FEMINIST GIANT

FEMINIST GIANT

Share this post

FEMINIST GIANT
FEMINIST GIANT
Essay: Your Arab Friends Are Not OK
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Essay: Your Arab Friends Are Not OK

Mona Eltahawy's avatar
Mona Eltahawy
Oct 10, 2024
∙ Paid
56

Share this post

FEMINIST GIANT
FEMINIST GIANT
Essay: Your Arab Friends Are Not OK
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
10
Share

Yaser Salameh @thechefyaso

I am not ok.

A Lebanese boy on Instagram, a chef of about twelve years old, explaining how to make a dish that is popular in his homeland, felled me on Sunday morning. 

He was not hurt. It was not a video that came with a graphic content warning. He was beautiful in his enthusiasm for cooking mujadara, a savoury dish of lentils, rice, onions, and a mix of sumac, turmeric, and pepper. It was his insertion of “We love you Lebnaan, and we’re praying for you” that got me. He was speaking English but he pronounced the word for Lebanon in the way we do in Arabic.

And he lost me thereafter to sobbing.

Get 20% off a group subscription

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to FEMINIST GIANT to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Mona Eltahawy
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More