Lettuce eat! BDS target foreign chefs coming to Israel
BDS activists attempted to convince, through intimidation and vandalism, 13 foreign chefs who were invited to Israel to take part in a culinary festival to cancel their trips and boycott Israel; 'The chefs didn't give in to threats and realized it was a cultural and not a political project.’
Activists from the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement have targeted 13 internationally renowned chefs who participated in an Israeli culinary festival in Tel Aviv recently, appealing to them to boycott the event, which they labeled a "whitewash exercise."
The organization also demanded that the Italian water company who sponsored the event withdraw their name and funding. The activists told the company that it shouldn't sponsor what they described as the military siege of Gaza and violent acts by settlers against Palestinian families trying to harvest olive oil.
The organizers of the Round Tables by American Express culinary festival also said that the chefs were subjected to aggressive posts on Twitter and Facebook. Activists also held demonstrations outside restaurants in France, Spain and New York, which also included vandalism and graffiti on the windows of the restaurants.
In spite of the threats, chefs ignored the calls for a boycott and arrived in Israel, which led to a second round of attacks and vandalism. In Portugal, BDS activists painted the entrance of one of the chef's restaurants red and hung signs saying "Free Palestine." Avillez, who cooked with Israeli Chef Shahaf Shabtai at Nithan Thai in Tel Aviv, said that he loves Israel and he will return in the future. Portuguese police announced that an investigation had been launched into the vandalism.
According to the promoters of the event in Israel, despite the threats by BDS, all the chefs who were invited arrived in Israel. When they weren't behind the stoves, the chefs took culinary tours in markets, walked and ate in Jerusalem and enjoyed nightlife in Tel Aviv.
Chef Diego Diego Muñoz, one of the participants in the festival, described Israelis as "Warm and fun people. Getting to Israel is completely different from what you get in media reports. I intend to pass this on to my followers in Peru and tell everyone about the delicious and normal Israel." Muñoz cooked with Chef Haim Cohen at Jaffa-Tel Aviv.
Chef Shaul Ben Aderet hosted Chef Jeremy Ford and his team from Miami in the Blue Rooster. "All the American guys that we hosted were in awe of Tel Aviv, the energy, the people, the street food (mainly the sabih and falafel) and didn't get worried at all about the voices telling them not to come to Israel. Quite the opposite in fact," said Aderet. "They were really sad on the last day and even checked ways to stay longer in Israel to have fun for a few more days in the Tel Aviv sun. They even sent us text messages when they landed in the US telling us how much fun they had and that they already miss it."
Chef Haim Cohen explained the importance of hosting chefs fropm around the world in Israel. "The importance of bringing foreign chefs to Israel is a lot more than just the culinary profit. There is a very important profit in image," Cohen said. "Chefs who are big names and opinion leaders in their countries come here and they meet a different Israel than what they see on television. They meet warm and good people who want just what they want—to live in peace and quiet. An ambassador like this, who isn't Jewish and doesn't work for a fee from the foreign ministry, does more work than any other ambassador. He brings the message on and that is what the government needs to remember, the restaurants in this country are not just to prepare and sell food, they're cultural focal points and magnets for tourists wandering around the world and talking about their experiences on social media."
Yair Bakier, Nirit Weiss and Maya Karvat, the events promoters, praised the chefs for not surrendering to the intimidating acts of the BDS activists. "The chefs didn't give in to threats and realized it was a cultural and not a political project, and thanks to them, there are now 45 new Israeli cultural ambassadors in the world."
