways. And then I watched
Lucille Ball like no other, Dean Martin—you name it. All of them. I would watch watch
watch, and I would write phonetically in Arabic what I learned. But, you know, it took
me years, of course, to start making sentences. The first time someone asked me to
say, just say “hi”—not even “hello”—to just say “hi”, I put my head down and I
started crying “I can’t!”. It was very difficult, it was really very sad, very hard for me.
That's why I had to learn this country. And I kind of, like, put my Arabic on the shelf
and put, you know, my country on the shelf. I didn't go back for ten years so I can, you
know, communicate with my American kids that speak the English. Because, you
know, my son used to make fun of me and anytime he wanted to get away with
something—you know, he’s very slick—he would use, “Oh mom you don't know. This
is how it's done in America. You don't know, you don’t speak english. You don’t know.
Yeah, that’s what they do in America.'' I’m like, “oh I’ll show you. I’m gonna learn
America.” None of you [kids] have to use that line on me, “oh mom, you don’t know”.
So yeah, a lot of factors. The main thing is the kids, and I wanted to stay here with the
kids. I didn’t want to, like “I don’t speak english, I don’t know.

Hanan Rasheed: So here we go. We have done this. I slid them, as you can tell. I'm
going to take some of the oil - I forgot that we're doing a cooking show. I'm just
talking and not cooking, sorry girls.

Cooking and storytelling are best friends!

Basma Alawee: Actually, “lucky storytelling show.”

Hanan Rasheed: So I’m going to take a few of the spoons and I'm going to mix, you
know, the first one—most of the portion. I'm going to use my hands in a second. And
then, I told you about the dye because then I will see (that) kunafa is orange.

1 tablespoon of knafeh dye

Hanan Rasheed: So I’m going to mix some of the dye so I can color the beautiful dish.
I’m going to use two and a half spoons and leveled. Make sure they're leveled with this
thing, [It] dyes things and it might become red, like just rosey. It’s two and a half
teaspoons. And you can mix it with, maybe, a little bit of the butter so you can liquify
them. It’s a beautiful color! Honestly, look how beautiful. Do your Easter eggs with
that!

Wear gloves when treating the dye

Hanan Rasheed: I think with this one, I'm gonna wear my gloves because I don't want
the rest of the kunafa - remember half of it is going to be red the other half is just the
natural color.

You need to really mix them well!

Hanan Rasheed: So I'll wear my gloves just for you ladies and really mix it. That's the
idea, is to really mix it. You see how beautiful it becomes! They already have the, the
butter, you see.

Basma Alawee: Back home, uh, we eat on the floor—on the ground— not on a table
like back in the day. Now it's all tables and chairs.
Hanan Rasheed: I don't like that. I'm sad in the way we let go of those traditions,
because now I know other cultures like Japanese and Korean. We go, we sit on the floor
and we love that. So like Basma said, we would have the low table. We would sit around
it on pillows. We would eat with our hands. And I only see that in like Muslim
gatherings with, like, a big scholar. Like, we had a spiritual scholar come visit us,
(name?) - I don't know if you know that person. And so, it’s like, it’s meant in Islam to
be bettakeh, which is “more blessings.” If you're sitting around together and eating
with your fingers, picking up the rice or something, because that person who's so
spiritual and we follow his teaching puts more blessings in the dish. And then first in
our countries, they’re like “Man, this is primitive, let’s get rid of it. Let’s come, you
know, let’s become westernized.” So we let go of some things that I don't agree with
them. I love those traditions—sitting as a family, eating together, [and] honestly
having a full two or three hours of just sitting on the table and eating and conversing.
Now people eat in their cars and, you know, maybe this Corona [Pandemic] make
people sit home and eat together. But, before, people were eating on the go.
The main meal is lunch in the Middle East. So Fridays [and] Thursdays, we go to
school half the day in the Muslim community and Friday we would eat lunch,
breakfast, you would eat again the same…But, then you take lunch with you to school.
I used to take my lunch, yes, what my mom cooked the day before or a cheese
sandwich..

You invite people over for lunch, not dinner!

Hanan Rasheed: And then, uh, lunch is the biggest thing. If you're inviting people to
an event, it’s never dinner; it’s always lunch. Yeah, dinner, remember what you used
to have, like. And I said, like if you want dinner later on, it’s food and cheese, like
Alfakiha and Gibna.

Giba: Cheese

These light dinners usually have some cheese, watermelon, bread, and mint

Basma Alawee: Yes, it’s my favorite. This is my favorite, actually. We say jibneh now,
with some bread.

