How Palestinian ingredients came to season Nordic cuisine

Jerusalem24 – The Danish Representation in Ramallah recently launched the Nordic-Palestinian cookbook. With Nordic recipes incorporating Palestinian produce and ingredients, the Nordic-Palestinian cookbook is the first of its kind.
The book, which explores food and sustainability, was produced with the aim of bringing Nordic and Palestinian culinary traditions together. It is available in both Arabic and in English, with a digital version as well as hard copy.
Danish Ambassador Mr. Ketil Karlsen joined us at Jerusalem24’s studios to talk about the launch of the digital Arabic version of the Nordic-Palestinian Cookbook. He says the project is a side gig of the Danish representation’s work in Palestine: “There’s not an hour of the day where we are not working hard to the basic rights of Palestinians, their right for self-determination, their human rights, and their inclusivity.”
Ambassador Karlsen believes that cooking is a common language. “When you sit around the table, then you sort of let your shoulders down, you start to talk more easily, and you find that you have so much in common.”
“When I travel around the West Bank or Gaza, or East Jerusalem, one of the most amazing features here is how friendly, welcoming, and hospitable people are.”
He says the Danish representation wanted to give something back, and to return some of that amazing hospitality.
The cookbook is in fact a collaboration between the Nordic countries’ respective representations in Palestine.
“I challenged my colleagues from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark,” says Ambassador Karlsen. “I said, why don’t we try to develop recipes between Palestinian food culture that’s world-renowned, and Nordic food culture that is also gaining a lot of traction… which turned into an amazing journey.”
The ambassadors of the Nordic representations in Palestine all ended up taking part in the production of the cookbook. As Ambassador Karlsen explains, “This probably took us out of our comfort zone.”
“For me, cooking was always plan B. If eventually, they don’t want me to be a diplomat anymore, then I would open up a restaurant.”
“The other ambassadors and representatives played along – and if you look into it, you will see quite interesting creations, some of them look familiar and some of them have never been seen before.”
The Nordic representations in Palestine do work in the West Bank and Gaza which support entrepreneurs and Palestinian initiatives. For its part, Denmark supports the creation of green, climate-friendly jobs, for example “a young entrepreneur doing production and repackaging of honey.”
Denmark has a significant agricultural program in Palestine, amounting to more than 20 million euros. “We really want to help farmers here to get the opportunity to produce with more efficiency but with more earth-friendly solutions.”
Ambassador Karlsen believes that there are many rich opportunities in Palestine for food production. He also believes the cookbook allows for a conversation to happen – beyond the usual food-loving suspects – and tries to reach out to all Palestinians: “We wanted to showcase that with products coming from Palestinian soil, even some of those more eclectic Northern European dishes can be made.”
The cookbook also endeavors to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by farmers in Palestine: “The access to water, fertilizers, equipment… It’s all a part of a political conversation about how we can strengthen the resilience of Palestinian farmers.”
Watch the full interview on Vibes.