Enticing scents waft through the covered passageways of Jerusalem's ‘Old City’. Three women tourists are pushing their way through the Oriental Bazaar towards a booth selling exotic spices. The women enthusiastically inhale the aroma of cardamom, cumin-seed and rusty-red sumac. "We'll be cooking with these tonight," says Shawna Goodman, a blonde tourist from Canada. She is out shopping with Breaking Bread Journeys, an agency that has set a goal of providing tourists with authentic travel experiences in both the Israel and the Palestinian territories. Behind this tourism idea, which is supported by the US development assistance agency USAID, are Christina Samara, a Palestinian, and Elisa Moed, an Israeli.
"Tourism is a means to finding a way to co-operate," says the 43-year-old Samara, whose mother is originally from the southern German city of Fuerth. "The name of the Project is based on the tradition of blessings that are invoked during the breaking of bread - something that all religions have in common," she says. The two women got to know each other while working for a committee chaired by the Mideast envoy and former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Till now, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have sought to keep the tourists separate. “We realised that, at the end, it is the tourists and the local businessmen who suffer," Moed says. The two women offer various tours, including ‘On the trail of Jesus’ and ‘Herod the Great’. The female tourists exploring the spice market are on a tour called ‘Authentic Food and Culture’, which also takes in the West Bank towns of Nablus and Bethlehem. "I really believe that eating together can serve the cause of peace. If someone invites you into their home, it is very personal," the Canadian woman says. "It is also a very pleasant way of making peace," she adds with a laugh. On the way towards the old City Centre, the travel guide leads the group to an unusual, very simple-looking restaurant where, since 1860, only one type of a simple sweet pastry has been baked. Called Mutabak (Arabic word for ‘folded’), it is made from flour, soft cheese and syrup; the recipe has been passed down from generations. In the evenings the women cook together in an Armenian restaurant, together with ‘Chefs for Peace’, an association of 13 Muslim, Jewish and Christian cooks. Kevork Alemian, the organisation's founder, stresses that one can't trust the politicians to deliver peace in the Middle East. ‘Chefs for Peace’ challenges the people of the Middle East to approach each other at a personal level. "I believe that If we cook together in a kitchen, we can learn to forget our differences," Alemian says hopefully."We're not acting as if everything is alright. We want to simply face up to the problems."
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