“Life finds a way” is a popular paraphrase from Jurassic Park. So, if food is life, as I would propose it is, it would stand to reason that food finds a way. Before I tell the story that made me come up with this title I want to pause to speak to the difficulty of talking about this region in today’s climate. Call it Israel or Palestine, in my experience, discussions about this region are most often filled with more shouting than listening. I have been lucky enough to visit Israel several times as well as Hebron and Rafah. I am choosing to tell a story and to avoid talking in generalities about the conflict. But I will say that I believe food, water, safety, and the right to work to feed your family/community are human rights. The current situation in Gaza is a terrible lapse in humanity!
We use food as a medium to connect people to places, traditions, and people. It has always been in the Mission of Mongers’ Provisions and the RIND. As such, I would like to connect you to Sari Khoury, an architect who started a natural winery in 2015 in his homeland of Bethlehem, Palestine. He is cultivating indigenous grapes to the area. They do not share the names of the varietals stating ‘competition is eager to know what we’re up to in the vineyard’ and wanting to be able evolve at his own pace not influenced by competition.
Their bottle ‘Grapes of Wrath’ comes from a specific plot of land that held 90 year old vines. The Israeli Defense Force bulldozed these vines along with boulders up 2 m high in order to make a road for a settlement community. But as miracles happen to occur in this part of the world, life found a way. From between the rocks these vines continued to grow. Picked in 2023 and allowed to sit with skin contact for varying amounts of time depending on the batches. This amber wine is a testament to the grit of life and the people of this region.
We at Mongers’ and the RIND are proud to be selling a case of wine from Philokalia. Each bottle has a $20 donation built into the price that will go to the World Central Kitchen. We will then be matching that $240 donation to bring the total to $480. This is just a drop in the bucket of what it will take to feed everyone, but we saw an opportunity to do the right thing within our pre-existing mission to connect you to places near and far using food.
We hope you will stop in and talk to Isaac (our wine buyer) or Zach/Will (the owners) about these wines and our decisions to support them. While you're here check out Canaan, an amazing company in the West Bank that makes olive oil, tapenade, and other impressive creations in Palestine.