Tropic Sprockets / Breaking Bread

By Ian Brockway

Beth Elise Hawk (Eye Candy) directs the colorful and vivacious documentary “Breaking Bread,” centering on the city of Haifa in Israel and its A-Sham Festival, highlighting Arabic food.

The film highlights several chefs. There is Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, a bubbly and positive Arabic woman who was the winner of Master Chef. She also considers herself part of the Israeli culture. To Nof, she is in a unique position by being nestled in the middle between worlds and realms. Life is more colorful; the food is more colorful. Nof thrives in diversity.

Shlomi Meir is an Israeli chef working in his grandfather’s restaurant. To him tradition is everything. “I give everything to my family. All I need is bread and cigarettes.” He lives for cooking. To him as well as Nof, cuisine is what brings people together.

There is Osama Dalai who is a Palestinian living in Haifa who just wants to make fresh food to people. He is confused by politics and does not give it much weight regarding food.

Chef Zozo Hanna says “everyone fights over nothing”. 

Food, both Israeli and Arabic, is the ultimate peacemaker.

The shots of cuisine are voluptuous and sensual. There is creamy hummus, a beige wonderland and katayef a folded pancake golden brown. There is kibbeh and the well-known harissa spice and crushed pistachio that top many desserts.

One learns of the controversy between an Arabic salad and an Israeli salad when it is essentially the same thing. Politics and discrimination are petty when balanced against cuisine, the art of cooking and making others happy.

It is the primacy of a meal that carries the day and in watching this film with its cinematography by Ofer Ben Yehuda you will be carried away in a sensual delight not seen since “A Trip to Italy.” In a very singular way this film is the experience of having a meal virtually.

Whether we can actually erase divisions and hatred by the sharing of food is beside the point. The wonder of this film is that the chefs just want to try it and see what happens.

Unpretentiously with simplicity, the joy is palpable and something you can almost taste and most definitely feel. “Breaking Bread” is one of the best documentaries in recent years on the relationships between food and humankind and it is not to be missed.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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