The ice-cream maker of Gaza
"First time in Gaza?" said the tall, suited man who caught up with us as we heaved our body armour onto the motorbike trailer, and began to wheel the rest along the concrete walkway towards the entry checkpoint. Ashraf Abushaban then tagged along. His holdall was full, he said, of small denomination shekel coins for his shop. He had just been on a course in Tel Aviv about making Italian ice cream.
He was in fact the owner and manager of the celebrated Kazem Ice Cafe, purveyor to Gaza, for more than half a century, of ice creams, sundaes, and slush of the most lurid colours and extravagant flavours you've ever seen.
Ice cream, to me, is about happy days in the sunshine, holidays, beaches and laughing children. It is, above all, about safe normality. There isn't a lot of that right now in Gaza.
Of course there are lots and lots of children. The beaches are certainly long and golden, and in fact Ashraf has just opened a new branch by the beach in Gaza City. And, despite the apocalyptic destruction in parts of the city from last year's war, you do also see a lot of giggling, playing children among the ruins. And every last one of them knows about Kazem's ice cream. The group of five we found sitting on a pile of rubble with small empty tubs, shrieked in approval when we asked if Kazem's was the place to go for such treats.
More
Post a Comment