Hanan Rasheed: So I'm now going to use this tray because I already used the other
round tray. So you bring some of your clarified butter, butter or whatever you’d like to
put, and you don’t want it to stick, so you’re going to make sure that you brush. I use
ghee a lot, I make my own ghee, but for the desserts I do make clarified butter because
it doesn't have that roasted taste. So I don't want it to interfere with the desserts, so
I'll only use the ghee for actually the savory dishes. But for the sweets, I use the
clarified butter. So here it is. It’s nicely mixed, you guys see. And you see how
beautiful this color is.
Now this one is the Nabulsieh cheese with mozzarella. I always like mozzarella. I'm
going to put just one spoon—a huge, heaping spoon, actually. It’s a cooking spoon— a
serving spoon— of heavy whipping cream to bind them all together so they can be
binded in the taste. And then, I'm just going to put a little bit of sugar just in case I still
have a little bit of the salt on this cheese. In this recipe, even if you have the cheese
still salty, it kind of gives it a little kick. Like Basma said, we eat the kunafa inside
bread inside the Knafeh which is salty. So you mix them, and I put a little bit of of the
butter. This is just to bind things, not to give any flavor. I mean, just to make the two
cheeses are incorporated and the sugar is incorporated and everything is going to be
to taste the the cheese and the Fila. Not so many, you know, neckhus(?).

Q: What does your kitchen mean to you?

Hanan Rasheed: I like to talk and I think the kitchen brings it’s the heart of the house.
That’s where the fun stuff happens. That's where you cook, that’s where you eat,
that’s where you find stories. So my kitchen has always been open and has always
been welcoming to people. Again, on the kunafa, I was gonna say [but] I forgot— it's
up to you if you want it thick or if you want it, uh, you know, thin. So, some people like
it thick, some people like it paper-thin, so it's up to the preference; there’s no right or
wrong. But yeah, you know, in my house, I was, like, done the kids, um—the kids
played sports, so we would have their teams over for pasta feed, so of course my
pastas Palestinian pasta not Italian pasta with the Palestinian spices. And then [if] the
kids had any events at school, it was carried in our house; I liked having them there.
Then of course their weddings, their hennas, you know, their “whatever” event and
it's always in our house. And it’s always “the more the merrier.” Arabs don't freak out
if five people were supposed to show up but twenty people showed up instead. We'll
have food.

Basma Alawee: When we moved to the U.S., like overseas home, the biggest place at
home is the kitchen. Wm, where we also have a place to like sit and watch tv and cook.
I mean, it’s uh, it’s a whole, uh, the whole house in the kitchen. When I moved in, I
noticed that the kitchens are so small because I guess not many people cook.
Q: Why are kitchens are much smaller in America compared to the Middle East?

Hanan Rasheed: It's not that they don't cook, it's just that they don't have time to be
in the kitchen all day. You're talking about a society in the U.S. that’s both, you know,
household, all, everybody in the household works. So when they have a breather, they
might not want to sit in the kitchen and cook. They might want to go for a walk, or
they might want to go to the amusement park. But for us, it’s always around food and
how many guests are coming. Like you always brag, “oh my god, we made big stuff
today and voila, fifty people came. That’s like the boss, that’s more prestigious if you
know. So when, yes, when we were looking for houses, I need a big kitchen, I like big
kitchen. I think, like I said, it’s the heart of the house—that’s what everybody
congregates; that’s where everybody ends up. And maybe it’s different, uh, different
cultures.

Q: How is the culture of dining different in Palestine?

Hanan Rasheed: Where I come from, we’ve never eaten out. Maybe some falafel
sandwich, you know. We had it. ‘Cause these are, like, shabby places that everybody
buys a salami sandwich. Or maybe, you know, we would used to take our plates (again,
nobody made hummus in the house either). We would take our plate and stand in line
at the little hole in the wall and get our hummus almost every Friday; that was a treat.
And now with COVID, we’re learning to be together, and I see a lot of people learning
to cook. I’m asked a lot by my friends, “Oh auntie can you hurry up and send me a
recipe?” I think it’s forced people to stay together, stay home, get to know each other.
[They] get to know what they like to eat and learn how to cook.

Basma Alawee: You came down to Jacksonville last year and you held a healing table.
What is the healing table?

