Loading ...YALLA EAT! GUIDED WALKING TOURS EXPLORE ARAB AMERICAN HISTORY IN EASTERN MARKET
Arab American Museum also publishes new free map featuring Dearborn’s Arab restaurants, grocers, bakeries and more
Dearborn, Mich. (May 20, 2015) – Who’s hungry for history? The Arab American National Museum (AANM) says, “Yalla (Arabic for ‘let’s go’) eat!”
AANM’s Yalla Eat! Culinary Walking Tour is an immersive cultural experience. The extremely popular docent-guided walking tours of Detroit’s historic Eastern Market are being offered once again, on Tuesdays and Saturdays from May 30-June 13, 2015.
Those who register online for these spring tours of Eastern Market will hear the story of Arab Americans in metro Detroit while exploring the long history of Arab merchants in and around Eastern Market. Participants will visit diverse Arab and Middle Eastern businesses – all founded by immigrants and family run – meet and talk with the owners, enjoy some free samples and do some old-school shopping.
“Before supermarkets like Kroger and Meijer, you would have to visit multiple family-owned stores to secure all of your groceries,” says Dr. Matthew Jaber Stiffler, AANM researcher and culinary guide.
“Our tour participants will visit businesses that, taken together, sell all of the ingredients of a typical Arab American meal: from olives, cheese and cucumbers as an appetizer, to meat, rice, and bread as a main course, to coffee and nuts for after dinner,” Stiffler says.
Well-known Detroit-area community leader Ed Deeb, a proud Arab American, wrote the introduction for the Yalla Eat! Eastern Market tour. In 1972, Deeb founded the Eastern Market Merchants Association to help vendors get more recognition from the City of Detroit. He was also a co-founder of the Eastern Market Corporation and founded the Michigan Food and Beverage Association in 1987.
“You will note during your tour that the Arab American merchants and shop owners are friendly, personable and eager to see you,” Deeb says. “They are always proud to meet people of their own heritage and to introduce others to Arab American traditions. What stands out most is how they are intermingled with the other ethnic business people throughout the Market.”
Tours run approximately two hours and 30 minutes; comfortable walking shoes are required. Opportunities to shop are offered at most stops. Tours begin and end at Germack Coffee Roasting Company, Roastery & Espresso Bar, 2517 Russell St., Detroit. Founded by Armenian immigrants from Syria in the 1920s, Germack offers fresh roasted coffee and nuts from across the globe.
2015 Yalla Eat! Eastern Market guided walking tours will take place:
10 a.m.-noon Saturday, May 30, 2015
1-3 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, 2015
10 a.m.-noon Saturday, June 6, 2015
1-3 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, 2015
10 a.m.-noon Saturday, June 13, 2015
Prices are $20/$15 Museum Members; includes guided walking tour, Yalla Eat! tote bag, culinary map of Dearborn and generous food samplings.
Purchase Yalla Eat! Eastern Market tickets in advance only online at www.arabamericanmuseum.org/yallaeat.
New FREE Dearborn Culinary Map Available
The Arab American National Museum is proud to introduce its new Yalla Eat! Culinary Map of Dearborn, Michigan. The map introduces the concept of food as a bridge to new cultures and delivers a brief history of Arab American food-based businesses in Dearborn. The map features a selection of established grocery stores; bakeries and sweet shops; meat and produce markets; coffee, spice and nut sellers; restaurants and cafes; and other food-related businesses operated by Arab Americans in Dearborn.
The Yalla Eat! Culinary Map of Dearborn, Michigan is available free of charge by request at the AANM admissions desk during regular business hours.