(DEARBORN, MI) — Who’s ready for some conspicuous cultural consumption? 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 activity that takes the Museum experience into the community. On Tuesdays and Saturdays from Sept. 13-30, Museum docents will offer guided tours of select markets, bakeries and specialty food retailers along Warren Avenue in East Dearborn, amid the largest concentration of Arabs in the United States.
Culinary tourists will learn how Arab Americans began to revitalize this shopping district in the early 1980s, turning vacant storefronts into a thriving cultural retail destination. Participants will also explore the diverse current offerings of Arab and Middle Eastern food businesses along Warren Avenue – 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.
“We could not begin to replicate that experience inside the Museum walls, so we are taking our audiences into the community itself,” Stiffler continues. “It’s a way of embedding the AANM into its hometown while supporting small businesses that represent vital economic activity in Dearborn.”
Yalla Eat! tickets are $20 per person; $15 AANM Members and are available online at www.arabamericanmuseum.org/yallaeat.
The ticket price includes the guided tour, a Yalla Eat! tote bag, food samples, and one free admission to the Arab American National Museum. Tickets are only available online, no walk ups. Minimum six, maximum 12 people per tour date.