Hanan Rasheed: Okay, can I show you this first? So you saw me with my gloves, I was
really compacting the wheat, uh, the dough. The orange one. We just press on it, and
then I’m spreading the cheese mixture.

You need to cover the surface until you don’t see any orange color
Hanan Rasheed: So you’re going to cover it so you don’t see any orange anymore.
Okay, you guys see it? And then I go back and do the last, the last one, which is just,
uh, with the one with the clarified butter.

Q: Tell us more about My Healing Table

Hanan Rasheed: Okay, we go back to Healing Table. I did. I was so honored last year.
And can I tell you, I love Jacksonville. I was invited to do TEDx about the healing table,
which I created because of the Palestinian-Jewish dialogue. I was part of the
Palestinian-Jewish dialogue living room in the Bay Area, where we would sit and talk
to the other side. It was like a safe space; it was created by a dentist and his wife
named Traubman. He passed away last year unfortunately—great man, great peace
maker. So he created that in his living room in the peninsula, and I got invited, went
and then I liked it. I’m like, you know, that’s a good way to teach people about
Palestine and have the Palestinian voice be heard in a safe space, in a common space
—‘cause Middle Easterners were very passionate and, you know, things can fly out of
the hand when somebody says something wrong about your country. And so yeah, we
made friends and all the people were there. I call them “from the peace camp”— the
people that want to state a solution, they want equal rights with Palestineans and
Israelis, so those are my kind of friends. And, um, every time we went, we took
something. You know, people would walk in with something. Anybody that came in
was Palestinians, Israelis, Jewish, Muslims, Christians and others, so everybody
would walk in with something. And we would put it at the table and people would start
while we're in a heated argument about who's right and what’s going on in Palestine
and Israel. We’re having actually tea and having, like a piece of bread, something, and,
you know, and you see people like, “oh, what is that?” Yeah, this is Palestinian; this is
from Palestine.

**END OF SECTION 1 (30-45 min)**

Basma Alawee: When we moved to the U.S. The biggest place at home is the kitchen.
Where we also have a place to sit, watch tv, and cook. I mean, it’s basically the whole
house in the kitchen. When I moved to the U.S., I noticed that the kitchens are so small
because not that many people cook.

Question: Why are kitchens smaller in America compared to the Middle East?
Hanan Rasheed: It's not that they don't cook, it's that they don't have time to be in
the kitchen all day. You're talking about a society in the U.S where everyone in the
household works. So, when they have a day off, they might not want to sit in the
kitchen and cook. They might want to go for a walk, or they might want to go to the
amusement park. But for us, it’s always around food and how many guests are
coming. You always brag, “oh my god, we made big stuff today and voila, fifty people
came.” That’s like the boss; that’s more prestigious if you know. When we were
looking for houses, I needed a big kitchen, I like bigger kitchens. I think it’s the heart
of the house. That’s where everybody congregates; that’s where everybody ends up.
Maybe it’s different for other cultures. Where I come from however, we never eat out.
Maybe some falafel sandwiches. We had it because there are these shabby places
where everybody buys a salami sandwich. Sometimes, we would even take our plates
(again, nobody made hummus in the house). We would take our plates and stand in
line at the little hole in the wall and get our hummus almost every Friday; that was a
treat. Now, with COVID, we’re learning how to stay together, and I see a lot of people
learning how to cook. I’m asked a lot by my friends, “Oh auntie can you hurry up and
send me a recipe?” I think it has forced people to stay together, stay home, get to
know one another. They get to know what they like to eat and learn how to cook.

Basma Alawee: You came down to Jacksonville last year and you held a Healing Table.
What is the Healing Table?

Hanan Rasheed: Okay, can I show you this first? So, you saw me with my gloves, I was
really compacting the dough. We press on it, and then I spread the cheese mixture.
You’re going to cover it, so you don’t see any more dough. Okay? You guys see it? Then
I go back and do the first step which is the step with the clarified butter.

Question: Tell us more about the Healing Table.

