In Michigan, Museum Food Tours Offer Tastes Of Arab Culture

While on holiday in Rome five years ago, Devon Akmon, director of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Mich., took a food tour in a neighborhood known for its culinary traditions. He walked around for hours, tasting samples and hearing the personal stories of shop owners. That experience sparked the idea of establishing walking food tours in metro Detroit, home to the largest concentrated Arab community in the United States.

"Food was always bubbling up in our collective thought process here at the museum," Akmon says. "Through food, we could bring people who are not Arab into the life and the work of the museum."

Unlike most tours take people outside of the building and into the community. People who are unfamiliar with Arab cuisine and culture can talk with business owners about their experiences and the products they sell.