Afghan conflict in the kitchen

Tragedies in Afghanistan have been drawing media attention recently, but this October, Conflict Kitchen will attempt to make headlines using a more peaceful Afghan product — the country’s food Bolani Pazi

Soon to open at the corner of Highland and Baum in East Liberty, next to the Waffle Shop

www.conflictkitchen.org

Tragedies in Afghanistan have been drawing media attention recently, but this October, Conflict Kitchen will attempt to make  headlines using a more peaceful Afghan product — the country’s food.

Since May, the Conflict Kitchen has aimed to serve food from countries the United States is in conflict with in order to promote dialogue and cultural understanding in the local and national communities. The first and current takeout storefront, called Kubideh Kitchen, serves a $5 homemade spiced beef sandwich from Iran.

The Afghanistan-based iteration will open sometime later this month and will serve Bolani Pazi, a savory stuffed pastry often sold by street vendors in Kabul. The kitchen will offer four stuffing choices: pumpkin, spinach, lentil and potato-and-leek.

“It is simple, tasty and vegan, and shows the different influences on Afghan food from Iran, India and Russia,” said Dawn Weleski, one of the project’s creators.

Promoting the intricacies of conflict has been no easy task, especially when it comes to funding the small kitchen that is open seven days a week. It has been running off funds raised from selling its own food, personal donations, a grant from the Sprout Fund and the support of its neighbor, the Waffle Shop.

So in order to raise the funds to keep the Conflict Kitchen going strong, Weleski and  two other collaborators  created a page on Kickstarter.com.

The website allows backers to donate anywhere from $10 to $1,000 toward the project and also receive unique gift rewards. Those who donated more than $202 will have their names spelled out on the giant billboard that sits above the kitchen.

As of today, the kitchen has met its goal of $4,000, meaning it will change facades as planned and possibly do a third iteration of North Korea in the spring.

Like the Kubideh Kitchen wrapper, Bolani Pazi will inform its customers about Afghan culture through first-hand accounts handed along with the food.

“We’re tossing around ideas of how to display the information in a new and creative way,” said Angel Gonzalez, an intern researching Afghan culture for the kitchen. “Dawn talked about actually presenting the information on the pastry by making etchings on the grill.”

Part of the challenge has been collecting information directly from Afghans in the United States and abroad.

“It’s been quite a bit more difficult to engage with Afghans than Iranians just from a matter of being able to literally contact a person,” Weleski said. “I haven’t met an Afghan yet living in Pittsburgh … If anyone knows any they can contact us.”

Although she was hesitant to say too much about the Afghans’ opinions for politically sensitive reasons, Weleski found a common thread of ideals between individuals she managed to contact.

“The one thing that has struck me the most is that even from the diversity of opinions politically, everyone wants security because it’s been quite some time since they’ve felt that,” she said.

Weleski said she and her collaborators chose Afghanistan after Iran to juxtapose the two cultures that might be seemingly alike because of their geographic proximity to each other, especially to unknowing Americans.

“Ethnicities in Afghanistan are more varied than Iran. People in Afghanistan feel more belonging to their local tribe than country … it’s very different from being Persian or Iranian,” she said.

Another difference will be the content of additional programming events the kitchen hosts. Over the summer, the Kubideh Kitchen hosted two live Skype events between Pittsburghers and Iranians — one was a live dinner and the other was a YouTube cultural mash-up.

“Afghan culture does not celebrate music or singing, but instead emphasizes visual arts, poetry and calligraphy,” Weleski said.

While thekitchen continues to promote dialogue among customers and the community, the collaborators realize that not all of it will be positive.

“We’re going to get some negative feedback from people that don’t really understand the scope of the project or that have family that are in Afghanistan and are going to be sensitive to it,” Gonzalaz said. “I think our role is to take a step back from the situation and say, ‘We do support the people risking their lives in Afghanistan and the mission of the United States, but it’s important in ending the conflict and understanding the country and the people [to] not just see them as our enemies.”