Thursday 9th July (2.30-4pm) at Mulberry Close garden, Chingford + Wednesday 15th July (11am-1pm + shared lunch 1-2pm) at Hornbeam Apothecary, Walthamstow

A meeting with Za’atar: herbs, land, foraging, food, medicine and solidarity across cultures

This month we are bringing a Za’atar-themed double session to Mulberry Garden herb focus hour on Thursday 9th July (after lunch from 2pm or so) + to Hornbeam Apothecary on Wednesday 15th July (9-11am). Join us! Mayya Papaya of Foodisms will be with us, sharing about the recipes of Za’atar from her home cultures of Palestine & Lebanon through a diasporic lens, and we will meet the kin plants of this herb mix growing in the forest garden - Oregano and Thyme, harvesting them to dry and prepare our own mixture at the Hornbeam. We’ll hear about how the histories, and politics, of human land invasion and oppression come to bear upon our relationships with plant cultures, we’ll share stories, and connect around the commonality of our human need for plant healing. We hope you can come to join us for the Thursday herb hour at the garden - get in touch if you haven't been before and we can share the details with you for the session - all welcome! The Hornbeam Apothecary session has limited capacity but if you are keen to come, send us an email - communityapothecary.wf@gmail.com and we can let you know if there are any spaces.

‘Aya Gazawi Faour: I think probably here we're talking about one of the most important herbs in Palestine—maybe the most important. There's another plant called marmariya, which is sage. We share the same story where both were forbidden from foraging at the same time. But I think probably zaatar—that would be the most important because it's used the most in kitchens. This is the fragrance of a Palestinian kitchen. If you had to imagine what a Palestinian kitchen would smell like, it would smell like zaatar. People may know it as Syrian oregano. It grows wild in the hills of Palestine, mostly in rocky areas with a lot of sun. It's a very specific kind of land with huge rocks that the zaatar loves to be around. And this is zaatar. It’s a plant itself, but most people know it as the spice mixture because we use the same name for the plant and the spice mixture. The spice mixture is made of sumac, zaatar, sesame and sea salt. It's in every Palestinian kitchen. You put it on everything.’

From https://forthewild.world/podcast-transcripts/plants-are-political-2