Friendship through sunflower seeds is still going to happen between Israelis and Palestinians, says artist Noam Edry who has organized a big sunflower seed chew off, called Seeds of Bliss.
Edry refuses to let politics get in the way of her monumental sunflower seed peace effort. Even when politics translate into siren alerts.
She says: ” Here I am at Hazera Genetics with their huge donation of seeds for our MEGA CHEW in Nablus. Just after I left the factory there was a siren. I feel like someone is watching over me to make sure we get the work done.
“Must keep going even in days of madness. Now the seeds are safe in Afula and hopefully the universe is getting the right message: Get on with it mates! End the war so we can get cracking already!”
Jewish and Arab chewers from Afula and Jenin were invited to contribute to the pile of chewed-up sunflower seed husks in Nablus this month, although the current situation doesn’t exactly nurture gestures of mutual goodwill. All the same, we think grassroots projects can eventually influence people, and wish Edry’s project success.
Related: The code is cracked – why sunflowers dance
In fact, we can’t wait to see photos of the final installation in a London art gallery – a mountain of chewed husks and the sidewalk garbage swept up with them, representing Arabs and Jews sitting down together of an evening, drinking coffee and spitting seeds. Were that it were so simple.
More on food, water, and peace from Green Prophet:
Author: Miriam Kresh
Miriam Kresh is an American ex-pat living in Israel. Her love of Middle Eastern food evolved from close friendships with enthusiastic Moroccan, Tunisian and Turkish home cooks. She owns too many cookbooks and is always planning the next meal. Miriam can be reached at miriam (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
