From the honeyed sweets of Shatila, the Arab bakery I visited on my first day in Detroit, to the leafy greens from Detroit gardens, my taste buds were hard at work while I was at the U.S. Social Forum. My tongue detected the usual tastes of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory while my mind filled with the social issues pertaining to food–labor rights, race in the food system, access to resources, and the communal experience of preparing, sharing, and blessing food. The best way, it turns out, to talk about what I learned at the Social Forum is to talk about some of the food there: Read more →
Tagged as:
events,
food justice
June 21st was the first day of summer, my mom’s birthday, and the day I arrived in Detroit ready for a week-long trip of visiting family and participating in the second annual United States Social Forum, a major movement-building event for racial, economic, and gender justice. My parents scooped me up from Detroit Metro Airport and with a happy birthday hug to mom we were off to our first planned event: lunch at New Yasmeen Bakery in Dearborn, a part of Detroit that I’ve heard has the largest Arab population outside the Middle East—an area I’d somehow never dined in during the 21 years I lived in Michigan. We feasted on various plates, some I recognized like za’atar, hummus, an eggplant/tomato mixture, and others with a yogurt sauce that were new to me. Bellies full and leftovers in tow, my father insisted we visit Shatila Bakery down the street. The bakery’s size, opulence, and a mysteriously large number of fair-haired white folks placing orders and occupying the seats took me by surprise. I suspected and gradually pieced together that these were not locals. Apparently I wasn’t the only one noticing the group because when my number was called and I went to pay for my desserts, the woman behind the counter asked me where I was from, indicating a general “you” that included me with the rest of the white customers. I informed her that actually I was not with them, and that I heard they were a volunteer group from Florida. Read more →
Tagged as:
events,
food justice,
race
