Cooking is a way of giving. It's improvisation and creativity. But also a lot of passion. And Izzeldin, in a sort of pop-up kitchen in Jerusalem, combines tradition and modernity, which he makes available to everyone. That's why he created Sacred Cuisine. Thanks to his cultural and spiritual background, his family has Sufi origins, this young Palestinian chef makes and teaches how to cook traditional food, revisited in a vegetarian and vegan key. IZZELDIN NAQSHBAND Chef – Sacred Cuisine "The idea of Sacred Cuisine is improvisation. I had no money, no capital to start with, no kitchen... when I started I did everything in my small kitchen in the old city of Jerusalem, which was less than half of this... with only 2 stoves. I wasn't able to cook for many people! Sacred cuisine is improvisation, reuse and today... I work with what I found... this is what cooking means to me." And so natural ingredients appear on the table: a menu made up of dishes based on local products, using natural ingredients. Everything to protect the environment. IZZELDIN NAQSHBAND Chef – Sacred Cuisine "I noticed a gap in the market because there are not many dishes without meat, and this is not Palestinian cuisine: in the tradition, we had many vegetarian dishes. Only today we find ourselves with the privilege of eating more meat, and we see it every day. My goal is to revive the Sumi cuisine, bring to the table the dishes of our tradition and put them in the spotlight." With vine leaves, peanuts, artichokes, burgul - a kind of grain - the dishes take shape. Everyone helps and of course, in the kitchen, you do not throw anything away... IZZELDIN NAQSHBAND Chef – Sacred Cuisine "It is very important in our cuisine, the Palestinian one, to use as much as possible. And I embraced this in Sacred Cuisine: now I'm using the stem of the ba'ale (Gombo / okra). We removed the leaves to make the salad and now we cook the stem and add it to our stuffing. In this way, we use the stem and we can have 2 different consistencies of the ba'ale: cooked and raw." Izzeldin, in providing his culinary skills, also mixes small Arabic lessons and more. Hiking and culinary adventures, gastronomic tours, evenings in restaurants - all to enjoy the flavours of this "Holy Land". All you have to do is open the doors of your kitchen. Read More