Za'atar, figs, and olive oil. These are the things refugee artist Aseel Tayah likes to think of when she remembers her former home in Jerusalem.
The Melbourne-based Palestinian activist finds the universal language of food is key to sharing realities of the refugee experience, and is using it in a new culinary performance.
"We only ever leave home when home does not want us to stay," Tayah told AAP.
"There's lots of judgment felt as a Muslim and as a mother.
"I felt the responsibility to use food as a magical tool to make people understand more about me as an Arab."
Tayah migrated to Australia with her husband more than a decade ago, and has worked to tell her story through the art of food she grew up eating.
An immersive culinary experience coined A'amar, an Arabic phrase for 'may it keep growing', is designed to give audience members a taste of Tayah's history.
"With food comes a thread that brings people so deeply and so strongly together which no one can deny," she said.
"We are weaving Palestine into the show."
While she may not originally come from the Gaza Strip, the artist often tells people she feels her heart does.
The 36-year-old has orchestrated a series of arts projects based in Gaza over the last decade, such as the first ever toy libraries for Palestinian children at sites including the Al-Nasr Children's Hospital and Gaza City Library.
Since the escalation of conflict in the region in October, Tayah says she has lost three members from her toy library organisation based in the heart of the conflict.
"I treat this show as the reality of home," Tayah said.
"If I don't mention a line, I'm betraying home ... People need to feel, as my friend Ali from Gaza says, like you're bringing them into your house."
A four-course meal will be served to guests seated on traditional Middle Eastern floor cushions surrounded by decor portraying Tayah's idea of home.
Arab musicians Camille El Feghali and Meena Shamaly join Tayah in evoking a journey through poetry and song to serenade guests as they feast.
The sold-out culinary performance is running at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta, NSW finishes on Sunday night.
