Yezzan Khalil, proprietor of the Gladstone Barber and Bistro, a quite singular place in Stalybridge, has been visiting the Palestinian West Bank since he was a baby. He has 26 cousins there, uncles, aunties, nan, granddad. When he was there a few years back, they ordered in some beef for a family feast. A cow arrived a few hours later, alive, and on the back of a pick-up truck.
“So at least you know it’s fresh,” he says. “Another time, for a family wedding, we’d picked a bull from the farm. There are three parts to a wedding, and one is putting on a massive party for everyone in your town, to give a bit back. The guy actually offered me to do the prayer and the knife. I couldn’t do it. Didn’t have it in me!”
Unsurprisingly, it’s not that bit that he misses when he’s not there. “Fresh hummus and falafel,” he says. “The hummus shops. You’ll send one of the cousins off in the morning, the little ones, with a few quid, and they’ll come back with this tray, decorated with pickled vegetables, spices, olive oil. It’s beautiful. Everything is based around food there. Everywhere you go, you can smell something cooking.”
