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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ruth Michaelson and Quique Kierszenbaum

‘We are disappearing’: chef Fadi Kattan aims to keep Palestinian heritage alive through food

Oranges and watermelons for sale at the market in Bethlehem with three women in headscarfs in front of the stall.
Oranges and watermelons for sale at a market stall in Bethlehem. ‘There should be piles of aubergines and courgettes,’ says Kattan. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

Fadi Kattan looked forlornly at the stalls inside the Bethlehem vegetable market bearing small quantities of oranges, watermelons and cauliflowers. “This stall should be heaped with products, he said. “And over there should be piles of aubergines and courgettes.”

The watermelons from Jenin looked too small for the season, while he wasn’t sure where the boxes of oranges were from. They would normally be from Gaza. At Um Nabil’s stall in the West Bank market where Kattan is a regular customer, she told him she could no longer afford to bring in the best small local cucumbers or piles of green cherries from her village of Artas.

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