I was so honored last year. I love Jacksonville. I was invited to do a TEDx talk about the
Healing Table, which I created because of the Palestinian-Jewish dialogue. I was part
of the Palestinian-Jewish dialogue living room in the Bay area, where we would sit
and talk to the other side. It was like a safe space; it was created by a dentist and his
wife named Traubman. He passed away last year unfortunately. He was a great man, a
great peacemaker. So, he created it in his living room in the Peninsula…and I got
invited! I went and I liked it. I said, “you know, that’s a good way to teach people
about Palestine and have the Palestinian voice be heard in a safe space, in a common
space.” Because Middle Easterners are very passionate, and things can get out of hand
when somebody says something wrong about your country. We made a lot of friends. I
call them, ‘from the peace camp.’ The people that want to state a solution, they want
equal rights with Palestinians and Israelis. Those types of people are my friends. Every
time we went, we gained something. People would walk in with something to teach.
Anyone that came in were Palestinians, Israelis, Jewish, Muslims, Christians, and
others, so everybody would walk in with something. We would put the topic on the
table and people would start while we were in a heated argument about who's right
and what’s going on in Palestine and Israel. We were having tea and bread and you see
people ask, “oh, what is that?” Yeah, this is Palestinian; this is from Palestine. I got
tired of doing that…the politics part. Because it makes me angry all the time and I
don’t know how to control my emotions. I’d rather be at peace and teach people about
Palestine in a different way. So, I chose food, because people would say, “Oh my god
Hanan, I saw this beautiful restaurant open in New York and they have hummus, and
they have tabbouleh, and it is the yummiest Israeli food.” I’m like, “Okay… that’s
Palestinian.” They'd ask, “what are you talking about?” So, I would explain that when
Israel occupied Palestine, they adopted our foods including: hummus, tabbouleh, and
baba ghanoush. I'm very happy to share, but I'd like people to give us that validation
and recognition that: We are people, we do exist, we have a culture, we have
traditions, and we have amazing food.

We're struggling with our own identity. I see more and more Palestinians, Yemenis,
and Iraqi chefs because of the unrest and the occupations in the countries at war.
These chefs are speaking through their food. It's food that people understand, so they
can sit in peace at a table and not fight over politics. When I started the Healing Table,
I was cooking with somebody from NYU while he was doing his master's degree. He
was Israeli. Kitchen Connection carried that similar attitude (Whole Foods sponsored
it). We cooked and had both parties present, and they would all have to dip their oil in
the middle, because I put all my food in the middle of the room. Both sides had to
come together and start talking civilly about the pain and needs of both sides. Then,
when I did my Healing Table session, I spoke about how and why I created it, and what
I wanted to see achieved for Palestinians someday as a mother, as a woman, and as a
Palestinian.

I feel like we all have our parts on this earth and no matter how small they are, I think
they're important. Professor Paul Nixon and Rena said, “hey, would you mind if we
adopt your healing table? You can cook it and you make it in culinary school.” I was so
happy! Of course, I was also nervous about giving the talk. I hadn’t memorized my
lines, but Rena hosted me at her house and told me “you have one day to finish your
speech.” I was so excited that I didn't have to practice or look at my notes! I cooked
with Shy, the big old guy, and he was very lovely, just like (...). He's a peaceful guy and
he cooked with me. We always do the shakshuka, because the Jewish community is
familiar with it since it came with them from North Africa from (...), Tunis, Morocco
and Palestine. We call it (...), except theirs is sweet and I do mine savory. When we
cooked together, we proved

that people are able to coexist and can have (...). I also wanted to show the similarities
rather than the differences that they always show on TV, as well as show that this is
the food of the Palestinian and Jewish community.
Basma Alawee: You mentioned before that during COVID-19 there have been many
things that have come about, such as time for reflection, finding more about who you
are and what you want to do.

Hanan Rasheed: First I had a little left and I didn't use all of it, but you can just drizzle
more of the butter and cover it with a foil. I have my oven at 350 degrees and, actually,
what I failed to tell you is that before when I did the pistachio an hour ago, you should
do your syrup. So here's a cup of water and I weighed two cups of sugar. You're just
gonna let them cook for about 15 minutes. They should have been done but they will
be soon. This one's going to go on 350 degrees with foil for 15 minutes on bake, and
then I'm gonna take the foil off. I'm going to then put it on a broil so I can get a golden
color for the top. Now the kunafa is done and the syrup is cooking.

I raised five kids, they are adults now but I've always told them that I want to go back
to college. I didn’t feel like a whole person and was ashamed that I didn't finish. My
kids would tell me, “Mom, you have life experience! There's this beautiful school in
New York”, which they went to one time for Thanksgiving and took some pie classes.
It was the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, which is actually in the World
Trade Center. They tried to convince me, “walk over mom, check it out and if you like
it enroll.” I walked in and thought, this is where God needs me to be, in this school. It
had gorgeous kitchens and everything was fresh from farms and fish farms! Right
away I signed up and they said they didn’t have any space and that I would have to
wait another year. I thought I couldn’t wait another year and that I would change my
mind by then. But, the second day, they called me and told me somebody had dropped
out so they would give me their space. I went to school there for a nine month
program and chose the morning shifts, every morning. We had to learn everything!
Since it's an Italian/French school, we learned about Italy and France. I loved the
geography and the history aspect. I went to the James Beard House in New York and
did 250 hours last Ramadan. I told my kids that I could do house and kids stuff with
my eyes closed, given that I've been doing it for 47 years, but I like a challenge. I like
to do something extra daily. I like being around people and talking to them about
Palestine and food.

