02 Aug Hana – The Audacity to be Free
I finished ‘Hana’ last night – ‘The Audacity to be Free’. It was an incredibly touching autobiography of the woman who started the Moroccan Soup Bar in North Fitzroy back in 1998. Hana had experienced unconscionable domestic violence and child abuse and was working in women’s services in Melbourne when an opportunity to lease a space on Brunswick Street jumped out at her, and her intuition led her to start this amazing restaurant.
The idea was that it would provide employment and pathways to independence for other women who were in the grips of domestic violence. And so Hana employed women from her community who needed support.
A Fitzroy North legend
If you ever got the chance to visit the Moroccan Soup Bar you will have some idea of how incredible the restaurant was. The vegetarian food served in shared banquets amongst its diners was legendary.
I am happy to say that I had the opportunity to visit the Moroccan Soup Bar with a good friend and we certainly did enjoy the feast, the ambience and the message.
Beyond food
Hana organised conversational salons at the Moroccan Soup Bar like the ones she had experienced when she was a child in Lebanon. She also organised ‘Speed Date a Muslim’ events after the backlash in the media and politics from events in 2015-16 of terrorist groups overseas. These events allowed the public to get to know Muslim women in an open and respectful discourse that allowed them to ask questions and talk to those who were being vilified by society at the time.
Happy endings
Happily Hana was able to process her trauma, although it still affects her to this day. She was reunited with her two sons, and found an enduring love that has been very nourishing.
The Moroccan Soup Bar is a testament to how food and cooking can forge pathways for cultural acceptance and emancipation for some of society’s most vulnerable. Hana received a well deserved OAM and travelled the world in speaking engagements before the Moroccan Soup Bar settled in North Melbourne to do takeaway, catering and has a small dine in area.
The book tells the kind of story of liberation that has stayed with me. I am deeply impressed by the spirit, tenacity and strength of this wonderful woman.
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