According to Dr. Chrabieh: “Hummus is not just food. It tells stories of war, peace, religions-politics relations, migrations, cultural resistance and cultural appropriations. It tells stories of Southwestern Asians’ communities, nations and glocal (global-local) identities. This is how I introduced high-school students to Middle Eastern Studies and to my teaching methods. Students used all their senses to learn more about this much needed field of study, through interactive and engaging dialogue sessions, collaborative learning, and experiential/visceral activities by making and eating hummus.”

As Dr. Chrabieh stated: “I have been using food (and food anthropology) as one of my many teaching methods since 2004, in Canada and Lebanon mainly, and since I joined the American University in Dubai in 2014. The “Make Hummus not War” workshop is a shorter version of a series of activities I usually organize for my Cultures of the Middle East and Religions of the Middle East courses, and these activities have started to be recognized in the UAE as innovations in Education – ‘The Diplomacy of the Dish Festival’ I organized in Fall 2015 was one of the officially registered activities of the UAE Innovative Week.”

Students who participated in the workshop came from the Dubai International School, Al Mawakeb School – Garhoud, the International School of Choueifat and the Dubai National School. Following the workshop, most students wrote in their feedback forms they highly appreciated learning more about the region and the complex religions-cultures-politics dynamics by focusing on a case study, working in teams to communicate individual and collective learning experiences, and learning through doing. Furthermore, they expressed considering Middle Eastern studies – Certificate or Bachelor degree – as part of their future academic journey.