I flipped it, remember? First the orange was at the bottom, then the cheese and then
the clear color. With that one, you can flip it piece by piece after you bake it. The one I
just made will then go in the oven. With the round ones, you'll always need a tray
that’s bigger than it so you could put it on top of it and flip it.Some people serve it like
this, put the pistachio and then let individuals pour their own syrup. You might not
want to give this to people who have diabetes since you need to be careful. Let's say for
the sake of time that we're all going to have this, so you’ll just drizzle the syrup and
let it drench in there. You can see that the color came out beautiful. It should be this
rich, rosy orange. It’ll soak all of that syrup and I'm going to let it saturate. Now, we’ll
go and use pistachio, which is my favorite ingredient to garnish all my dishes with.
 When you serve it, Basma knows, we take it in front of your guests so you don't slice
it in the kitchen. You want them to see that you honor and respect them, so you
present the whole thing, not just a few pieces. It's all about respect and status in the
Middle East. You should then go and sprinkle the pistachios. I like to make stations of
pistachios. The green color against the red also makes this a good Christmas dessert.
You have the greens and the red, which is present at every place in the Middle East.
It’s present in every Muslim, Christian househould and we don't do the same. People
don't know that we have Christians in Palestine! Where do they think Jesus was born?

So here it is..

Basma Alawee: Wow

Hanan Rasheed: I wish you guys could taste and smell it.

Basma Alawee: I know! I mean I wish I could smell it. Oh my god, this is my favorite
moment!

Hanan Rasheed: I was actually going to have an event at McLean Washington in

Virginia with Chef Chris who does, Chefs Without Restaurants. We waited until one day
he said, “Oh let's just get on the podcast and talk to keep people busy.” I had done a
podcast and then I did one with another chef. It's called, “Passed on Story.” I believe,
and we talked about the same thing. We talked about stories with Chef Billy, who’s
from Denver. He does these podcasts that document immigrant stories and talk about
how important immigrants are to this country. Our whole country was built and made
by immigrants. We brought all these amazing things and work to this country, and are
grateful to this country for giving us the chance to be here and excel. I didn’t have that
chance in Palestine or say raise my kids in Palestine as Americans, so I am grateful.
We just want this country to stay welcoming and to know that we're all here and the
same. We all just want to coexist, live, eat together and party together. That's our goal.
So thanks to social media I could be like, look at that I'm with you through zoom so I
have my email that you can share: hananrasheed@gmail. Email me and reach out. I'm
happy to teach or share a recipe or any stories you want.

Basma Alawee: I believe you mentioned something about the census?

Hanan Rasheed: Yes! When we left Palestine, we had a Jordanian passport. So when we
fled, we went to Jordan and stayed there for a year. The women and young kids snuck
in on an Obon flatbed with farmers, and every time the Israeli army would approach
we would pretend that we worked on the land. I even had a different name! While we
snuck back to our town, my father stayed another year. We made papers for him, but
the reason why we snuck back was because my uncle called and said somebody had to
come back to the house because they're doing the census. In this census, if you're not
counted you might lose your house and might not be able to enter, so that's why we
rushed. It was my mother, my older sister and I who went while the others who were
married stayed in Jordan. My baby brother, who was about six months old, came with
us too and snuck into the town. Then, we made my father's papers so when they came
knocking on the door they found that there were actually four of us there and that my
mom made him my father’s papers while he was in Jordan. Listen to Arabs, for we
know what a visa means. We know what an immigrant is, what refugee means, what
checkpoint means, what losing freedom means...

In my country, you get to know people that cook this food with love.

Outro: This program is brought to you by Islamic Relief USA, Welcoming Gainesville,
WeaveTales, Reyes Legal, PLLC + Emgage, Florida Immigrant Coalition, We Are All
America + Welcoming America, Museum of Science and History of Jacksonville and
the Family of Andrea Myers and Mack Mcshut.