Tamam: Fine Palestinian Cuisine

This weekend special: Gazan Sayadiyah. صيادية غزاوية. Made with Luqus fish سمك اللقس. This is one the most beloved dishes specifically in Gaza and Palestine.

This week we are serving Sultan Ibrahim fish (the most delicious and most sought after fish in the Levant).

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Havana

A city of many contradictions, beautiful but sad, alluring but not overwhelming, bountiful yet lacking. You see it as you walk in the city, the glorious past written in architectural masterpieces, that are decaying. Being a tourist in Havana is like pressing a reset button to our touristic voyeurism and our consumption of pleasure. Suddenly you have to live with the very basic, basic food, basic clothing, basic means of transportation. You have to learn navigation without wifi and google maps and you have to physically look for a taxi and not just by few clicks on your device. Ask a local about directions to a place and most likely they’ll walk you there. Cubans are kind, generous and very friendly people.
(Photos by Tamam).

Our Mujaddarah fundraiser is on today, from 1:00 - 5:00 pm.

Nice article featuring interesting restaurants and authentic dishes from different cultures. Read more. https://westcoastfood.ca/around-the-world-in-metro-vancouver/.

We started our mujaddarah fundraiser on October 29, 2024, and so far we had six fundraisers, raising in total over 91k. But more than the monetary value, those fundraisers provided a safe space for a community of people to evolve and to verbalize their solidarity with Gaza and Palestine. People from all walks of life, from all backgrounds and ages stopped by to donate and to express their support. Artists, crafts people, educators, activists, took the initiative to contact us and offer to donate their artwork and their time. Without this community of people we would not have been able to get to this point. We want to thank all those who stopped by the fundraisers to support, the volunteers who worked hard for long hours, the artists who donated their works without even being asked to do so.

We have tried to send money directly to Gaza on few occasions, but then we found out that 20%-30% of the money sent will be taken by money changers. We thought for a moment of helping Gazans in BC who are trying to get their family members to get out of Gaza, but then we discovered that most of the money will go to corrupt Egyptian security officials who are charging more than 10k per person. At the same time, we had to think about all those Gazans who don’t have anyone in Canada to get them out, they have no chance of ever leaving Gaza. Given the massive destruction brought upon them by the zionist fascists, Gazans will be in need for help for a very long time to come. We promised you from the beginning that these funds will go to Gaza for medical aid or food, and so we will wait until we can fulfill our promise to you by making sure that every dollar will reach Gaza and not some crook taking opportunities of people’s vulnerabilities. .collis .naive.art .vancouver .alkhammash .illustrations .g

So far we raised $91k. Our goal is to raise 100k, help us make this one, the last mujaddarah fundraiser so that we move on to the next phase, which will include film, music and poetry.

Humus is not so simple to make. Starting with dry chickpeas, the making of it involves soaking, boiling, grinding, mixing, and garnishing.

Denees دنيس is a popular fish in Palestine, and best eaten in Gaza. Last week we scored some freshly imported from Tunisia. Someday we hope to import it from Gaza. And someday we hope that you, the reader of this post, will get a chance to eat this fish in Gaza. Long live Palestine and her vibrant culture and ancient history.

We are running our fundraiser today from 1:00 pm - 5:00pm. Bring your mom for lunch, or take some mujaddarah for her, and donate to our Gaza fundraiser. No matter how small, every dollar is going to help. And more than money, it’s important on a day like this, to show love, compassion and solidarity with Gaza mothers.

Tomorrow Sunday May 12, is our Mujaddarah fundraiser. We will not stop until we bring the total to 100k. Right now we raised close to 85k. Where will the money go? As we said before, once our people in Gaza confirm an organization id delivering medical aid or food, we will send the money to that organization. Please come and support us reaching our goal to raise funds and build a community that spreads hope.

Feeding UBC students. With the help and generosity of many we are feeding UBC students encampment, some delicious Palestinian food. Next week we will be cooking ingredients donated to them by good hearted people.

just announced their 2024 restaurant awards. received Bronze award in Middle East food category. We’re happy and excited but we still think that the category “Middle Eastern” is problematic as it is a colonial designation. It is political, not cultural or geographical.

Thank you Jamie Burke for this nice review.
Read more

https://www.straight.com/food/perspectives-in-place-owners-of-tamam-palestinian-restaurant-use-food-to-celebrate-and-educate

We are cooking up a storm for these folks tomorrow.

In 1968 students in Europe and the USA taught us a great lesson, that the university is not outside of history and politics. Contrary to that the university is at the heart of our democratic values, a protector of human rights and actively engaged in the process of re-wetting history. We are proud of the student movement and we are not surprised by the violence committed against them.

We held a private fundraiser on Sunday April 14th, for SFU faculty. What a great evening to talk about Palestine with educators in graduate schools. We cannot stress enough the importance of bringing Palestine into the classroom. This is an important step towards making Palestinians visible and our voices heard. For so long we have been silenced, our tragedy downplayed as a “conflict” as if it was between two neighbours. For so long, western powers helped Israel by covering up for their crimes.

We are going to keep working with communities around us, and we will develop new ways to engage with people and communities. In the meantime, our mujaddarah fundraiser will continue to run. The next fundraiser is on May 12, 1:00 - 5:00 pm. Until now we have raised $83,763 (eighty three thousand, seven hundred and sixty three dollars)

We have established Kites of Hope Society, as a charity that will organize all future fundraisers and activities undertaken to raise awareness about Palestine and to raise funds for Gaza.

This is the kind of community engagement that yields results. This is really important, teachers in BC are starting a conversation as to how to teach Palestine in the classroom. For so long, we Palestinians suffered from being ignored or dismissed as irrelevant. Our voices were muted, our stories twisted. Now it’s the time to start telling the truth about Palestine. We as parents, all we want is just to tell the truth about Palestine. That it wasn’t a “crappy piece of land” but a beautiful country with culture and history. The truth about Palestine is that it is subjected to a brutal settler-colonial regime, that is from its outset was genocidal. Thank you to all those involved in this important project

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Global day of fasting

March 21st is Mother’s Day and first day of spring, in Palestine. Let’s make this day a global day of fasting in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Let’s make it a day when in every breath we take we remind ourselves that we have work to do to make this world better. That we have to stand firmer against racism and all of its ugly manifestations. That we have to hold our politicians accountable to the genocide unfolding live on our screens while listening to convicted criminals justifying their murderous campaign of revenge which, they label biblical.

As a family restaurant, woman owned business, we are calling upon all people of conscious all over the world to stand in solidarity with Palestinian women on mother’s day. Let’s make it a day where we renew our commitment to standing against colonialism and its genocidal agendas. Please spread the word.

Ramadan Kareem. As dates are a must during the month of Ramadan, please pay attention that Israeli dates are being marketed as Turkish, Afghani, Tunisian, ..etc. when you buy from a local store you can easily see if labeling has been changed. At times like these, it makes perfect sense to support Palestinian dates. Great for merchants and small businesses or group of families to share. All info is in the picture, or on website.

Scotia bank invested $500 million in an Israeli arms company. They need to hear that this is wrong. Join one of the many marches, switch your Scotiabank to make a statement.