These Seattle restaurateurs are raising money for Lebanon amid conflict with Israel

This week, restaurants in the Seattle area are launching a fundraising effort for a Middle Eastern aid group. More than 30 restaurants have pledged to individually contribute to the Lebanese Red Cross through the end of this month.

Each participating restaurant will choose how they collect donations, whether it's by giving a portion of a particular night’s sales or offering special dishes.

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The fundraising effort is led by Lupe Flores, chef-owner of Lupe’s Situ Tacos in Ballard, which serves Mexican-Lebanese cuisine. Members of Flores' family were among the waves of Lebanese people who immigrated to Mexico, beginning over 100 years ago. On Oct. 22, Flores' restaurant will donate 50% of their proceeds that day to the Lebanese Red Cross.

Flores said she started this effort because she’s gutted as she watches Israel expand it’s focus from what she called a genocide in Gaza, to bombing and invading Lebanon. She said she feels like there’s little she can do, other than cook.

It’s the second such fundraiser in the Seattle area since October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, escalating the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The first fundraiser focused on Palestinian relief as Israel began its counterattack against Hamas, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians. Israel has since expanded its military campaign against the militia group Hezbollah, bombing communities across Lebanon, leaving many dead, injured, or displaced.

“When Israel again started coming after my people in Lebanon, I was like, ‘I feel rage. I feel powerless. I feel heartbreak,’” Flores said.

Flores has never been to Lebanon, but the soups and tacos she serves at her restaurant carry the legacy of that heritage inside. Her restaurant specializes in tacos dorados, a Mexican hard-shell corn taco, but she fills them with either chickpeas, potatoes, or hushwe.

“Hushwe is a traditional Lebanese beef filling. We make it in kibbeh. We make it in grape leaves. We make it in meat pies. And then my situ makes it in tacos,” she said.

Situ [pronounced sit-too] means “grandmother” in Lebanese Arabic. There are other versions of how it’s spelled depending on the region, but they all mean roughly the same thing. It’s because of her situ, aunts, and other Lebanese-Mexican women in her life that Flores understands how ingredients should come together to taste distinctly Lebanese-Mexican.

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Without Lebanese immigrants like Flores' relatives arriving in Mexico back then, there would be no tacos al pastor. That’s pork, typically marinated with onions, achiote, clove, and guajillo chiles, cooked on a rotating spit, often served with roasted pineapple in a tortilla.

“Just keep the pineapple out of my taco,” Flores quipped; she also has a spit-roaster at home, where she makes al pastor and other more labor intensive Lebanese food.

But this history goes back even further, said Rajah Gargour, chef-owner of Ballard’s Cafe Munir.

“Arabic culture definitely informed Spanish cuisine, which informed Mexican cuisine,” Gargour said. “And then back again too, with tomatoes and chilies.”

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Gargour plans to join Flores in the coming days to raise cash for the Lebanese Red Cross.

A set of Gargour’s grandparents are Palestinian, from the city of Jaffa, which is now under the control of Israel. Gargour grew up moving around a lot, and was molded by his Arabic culture in Lebanon and Jordan, before moving to live with family in Europe. Eventually, he arrived in the U.S., where he launched his career as a chef, finally settling in Seattle.

“We're all very different from each other, from country to country, language to language, but …the foods and the language of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, are similar,” he said.

Over the past 13 years, Gargour said he has been able to donate at least $10,000 to similar aid efforts through his neighborhood restaurant. For him, Israel's actions toward Palestinians and the Lebanese goes beyond what happened this past year, but 2024 still bears extra weight.

“This whole thing has been going on for so long in my life,” Gargour said. “I've put so much energy and thought into it — it's too much.”

Gargour has family in southern Lebanon, a region which continues to be targeted by Israel. His family has told him they don’t want to leave their homes, and they’re more worried about him living in the U.S., citing gun violence. As all of this is happening, Gargour said he’s feeling weary.

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“It's very frustrating to see the same thing going on every day, and it is not changing,” he said.

Regardless, he said he’ll do what he can to help, and hopes for a better future.

“I'm a bit of an optimist myself, so I always think it's going to be potentially good,” he said. “It's going to be a better result than it is now. But who knows?”