In 2014 microbiologist Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel became the first Muslim Arab to win Israeli Masterchef. In 2015 she went on to found the A-Sham Food Festival. A-Sham is the Arab word for The Levant, that area of the middle east which encompasses modern-day Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria. Held annually in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, the Festival has two main remits: to rediscover traditional dishes of The Levant; and to bring Jewish and Arab chefs together.
In Breaking Bread, emerging director Beth Elise Hawk has pulled together a documentary about the Festival. It is both a delicious celebration of a rich culinary tradition, and an epistle to the peace-loving people of Israel. As Atamna-Ismaeel herself says, 90% of Israelis want to live in peace, but it is the other 10% that make the news.
The film follows several chefs during the Festival. A restaurant in Haifa run by a Jewish chef will be paired with a Muslim chef (and vice versa) for the duration of the Festival. Hawk focusses on four pairings in particular, allowing the audience to follow the development of friendships and of extraordinary dishes.
Haifa itself comes out of this film looking like a city to put on the bucket-list: open, accepting, diverse, and culturally rich. Former mayor of Haifa Yona Yahav (since replaced by Haifa’s first female mayor), is interviewed for the film, speaking proudly of Haifa’s work on reconciliation, and the role the Festival plays in that framework.
Lovers of middle-eastern food will be delighted with the diversity of dishes on show, and with the news that a cookbook will be released soon, based on the film. The fabulous night-life of Haifa forms a warm and passionate backdrop to the bringing-together of Jews and Arabs around tables laden with kishek, qatayef, and hummus.
Chef Tomer Abergel sums it all up beautifully:
No matter where you are in the world, even in a war-torn area, if you cook for somebody, and he eats your food-that’s where the politics ends.
Breaking Bread opens on 3rd June.
Check out the official website here.
a beautiful and important documentary 4 stars
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