PHILADELPHIA — For Anan Jardali Zahr, food isn’t just fuel for the body or delights for the taste buds. Food is a way for Zahr, a Palestinian American chef living in the suburbs of Philly, to hold on to her culture and traditions. And for her, food is political.
Zahr grew up on the Mediterranean coast, in the city of Acre in Israel — but when asked where she’s from, Zahr responds, “I was born in Akka, Palestine.” In 1965, when she was 11, Zahr and her family immigrated to Davis, California. But while Zahr was nearly 12,000 miles away from her hometown, Palestinian culture was intrinsic to her family and upbringing in the United States — and it’s what she revolves her life around as an adult.
After discovering her passion for cooking traditional Palestinian food, Zahr in 2000 opened a popular restaurant in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, called Olive Tree Mediterranean Gourmet, which operated for six years. She’s given demonstrations about Palestinian cuisine at local institutions, and has gained an online following from posting pictures and recipes of her cooking on Instagram. More recently, Zahr brought seeds for native vegetables back with her from Palestinian territories and donated them to the local farm-based seed company Truelove Seeds.
