Fattoush Story Circle
6:00-8:00 p.m. Thomas Paine Plaza 1401 JFK Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19102
Just a few weeks after our #iAlphabet banners came down from the Municipal Services Building windows, we are returning to Thomas Paine Plaza to facilitate a program tying in #iAlphabet themes with the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society's Farm for the City installation! Join us on Thursday, August 23 from 6 to 8 p.m. to explore how food is an important form of cultural heritage through an interactive poetry workshop and story circle. We will share a recipe for fattoush, a traditional Arabic salad, during the program!
Ingredients Across Borders: Sumac
Ingredients Across Borders was a series of two workshops inspired by themes in An Immigrant Alphabet and presented in collaboration with The Free Library Culinary Literacy Center
Our second workshop highlighted sumac, a significant ingredient in cuisines of the Americas and the Middle East. Chef Anan Zahr showed everyone how to prepare musakhan, a popular farmer’s dish from Palestine, that is traditionally made during olive oil pressing season to celebrate the harvest. Musakhan features sumac-roasted chicken with fresh bread and onions sauteed in extra virgin olive oil. Participants also learned how to make traditional Palestinian chopped salad and hummus through hands-on instruction and enjoyed samples alongside the musakhan. Food, stories, and memories were shared around a communal table, connecting meals to home and place while learning about the roots and routes of the key ingredient.
Ingredients Across Borders: Cinnamon
Ingredients Across Borders was a series of two workshops inspired by themes in An Immigrant Alphabet and presented in collaboration with The Free Library Culinary Literacy Center Our first workshop highlighted the culinary uses of cinnamon as one of many ingredients that have moved and adapted from culture to culture. Participants learned how to prepare Liberian rice bread, baklava, and Sudanese cinnamon tea while learning about the roots and routes of the key ingredient. Everyone shared a meal and stories around a communal table, tasting what they had prepared while connecting over topics of food, memories, and home.
Reporting on Immigration: Both Sides of the Story
Dec. 5, 2017 Al-Bustan and WHYY presented "Reporting on Immigration: Both Sides of the Story" – featuring panelists Emma Restrepo, Laura Benshoff, Perla Lara and Jeff Gammage, moderated by Fernando Chang-Muy and Vena Jefferson.
Panel Discussion on Migration
In partnership with International House Philadelphia, Office of Immigrant Affairs, and University of Pennsylvania, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture presented an interdisciplinary panel on migration and its impact on society and the city. Three experts from the legal, urban studies, and sociological spheres will addressed questions of who becomes an immigrant and why, where refugees are settling throughout the region, how immigration makes and remakes spaces, and how it transforms socioeconomic and cultural systems. The panelists will offered insight about the economic and cultural benefits immigration brings, as well as challenges faced by immigrants and refugees as they make new lives in the region. Panelists Included: Domenic Vitiello, Fernando Chang-Muy and Emilio A. Parrado
