“I had a speech. Honestly, I don’t know where it stands at the moment,” Rafidi told the gathered crowd.
It didn’t matter. Even without a script, Rafidi knew where he wanted to put the emphasis: first on his team in Albi, “because obviously there is no exceptional leader without an exceptional team,” Radifi said. Second, his grandparents, from Ramallah on the West Bank, and his mother from Maryland, who “all paved the way for me to be here tonight.”
Then his thoughts turned to the Palestinian people. He never mentioned Gaza or the million people who are at risk of death and starvation by July, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Rafidi just said: “This award is dedicated to Palestine and all the Palestinian people, whether here in Palestine or around the world. »
Rafidi is one of those people, believed to be the first of Palestinian descent to win the Beard Award for Outstanding Chef (although this has yet to be confirmed). Her maternal grandparents left Ramallah in the years following the Nakba, the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Her family still runs a bakery in Ramallah; its roots go back more than a century. Rafidi was raised by his mother and parents, who introduced him to Palestinian cuisine and culture as a child. Albi, says the chef, is “a tribute to my grandparents and the food I grew up with.”
This is the subject of his initial speech, Rafidi said. The chef eventually tracked down the speech and posted it on Instagram on Wednesday.
“We are witnessing unspeakable horrors in my country, we are seeing food used as a weapon of war, to starve people and deprive them of their human rights,” Rafidi wrote. “The very land that for generations has provided my family and millions of people with the ingredients and recipes that put someone like me on this stage is in danger and we must all stand up for it. oppose. »
Reached by phone earlier Wednesday, Rafidi said he is generally a man of few words, a disposition that fits well with the Beard Foundation’s request to keep acceptance speeches short at the awards ceremony . The DC chief did not deliver the scathing paragraph about “unspeakable horrors” to Beard’s audience on Monday. He did not mention the war in Gaza or the events in the West Bank. He was more sober, but said that raising awareness about these issues is part of his mission, just as important as highlighting the gastronomy of the Levant, including Palestine.
“That’s the only thing I think I can do: shine a light and show Palestinian food and how great it could be, but also raise awareness for people to pay a little more attention to what’s going on. is happening in Palestine and Gaza as well. but also in the West Bank,” Rafidi told the Washington Post.
The situation is personal to Rafidi. His extended family in Ramallah lives in the violence that surrounds them. “This has been going on for decades. But the situation is only getting worse in the West Bank,” he said. “I don’t know if you saw…the produce market that was burned down about two weeks ago. It was a few blocks from my family’s bakery.
Rafidi is not someone who views the awards as some sort of crowning achievement for Palestinian cuisine in America. “I don’t know if I need confirmation from anyone about what we’re doing. It’s been a mission for me to cook this kind of dishes since the opening of Albi. I think even if I get recognized by James Beard or Michelin or whoever, I still do what I do,” said Rafidi, whose Navy Yard coal-fired kitchen holds one star Michelin.
“It’s amazing. Don’t get me wrong. I’m motivated by this cause. I’m excited about the food that I cook,” he added. “Regardless of the accolades, I think I’m on a mission to follow this path.”
Rafidi may be hesitant to make any statements about his Beard win, but his peers are not. Reem Assil, the Palestinian American chef and founder of Reem’s, a small Arabic street food chain in San Francisco, told the Post that she had collaborated with Rafidi in the past and had witnessed “how much her cooking is magical.”
“What a huge moment for Palestinians to hold their heads high with pride and hope in a devastating time,” Assil said in a text. “This recognition for Palestine shows that he knows the power of his voice and his willingness to use it. »
Marcelle G Afram, the chef behind Shababi, a Palestinian-inspired cuisine that hosts pop-ups and private dinners, said he was “immensely proud” of Rafidi for his victory.
“He did an incredible job centering Palestinian and Arab hospitality, elevating Palestinian food habits, narrative and culture,” Afram wrote in a text. “It is extremely important at this time that Palestinians are uplifted, with the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, to help continue to preserve, advance consciousness and recognize our culture, joy and struggles. »
Rafidi hasn’t had much time to process his victory since returning from Chicago on Tuesday. He is still in the process of opening two locations in the Union Market neighborhood: a larger version of Yellow, his popular Levantine bakery and pizzeria in Georgetown, and a cocktail bar and bistro called La’ Shukran, which is Arabic for ” no thanks “. you.” (He does not yet have an opening date for the twin projects.)
But the chef is reflecting on what it means to be the second Washingtonian in a row to win the Beard Award for Outstanding Chef. Rob Rubba won it last year for his mostly vegetarian restaurant, Oyster Oyster, in DC’s Shaw neighborhood. Rubba was on stage in Chicago to present Rafidi with the medal.
“DC is the best. That’s it. I think this reinforces that,” Rafidi said. “We have a great food scene here.”