Palestine Hosting Society is a live art project that explores traditional food culture in Palestine especially those that are on the verge of disappearing. The project brings these dishes back to life over dinner tables, talks, walks, and various interventions.
Palestine Hosting Society was founded in 2017, by artist and chef Mirna Bamieh, as an extension of her art practice that often looks at the politics of disappearance, and memory production. Mirna creates artworks that unpack social concerns and limitations in contemporary political dilemmas, and reflect on the conditions that characterize Palestinian communities. To date, Palestine Hosting Society has created several projects, including "The tongue tracing the hand tracing the earth", "Menu of Dis/appearance", "Trails of Taste-Telling", "Fermentation Station", “The Edible Wild Plants of Palestine Table”, “The Wheat Feast”, "A Wondering in Flavors: The Old City of Jerusalem, a table, a tour and a map”, "Our Jerusalem Table", "Our Nabulsi Table", "Food Walks: The Tahini Trail", "Family Dinners". After an intensive research period for each project, the collective creates a menu that is shared over one long table for 40-60+ guests, with dishes carefully selected to create spaces of reflection upon socio-political realities, attitudes, and historical practices, and even the suppressed elements of history. Palestine Hosting Society Tables took life in Palestine and in different parts of the world including Palestine, Vienna, Saudi, Amman, Warsaw, Brussels, New York
