U nukuch che’ilo’ob chiicho’ob yéetel noolo’ob
Two Kitchens - From Beirut to Berlin
A workshop on Zaatar, the kitchen and land-based practices in South Lebanon
12. October 2025
14.00-17.00
14.00-17.00
Save the Date
all ages welcome
in German/in English
This workshop takes Za'atar as a starting point to explore the kitchen as a political space connected to land-based practices in Lebanon. In connecting the SPORE outdoor kitchen to the kitchen of Fatme Hamdan and Abir Hamdan in Beirut, we will discuss how kitchens can become spaces of learning ecologies, solidarity, and resistance across borders.
Register here
The kitchen as sphere that connects diasporic practices through the shared thread of preparing food, creating links between land-based practices and social webs across borders - grounded in relations and situated perspectives.
What can Za'atar teach us about memory, and the struggles for food sovereignty in times of war and ecological destruction in the context of South Lebanon? With roots tracing back to 12th-century Palestine, Zaatar embodies a layered history, of interwoven social fabric of communities with the material realities of land. Its recipes today vary not only between regions but also from family to family. In this workshop, participants will prepare Zaatar using a recipe from a kitchen in Beirut, while exploring its roots in premodern food culture, the historical shifts in everyday kitchen practices in relation to the land, and the ongoing realities of land destruction and occupation in the South.
With Fatme Hamdan, Abir Hamdan, Leonie Böttiger, Epona Hamdan and Salma Arzouni.
Please write a mail to participate@spore-initiative.org with a short paragraph, why you are interested in taking part and how you want to pass on the knowledge and experiences.
