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Benjyehuda: Fueling the Counterculture
Benjyehuda: Fueling Counterculture
A RESTAURANT ABSENT OF RULES AND REGULATIONS
Written by Noa Chamberlin, Arts Staff Writer Photo provided by Benjyehuda
To create art is to create something out of nothing, to take an idea and transform it into something unique. In 2009, when my parents, Benji and Stacey Rosen, created Benjyehuda— their falafel and shawarma shop—they wanted to fabricate a form of artistic expression. The idea was to incorporate urban Mediterranean street food with a personal flair of raw creativity and a bit of disobedience, thus establishing their own counterculture.
When I first came across the term “counterculture,” I thought it was the perfect synonym for their way of life; straying away from social expectations and mainstream society, especially a corporate one. To them, the society that they were determined to avoid was one that values income over quality, choosing businesses over people and establishing strict rules that prevent individuality.
When discussing the integrity of the brand, my step-dad, Benji, stated that he wanted the restaurant to have a “raw feel” where people can “be themselves and won’t have to abide by any rules.” He pictured the average person on their lunch break in search of a place to eat, envisioning them in an environment where they could feel entertained and free to be themselves without any restrictions. He wanted it to be a place for people to take a break from their tiny cubicle office in the big city of Chicago. My family has never been too big on rules. Going against the grain and norms of society is a core value that is reflected in Benjyehuda. On their website, they claim “We’re not really into rules, so we opened a place that didn’t have any. Take a look around and you’ll pick up on what we mean. Our name is impossible to pronounce and even harder to spell. We play our music loud and watch bawdy movies while we work. We refuse to value profits more than quality. We do what matters to us. We don’t do the rest.”1
That’s why, when you enter into a Benjyehuda, you are immediately submerged in an environment meant to subvert. The walls are adorned with images: some of their employees— one dressed in drag, another covered in tattoos—accompanied by quotes and edgy phrases from counterculture icons such as Anthony Bourdain and Kendrick Lamar. Two flat-screen TVs are mounted on the walls, one with cult-classic movies such as “The Big Lebowski” or “Trading Places,” and the second with a rock concert from The Red Hot Chili Peppers or Deaf Leppard, blasting for the customers to jam out to while waiting in line to order food. Definitely a chaotic and exciting dining experience.
But to my parents, Benjyehuda is not just a restaurant, it is a “piece of art that has attitude,” venturing away from any sort of standard. One of the main priorities when coming up with the core values for Benjyehuda was to be anti-corporate, prioritizing quality over profits and focusing on the individual. “Make it how you want it” is a message that is sent to customers when they walk in the door, along with “be yourself, there are no rules here.”
None of what they created—a unique environment with an absurd, swaggy style and risky embellishments—would have amounted to what it is now had it not been for breaking some rules and engaging with a counterculture mentality. My parents avoid buying into social etiquette and instead turn the volume up, play risky movies and hang profane signs across the walls. Innovation is impossible unless you create something that has never been done before. And to do that, you need to break the status quo—the so-called rules that others have laid out for you, risking the ordinary to become extraordinary.2
When you enter a Benjyehuda, you become a part of its culture. Its website reads that when you go to order, you join a way of life and obtain an attitude that is at variance from the social norms; “Step up to the counter. You can have whatever you want. What’ll it be?”3 ■