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Contribution short abstract

This research examines how Palestinian communities have utilized indigenous agricultural knowledge and practices as adaptive strategies for survival and as acts of decolonization in shaping their food pathways.

Contribution long abstract

This research examines how Palestinian communities have utilized indigenous agricultural knowledge and practices as adaptive strategies for survival and as acts of decolonization in shaping their food pathways. Through oral history documentation, I trace the tools and techniques employed to overcome hunger and counter the diversion of traditional food systems. This study highlights patterns of adaptation as modes of survival in times of colonization, demonstrating how resilience is deeply rooted in the accumulated indigenous knowledge and collective agricultural wealth of Palestinian communities.

In particular, the recent revival of Al Takaya (pl. of itkieah)—community-based soup kitchens rooted in Arab-Islamic traditions, exemplifies how Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza resist systemic famine and extermination through mutual aid and collective care. These soup kitchens have become lifelines in both formal and informal shelters, where individuals donate food, cook, distribute, and clean in an expression of ouneh, or mutual assistance. While historically associated with charitable institutions, Takaya today represents a critical adaptive practice that supports over two million displaced people under siege. This transformation underscores how indigenous social institutions are mobilized in real time to confront colonial violence and ensure survival. By centering such lived practices, this study sheds light on the enduring, culturally rooted mechanisms that sustain food sovereignty and resist external disruptions to Palestinian food systems. Therefore, we ask “how do Palestinian community adapt and transform in their food pathways and draw on indigenous social institutions and agrarian knowledge and practices to ensure survival?”