SHOPPING WITH DAD So on the eve of Israel going into Gaza my father says hey want to come with me to get some great chicken and i amiably say sure.He drives me all the way in the east end about 3/4 of an hour away past strip malls and concrete jungles and stops at a huge super store and saysHere we are I enter with dad and look around and realize this is a Palestinian supermarket the size of a Costco ,everyone ,everyone is Arab and my father and I are the only Jews and Israel is invading Gaza and we are here ostensibly for chicken ! The last time i was the only Jew was when i got lost and ended up in Ramallah trying to look like a Canadian tourist .I look at my father who is oblivious. I know some arabic mostly from army days.All the slang was arabic and all the swear words were arabic so just in case i might be able to mange. It can get tricky.The arabic word for thank you is shukran but the Israeli word for liar is shakran.I have got into many a sticky situation in the Old City of Jerusalem by messing up the words.Also the word cos in hebrew is glass as in water and the word cous is something to do with your mother fornicating with a camel so you must tread carefully.I thought back to more phrases i learned in arabic like Hi there is that a suicide belt under your pants or are you just happy to see me I was starting to feel a little less brave. Food for me is the great equalizer and i would rather eat than fight anyway and i was here to eat .Rows and rows of vegetables and fruits and figs and dates and pastries of baklava and all the delicacies i remembered from the Arab part of town and trays of kibbe and shishlik on the grill and i started to relax.I ordered a falafel from Achmed ,a kid of 18 who under my strict supervision made my falafel .More tahina.more chariff i urged and more eggplant ,Achmed.We scarfed that down ,not as good as an Israeli falafel but not bad either.I asked about lachmunjun.Yess!!!! They had it .Armenian pizza on thin slices of pita with lamb and spices and herbs and minced tomatoes .You warm them up ,put a salad in between and pour tahini over it.Pure heaven .I bought 8 of them to freeze.Next i ordered a box of the various pastry .The whole time i peppered my language with arabic phrases .I did get a few hard looks but i ignored them and carried on .Dad bought his hallal chicken wrapped in a pita and a fatouche salad .I looked for harissa and asked one of the staff and he pointed out olive tapenade .I said no .He pointed out chutney.I shook my head.I said with incredulity ,You dont know harissa? Do you know Tupac? Yes he said.50 cents? Yes he nodded .You dont know harissa? Finally i found someone else to show me.This young generation.The arab culture was founded on harissa for crying out loud.The check out woman asked cheerfully,Where did you learn your arabic? I replied, Israel There was silence.Shalom she said.Salaam ,I replied . Dad and i got into the car.I shot him a look . Thanks dad for the adventure. Anytime ,he smiled.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 21:28:58 +0000