Celebrating the depth and diversity of BC publishing
How do you preserve the tastes of home when you’ve been forced to flee the place you’re from?
In Zaatari, Karen E. Fisher takes us to the largest Syrian refugee camp in the world, home to over 80,000 people, and shares the stories, the recipes, the traditions and the art of its indomitable residents. More than a cookbook, it is an immersive culinary tour full of culture, vitality and perseverance.
Mohammad Shwamra, a resident of Zaatari Camp who was editorial and production assistant for this book, is traveling to Canada to join Karen for this book presentation.
Karen and Mohammad will appear in conversation with Nihal Elwan, entrepreneur and founder of Tayybeh, a catering company and social enterprise in Vancouver, that provides steady employment opportunities for Syrian newcomer women.
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Karen E. Fisher is a Professor at the Information School, and Adjunct Professor in the Communication Department at the University of Washington. She is also an embedded field ethnographer for UNHCR Jordan, Adjunct Professor, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland, and Visiting Professor at the Information School, Siegen University, DE. Karen’s focus is the Syrian war and she works in the Levant, and much of her work is at UNHCR Za’atari Camp in Jordan, where she’s led projects like the Za’atari Camp Cookbook—a multi-year co-design project with over 2000 Syrians about preserving indigenous knowledge of food, Arab medicine and culture; and Za’atari Camp Libraries—the world’s first, refugee-run, camp-wide library system.
Nihal Elwan is the founder of Tayybeh Foods, a social enterprise, caterer, food processor, and restaurant with a mission to empower and uplift newcomer and refugee women from Syria and the Middle East. Since its inception in 2017, Tayybeh has received multiple awards including “Foodies of the Year” by Western Living magazine, “Champion of Women” Award from Voices of Muslim Women, the City of Vancouver’s Award of Excellence, and most recently the Enterprise of the Year Award by the Francophone Chamber of Commerce. Nihal’s academic background is in Anthropology, International Development studies and Economics, with over 15 years of professional experience researching, implementing, monitoring and evaluating economic and social inclusion programmes, with special focus on gender and women’s issues in the Middle East.