'We are one nation': Jewish, Arab teens build relationships at 'Cooking Peace' culinary camp

The inaugural "Cooking Peace" summer camp successfully brought together forty Jewish and Arab teenagers for a week of culinary exploration and relationship building in central Israel.

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The Cooking Peace camp is an initiative by the Green Network. We have staff from all backgrounds in Israeli society. We have Arab facilitators, we have Jewish facilitators, even ultra-Orthodox and religious facilitators.

The program, held at the Ben Shemen Youth Village, focused on fostering dialogue, promoting environmentally sustainable cooking practices, and educating teens on nutrition. Participants, aged 15-17 and from across Israel, engaged in activities designed to bridge cultural divides. A key component was a two-day culinary workshop led by professional chefs.

Myriam Charbit, the camp director, emphasized the initiative's goal of leveraging diversity as a strength. "We have staff from all backgrounds in Israeli society. We have Arab facilitators, we have Jewish facilitators, even ultra-Orthodox and religious facilitators," she said. Charbit described cooking as an ideal medium for building connections, stating, "Cooking is opening the eyes. Cooking is about happiness, about connection, about being together, about talking and laughing and sharing experiences."

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Cooking is opening the eyes. Cooking is about happiness, about connection, about being together, about talking and laughing and sharing experiences. And when you cook together, you can teach each other things.

Maram Younis, who partnered with Charbit to organize the camp, stressed the importance of relying on shared values. "For each group, we had two instructors: one Jewish, one Arab. One speaking Arabic, one speaking Hebrew." Younis noted that creating a comfortable environment for discussing sensitive issues, including Jewish-Arab relations, was crucial.

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It was important for us to rely on values that are important for both sides, the Arab and the Jewish. For each group, we had two instructors: one Jewish, one Arab. One speaking Arabic, one speaking Hebrew.

Teen campers echoed the positive impact of the program. Noga, a Jewish teen from Tel Aviv, called food "an incredible love language" that connects everyone. She observed that despite their different backgrounds, the campers shared similar interests in music and food, leading them to realize their commonalities. "It just shows us we're all the same people. We’re not different," she said.

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Food is such an incredible love language. With no actual language, it really connects everything and everybody.