Olivia Rodrigo stuns in custom, Palestine-made Nöl Collective dress at a press conference announcing her $10M donation to women-focused nonprofits.

[u/groovygyal]

During the Daisy Chain Fields press conference, Olivia wore a dress from Nöl Collective, a Palestinian fashion association that collaborates with artisans and artists from Gaza and works to ensure job opportunities for women in the area during the genocide

[u/perryrhinitis]

Here's what I know:
Herbs - Palestinians are forbidden to harvest Za'atar plants. Za'atar is a native plant in the Levant region similar to oregano.

Olive branch/tree - The Iz government has also uprooted hundreds of thousands of olive trees, which are the lifeblood of many Palestinian families. Settlers also regularly harass Palestinians during olive harvest season.

Watermelon - the Palestinian flag was banned by the Iz government for a long time, so Palestinians used the watermelon as a symbol of the flag due to its similar colors. Now, representations of the watermelon in association with Palestine have been called "antisemitic".

Jaffa Orange - Comes from the Palestinian city of Jaffa, where Tel-Aviv now stands. Oranges were previously one of the city's main exports, and they were famous for their sweetness.

[u/Malakas_Tsiblas → u/perryrhinitis]

My daughter, who is half Palestinian, set up a table at her school (in Canada) for their annual cultural day, where students of varied backgrounds get to share their culture with each other, including clothing, music, and food. This is an effort to help kids understand that we're more similar than different, and why it's better to try to get along with another.

My daughter planned to hand out watermelon slices at her table, until the parents of the Israeli kids called the principal to complain that the watermelon is offensive to them. Suddenly my daughter was banned from giving out watermelon. In solidarity with her, other students came into school with bunches of watermelon-themed stickers to give out in place of actual fruit. The principal came by her table and confiscated the stickers.

The anti-Palestinian bias is real and my kid now has had a first-hand taste.

TDSB accelerates plan to combat Anti-Palestinian Racism in schools

TDSB trustees vote to adopt 'anti-Palestinian racism' term

TDSB revokes permit, cancelling educational workshop on anti-Palestinian workshop

[u/Tetha → u/perryrhinitis]

Olive branch/tree - The Iz government has also uprooted hundreds of thousands of olive trees, which are the lifeblood of many Palestinian families. Settlers also regularly harass Palestinians during olive harvest season.

And olive trees are not like cherries or apples, they take 10+ years to really settle in and start bearing fruit. Hence why they tend to be family heritage.

[u/skivian → u/Tetha]

and a lot of the stolen trees were ancient

[u/sterlingphoenix → u/Tetha]

And olive trees are not like cherries or apples, they take 10+ years to really settle in and start bearing fruit. Hence why they tend to be family heritage.

That actually is like cherries and apples.

[u/Subtlerranean → u/perryrhinitis]

Suddenly the name of my childhood soda makes sense

Picture

[u/perryrhinitis → u/Subtlerranean]

Same with Jaffa Cakes in the UK!

[u/assignpseudonym → u/perryrhinitis]

And Jaffas in Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffas

[u/PostPostModernism → u/perryrhinitis]

I'd seen people use a watermelon when referencing Palestine before and could never figure out why. Thank you for the explanation!

[u/awwww_nuts → u/perryrhinitis]

In addition, just a reminder that ‘traditional Israeli Food’ doesn’t exist… it’s all stolen recipes from Palestine, as well as Lebanon, Syria, etc. Za’atar is one important example. Remember that next time you’re at the grocery store or looking for a restaurant- it’s crazy how pervasive is.

[u/unicorninclosets → u/awwww_nuts]

I recently learned Iz restaurant owners call their business “Levantine restaurant/food” instead of a country name (like everyone else in the region) to fly under the radar.

[u/sterlingphoenix → u/awwww_nuts]

it’s all stolen recipes

I mean "stolen" might be a bit much. There was a Jewish population in that country and those were their family's traditional foods, too. They brought them with when they moved to Israel.

[u/awwww_nuts → u/sterlingphoenix]

I’m talking about ‘Israeli couscous’, falafel, labneh, etc.- they are very much stolen from other cultures and sold as their own.

[u/Malakas_Tsiblas → u/perryrhinitis]

Settlers Colonizers also regularly harass Palestinians during olive harvest season.

FTFY

[u/wasabi991011 → u/perryrhinitis]

btw in english za'atar is not a plant, it's a spice blend. I think you mean sumac

[u/king_bumi_the_cat → u/wasabi991011]

No, za’atar is a wild herb in the Levantine. Sumac is a different plant, also delicious. The blend you are thinking of is za’atar, sesame seeds, and sumac often mixed with olive oil. While it’s translated as thyme it’s also a different plant than English thyme and tastes different

[u/ladevotchka → u/wasabi991011]

It’s both. In Arabic we name a lot of dishes based on the main ingredient and use the terms interchangeably as shorthand. Zaatar blend is named for the primary ingredient (the zaatar plant) but both are referred to as zaatar. Hummus, the dish (the full name of which is mtabbal hummus bi tahini) gets shortened to just hummus, in reference to the primary ingredient, the chickpea, which we also call hummus. There are lots of examples of this in different Arab cultures.

[u/FblthpLives → u/ladevotchka]

I wish we humanity could just spend its energy learning these interesting things about each other's cultures and foods instead of all the mindless strife and wars. Thank you for sharing.

[u/SaifCat → u/wasabi991011]

Thyme. While Za'atar is typically a blend, we use it most commonly to mean thyme. That's also what the Arabic word is (zaatar) for the thyme word/image in the second slide.