Qatar Creates’ first Chef in Residence talks to Doha News on culinary storytelling, celebrating Palestinian food and why chasing culinary authenticity might be a daft idea.
Chef Fadi Khattan loathes a few words when it comes to discussions about food. Two of those are arguably the shabbiest of the culinary lexicon, from themed restaurants to high-profile cooking competitions.
One of them is elevated. “I don’t think there’s food that’s less than others,” Bethlehem-born Khattan justified, rather fervently. “And I hate the word authentic. What even is authentic?”
A quick internet search and definitions ranging anywhere from “food that meets its description and also meets a person’s reasonable assumption of its character” to that with “undisputed origin, made of real ingredients that come from designated places” pop up.
The erudite chef has a point. Authentic food, as a term, may not be as immutable as it is generally floated around, like most buzzwords. Absent from first-string dictionaries and not even vaguely specific.
“Is my mother’s lentil soup authentic?” Khattan asked. “I don’t know. Every time I call my mother to ask for the recipe, maybe she sneakily adds or removes an ingredient. I’m 47 years old, I think I’ve been fed a different Shorbet Adas every time it’s done. But that is authentic for me.”
It is around these ethos that Khattan’s career has revolved. The quest is rather about expression and storytelling instead of claims of authenticity.
“I am a chef who cooks my vision of Palestinian food,” he told Doha News. “If you’re looking for the grandmother’s cuisine, that’s not what I do. Your grandmother’s kitchen has the care, love, nostalgia and identity of the family, which I have no claim or right of claim to try competing.”
His emphasis on telling the story of his homeland, through a global lens, is what brought him to Doha as Qatar Creates’ first Chef in Residence. More chefs will follow Khattan in an exchange program aiming to promote dialogues around culture and identity using food and drink.
Hailed by many as the voice of modern Palestinian cuisine, largely due to his ventures in London and Toronto, Khattan aims to celebrate his roots and culture with whatever he puts on the plate. In doing so, the intent is to honour and spread the stories of techniques bequeathed by one generation to the other, local produce from the gardens of Bethlehem and the “artisans” that practice the craft of everyday cooking. The purpose is to document and share so that Palestinian food — and consequently the identity — develops a global awareness.
Khattan’s residency, which saw him curate a “rich, narrative-led menu” in Cafe #999 in late April and May, as well as organise curated dinners and masterclasses alongside beverage specialist Anna Patrowicz, was one such practice.
“I’m trying to play on the commonalities between Qatari and Palestinian culture, while also highlighting things that are unique to Palestine,” he said in April.
“We come from cultural spaces where for years and years we were taught that Western cuisine is better than ours,” Khattan added. “But we, too, have a beautiful culture of hospitality and delicious food. We shouldn’t shy away from that.”
There are deeper implications and a purpose to his culinary approach. In addition to cooking and hospitality, the wider context matters. From the place he is in to what is happening in the world — Khattan observes and reflects. Those serve as major narratives to what he cooks and tries to express on a plate.
Doha, without exception, had an effect.
“The sense of feeling secure at two in the morning here in downtown Doha is what every human being deserves,” Khattan said, when asked about his impressions of the Qatari capital. Not everyone has the same liberty, he added, referring to the restrictions that are put in place by the Israeli occupation across Palestine.
His first moments in Doha were equally striking. He is impressed, but it does not stop that.
“The moment I got off the plane and I was waiting to go through customs, I heard at least 11 different Arab dialects, and I felt I belonged,” he said. “It was refreshing because we have been cut from our Arabhood by the occupation.”
It was only inevitable that current events in Gaza have affected him and his work. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians in Gaza, according to a revised figure by the local health ministry. Israel has continued to pound the besieged strip, and a complete blockade since March has pushed the whole territory into famine.
Khattan could not cook for a few days following October 7, and there is still an uneasiness as the atrocities continue. “I couldn’t understand how I could cook when people are being starved by a man-made decision,” he said with a voice filled with concern.
But, as it is with most of his work, there was a broader purpose and a stronger reason to push through. According to Khattan, cooking with ingredients and recipes native to his homeland is an effort to keep conversations around the Palestinian cause alive.
“What hit me is that in 1948, when we were occupied for the first time, our cultural heritage was stolen. For the last 76 years, our cuisine has been appropriated, and the Israelis have been claiming it as theirs,” he said.
“I don’t compare the stealing of recipes to the death of a human being, and I would not be a human being if I did compare it,” Khattan said, when asked about the ongoing genocide in Gaza. “But I do think we have a duty to preserve our food.”
Each dish prepared by Palestinians around the world, hence, is a quiet defiance and a reminder that culture cannot be occupied.“It is important we remind people that Palestinians want to live like everybody else, not less,” he said.
And so, Khattan will continue to cook and tell stories from his homeland to places. Not as nostalgia, but as presence. In the end, the question isn’t whether a dish is authentic or elevated. It’s whether it carries the weight of memory, the will to survive, and the hope that even in displacement, identity can still be plated and shared.
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