Welcome to Conflict Kitchen's first iteration, Kubideh Kitchen. Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries that the United States is in conflict with. The food is served out of a take-out style storefront, which will rotate identities every 4 months to highlight another country. Each Conflict Kitchen iteration will be augmented by events, performances, and discussion about the the culture, politics, and issues at stake with each county we focus on. Kubideh Kitchen is an Iranian take-out restaurant that serves kubideh in freshly baked barbari bread with onion, mint, and basil. Developed in collaboration with members of the Pittsburgh Iranian community, the sandwich is packaged in a custom-designed wrapper that includes interviews with Iranians both in Pittsburgh and Iran on subjects ranging from Iranian food and poetry to the current political turmoil.
Latest
Kubideh Kitchen Food Wrapper
Graphic design by Brett Yasko. The text on this wrapper is culled from interviews with Iranians both in Pittsburgh and Iran.
[...] a place with great food doesn’t care for us too much? You sure can. In fact your kubideh will be served inside a wrapper with a little backstory, a little history, and a little introduction…. And while the food will no doubt be great– the folks at the Conflict Kitchen are working [...]
I am commenting on this particular post because I got the chance to read one of these wrappers recently. Overall it was very enlightening. However, it was pretty hurtful (as a Jew) to read the section on Israel. I can understand trying to relay an authentic viewpoint, but if the goals are to foster understanding and push aside political pretenses (are they?), then that section soured those efforts. Instead of highlighting the positives of the relationship between Iranians and Israelis, the statements consisted of finger pointing at the evil actions of the State of Israel. This opportunity to share about Iranian culture should not be about blame and highlighting other groups in a negative light. It is not about who is right, and who is wrong. It is about understanding and communication. The other sections of the wrapper did a wonderful job at doing just that.
The Conflict Kitchen is a wonderful project and I wish it the most success. Perhaps it will also fuel the demand for authentic Middle Eastern food in Pittsburgh as well!
I was also disappointed after reading the Israel section of the food wrapper. I am an Iranian Jew. I was born in Iran, and lived there until the age of 10 when my family fled the country as refugees due to religious persecution.
Not only do I disagree with some of the comments in the Israel section of the food wrapper, but I can point out that some of the information is factually incorrect. For one thing, the wrapper states that Jewish schools are funded by government money in Iran. This was in fact true when my parents were growing up in Iran. However, after the Islamic revolution in 1979, all of these schools were shut down. In order to provide me with an education, my family’s only option was to send me to public school, where I was forced to study the Koran and chant “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” on a daily basis in the school yard.
By far the most comical comment on the food wrapper is the “neat fact” that “Iran still has the largest concentration of Jews outside Israel in the Middle East”. This may be true, but it should also be pointed out that the Islamic Republic of Iran has made it illegal for Jews to leave the country! The majority of the Jewish population has managed to flee, leaving behind all of their wealth and possessions in order to start a new life in free countries such as Israel or the USA.
I applaud Conflict Kitchen for attempting to start a dialogue about countries such as Iran. However, I wish they would have been responsible enough to do some simple fact-checking before putting people’s inaccurate opinions in print.
[...] homemade barbari bread. The printed paper wrapper extends the mission of the project by including readings on related [...]