Palestinians: Israel also appropriated cholent from us
Palestinian leaders and members of the BDS (Bondage, Dance and Sadism) movement condemned a Yiddish festival in Tel Aviv taking place this week due to its main refreshment: cholent.
“Cholent is a Palestinian national dish that has been hijacked and colonized by Israel’s culinary ethnic cleansing,” said Sabil Na’ath, head of the Culinary Resistance Activist Partnership (CRAP) in Ramallah.
According to CRAP, cholent originated in Canaanite cuisine and is indigenous to Palestine.
“The Zionists in their usual way have co-opted another one of our dishes, much as they have stolen hummus, sushi and matzah,” said Na’ath, munching on the savory meat, bean and potato stew.
Members of the BDS movement have now vowed to hold “cook-in” events across universities in the US and UK, where they will be cooking traditional Palestinian cuisine, including cholent.
“We will simmer all the leftovers we can find, as our ancestors have done for generations, and show students that these Zionist dishes are in fact our heritage.”
Organizers of the Yiddish festival in Tel Aviv were surprised by the CRAP uproar, arguing that cholent has been a part of
Jewish tradition for hundreds of years.
Tzvi Zuaretz-Cohen-Goldberg said he had eaten the dish with his grandparents and had no idea it would cause such offense among Palestinians and intersectional activists.
In the US, pro-Palestinian members of Congress, flanked by Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, cooked cholent in a protest demonstration and served it to other congressional representatives.
“Enjoy traditional Palestinian cuisine,” the posters said, alongside images of falafel, cholent, sushi and matzah ball soup.
Sen. Bernie Sanders stopped by and sampled the delicacies, saying “I’m proud to be Jewish – and to be frank, I’ve never had any of these dishes growing up. They must be Palestinian.”