Yotam Ottolenghi: "From Arak To Za’Atar", SOAS, University of London
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 24/11/2014

This SOAS Food Studies Centre (http://www.soas.ac.uk/foodstudies/) Distinguished Lecture titled "From Arak To Za’Atar: Jerusalem and its many culinary traditions" was given by Yotam Ottolenghi at SOAS, University of London on 12 November 2014.

"In my lecture I will talk about stuffed vegetables and rice casseroles, about hummus wars and various other culinary skirmishes, and about pork shrewdly dressed as turkey. Through these I will try to give a general view of Jerusalem, its tapestry of people and some of the foods they celebrate and fight over.”

Biography
“I grew up in Jerusalem and left it more than two decades ago. More recently, I returned to the city to look at it through a chef’s eyes and try to understand its food. This turned out to be a very tall order: the city’s culinary cultures are so complex and intricate, and also so sensitive and politically charged, that I had to make do with descriptions and stories that are either very private or rather arbitrary.”