The Soul of Gaza: A Cookbook Project

✨ Join us ✨on Zoom on Nov 16 at 7:00 pm EST for a special kickoff event for THE SOUL OF GAZA (روح غزة): a growing cookbook project and personal journey by Gazan chef Samah Nijim into the tables, homes, women, and traditions of Gaza that live through its people and across generations.

Samah will treat us to a reading of excerpts, painting a vision of Palestine alive with joy and tradition. Her husband Dr. Ayman Nijim, along with organizers from the @egalsmkehilla, will share political context. Then, in a conversation spanning movements, Leah Penniman of @soulfirefarm will join Samah and Ayman for a lively discussion nurturing connections among Palestinian, Black and Indigenous land and food sovereignty.

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Samah Nijim holds a bachelor’s degree from Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Palestine, and moved to the United States in 2019. Her passion for cooking is deeply rooted in her Palestinian heritage and the memories of family, home, and the rich culinary traditions of Gaza.

Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol mother, farmer, activist, author, scientist, African Traditional Priest, and ecochaplain who has been tending the soil and organizing for a racially just food system for 30 years. She serves as Co-Founder and Farm Director at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, a training farm dedicated to Afro-Indigenous food and land sovereignty. @leahpenniman

Dr. Ayman Nijim is a scholar of Liberation Psychology who brings together research, lived experience, and personal testimony to explore Gaza, collective trauma, and the human consequences of violence and displacement. He considers what dignity, justice, and collective survival mean in the face of profound loss.

Laura Vitale is an artist and founder working in community health and a member of the Egalitarian Sefardi/Mizrahi Kehilla of NYC. @lauraevitale