World Peace: Start by Eating Your "Enemy's" Food & Listening to Their Music

We are less likely to hate or hurt another, if we know them better. When it comes to other nations, cultures and religions, ignorance is not bliss—it is dangerous.

That is why I get excited by initiatives that dare to care by reaching out to know their enemy and, in turn, teaching us to love them better. One example of this is Michael Rakowitz'Enemy Kitchen, in Chicago. Born to an Iraqi-Jewish mother, Rakowitz created his food truck/cooking workshop/public art project to educate different audiences, including school students, about Iraq. Using Baghdadi recipes he compiled, Rakowitz realized that 'preparing and consuming food opens up a new route through which Iraq can be discussed' (adding more nuance to the scary headlines in the news). Watch Rakowitz show you more about his project.

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After all, we all have to eat and, perhaps, if we really enjoy the cuisine of another, foreign and vilified country, we might be less likely to bomb them. I'm idealistic enough to believe in something akin to world peace through world cuisine, a kind of broad, personal interfaith dialogue achieved through nonpolitical, creative means, such as cultural exchanges.

Another initiative, with similar noble intentions, that I find incredibly heartening is the even more ambitious Conflict Kitchen a restaurant which only serves food from countries the United States is in conflict with (a rotating and expanding list, one might imagine, lately).

In addition to serving food, the restaurant is supplemented by events like, "Join a local Palestinian for Lunch" where each week a different local Palestinian will be available at Conflict Kitchen to share their lunchtime with interested members of the public.

Below, is a sample of their delicious menu-as-peace-offering:

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Socially-engaged art, or Artivism (art + activism) is nothing new. Which is why, venues like Enemy & Conflict Kitchen also incorporate performances, publications and exchanges in an effort to raise our awareness and expand our consciousness.

This is the domain of art, and something it can even achieve, wordlessly, in the case of music. No wonder art critic, Walter Pater, once said: All art aspires to the condition of music. Music is universal language, and gets it message across, eloquently, irrespective of artificial barriers, that separate people.

A fine example of music's power to create dialogue and heal across a great divide is the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded in 1999, by Israeli pianist and composer, Daniel Barenboim, and Palestinian cultural theorist, Edward Said. The orchestra gets its name from a collection of poems by German writer and statesman, Goethe, inspired by Persian poet Hafiz, dealing with the idea of the Other as Self. As part of this orchestra, musicians from the Palestinian Territories, Israel and other Arab countries tour around the world making music together and, hopefully, creating new possibilities, building bridges.

Earlier today, I heard from a refined American friend of mine I admire: book reviewer, musician, and an aspiring global citizen, deeply curious about the cultures of others. He shared with me news that a friend of his, Rahim Alhaj, has just released a new album in collaboration with a Persian santūr player, Sourena Sefati, and Palestinian-American percussionist, Issa Malluf.

If Iran and Palestine are mysteries to you, or worse, problems without solutions, I beseech you to give this a listen. In the words of my fine American friend:

If you’d like some beautiful sounds for your ears, you can check it out for free at:

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