The Mosaic Rooms is pleased to host the UK launch of The Gaza Kitchen by Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt. The authors will be in conversation with Anissa Helou, who is an internationally known food writer, art collector, journalist and broadcaster and one of the leading experts on the cuisine of the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

In summer 2010, the authors  traveled the length and breadth of the Gaza Strip to collect the recipes presented in this exciting new cook book. Gaza has a rich food tradition and a unique cuisine combining Levantine and Egyptian elements. However The Gaza Kitchen is not only a cookbook. In addition to cooking the kitchen serves as a place for conversations, the re-telling of family histories, and the daily drama of surviving and creating spaces for pleasure in an embattled place. In this book, women and men from throughout Gaza tell their stories as they relate to cooking, farming, and the food economy: personal stories, family stories, and descriptions of the broader social and economic system in which they live.

The book has received praise from a number of international figures. At the International Cookbook Fair in Paris in February, the jury of the Gourmand International Cookbook Awards named The Gaza Kitchen the Best Arab Cookbook of 2013.

Laila El-Haddad is a talented blogger, political analyst, social activist, and parent-of-three from Gaza City. She is also a contributing author to The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict, and a policy advisor with al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.

Maggie Schmitt is a writer, researcher, translator, educator, and social activist. She holds a B.A. from Harvard in Literature and has conducted advanced graduate studies in Social Anthropology and Mediterranean Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

A Q&A and book signing will follow the conversation.

FREE, rsvp@mosaicrooms.org

Don’t forget to check our screenings page for forthcoming films at The Mosaic Rooms.