For this event, my class was able to cook Syrian recipes with Yaman, a refugee. This Cooking class was very informative, way more than I had expected. Yaman sharing her experiences and being able to cook Syrian food gave me a window into what Syrian Refugees go through in the United States. My only regret is that we didn’t have more time to cook because I think we made some good hummus and tabouli. I’ll admit when it came to cooking I didn’t go outside my comfort zone too much, I was on lemon squeezing duty. It was something I had done before but it was still enjoyable. Making the hummus reminded me of when I used to make whipped cream with my grandparents. Baking, whether it’s cream or hummus, is practically the same experience in different cultures, only the contents are different. I’m sure Yaman, way back when she first made hummus, felt the same as I did squeezing the lemons. As Yaman discussed and we saw in the Jake Halpern comic, most people don’t see her or her kids as American. They see her as an outsider and in extreme cases, she is the “enemy”. But when you think about it, and this definitely will sound cheesy,  an activity like baking can bridge the gap. It takes us out of our bias and world politics to make some food, you simply follow the instructions and try to be good chefs. It can also help increase empathy as I described, though I’m unable to fully empathize with Yaman considering our extremely different backgrounds. But despite that, I still had a small window into her life that made me interested to learn more. We here in the United States have much more to learn when it comes to empathizing with refugees, immigrants, and other marginalized groups, perhaps more baking initiatives would bring us closer.