Serviette – Issue 09: Food is War / Food is Peace

Serviette is a Toronto-based magazine about food and the people, cultures, histories, systems and ideas surrounding it.

Issue 09, “Food is War / Food is Peace”, looks at how food becomes entangled with both conflict and reconciliation. The issue moves from Ukrainian soldiers stopping for gas-station hot dogs on their way to the front lines to Palestinian farmers and artists preserving traditional seeds amid war and Minneapolis restaurants rebuilding after violence and disruption.

The issue is deliberately not only about hardship. Across these stories, food also becomes a source of continuity, solidarity and hope — whether through seed preservation, familiar meals, community support or the rituals that help people maintain a sense of normality.

Other stories look at culinary rivalries across West Africa, halloumi as a form of Cypriot diplomacy, the legacy of wartime sweets, agricultural experiments with radiation, the future of basmati rice, Beirut’s restaurant culture and a Korean Buddhist nun’s relationship with growing and preparing food.

About Serviette
Founded in Toronto in 2022, Serviette approaches food as much more than something to eat. Through reporting, essays and visual storytelling, it explores the links between food and culture, science, history, design, hospitality and the wider systems that shape how food reaches us.