Karin plucks mulberry leaves from her backyard and serves them to her family. Long ago, mulberry trees were planted all over the Middle East to feed silkworms. The cottage silk industries have died out, but many ancient mulberry trees remain. Strolling with Karin in her garden this week, I remarked that the big mulberry tree [...]
Summer’s arrival brings out all kinds of fruit to simmer up into jam – including tomatoes. Tomatoes as jam? Yes, indeed, and delicious it is, too. I love to make up small batches of tomato jam when lots of different tomato varieties appear in the markets. In the full swing of summer’s harvest, when prices [...]
We’ve posted about the Cafe Clock blog here, including the recipe for its famous camel burger. In this delightful cookbook, Stevens includes recipes from the Cafe Clock as well as some traditional Moroccan dishes that she discovered herself. Her warm, frank tone and the stories that introduce many of the recipes almost bring the reader [...]
Miriam sees Israel’s most famous open-air market through new eyes. When I lived in Jerusalem, the Machane Yehuda shuk (market) was my grocery store. Vegetables, grains, fruit, chicken for Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. There were nuts and sweets…everything we ate came from the shuk. (Read about 5 Israeli shuks here.) My kids grew [...]
Treading the path of righteousness involves the ecology too. It had never occurred to me that if I were to go camping on Mt. Meron for the upcoming Lag B’Omer celebration, that I’d actually be on pilgrimage. I never thought of my visits to the Western Wall in Jerusalem as a pilgrimage. But during the [...]
Science puts a new view forward in the anti-brassiere argument. Women have bound their breasts since antiquity, for modesty’s sake or to conform to an aesthetic ideal. Exposing the breast for human survival in breastfeeding is supposed to be kept politely minimal, even with the known multiple benefits of breastfeeding. In the Western world, women [...]
From Iraq with love, a great jam with a surprising ingredient. Nawal Nasrallah, a food historian and author, writes about Iraqui cuisine in a warm, rich style that beautifully highlights each recipe’s historical and cultural background. Her newly revised cookbook, Delights From The Garden Of Eden, is about to be released in a new edition, [...]
Green Pilgrim Jerusalem hosts a week-long international symposium on greening pilgrimage, with major religious leaders from around the world. Faith and community leaders from around the world will be speaking on ecological, urban and social development as influenced by mass pilgrimage. Our report on the massive urban sprawl that Mecca is becoming illustrates the ecological [...]
Increasing evidence shows that sugar is a natural enemy to the body. “Don’t you think I know how hard it is, honey/To get some “sugar” from the phone,” sings country singer Bonnie Raitt, vividly summing up the difficulty of maintaining a long-distance romance. Sugar represents all that’s sweet and desirable, but in the light of [...]
Known as turmos in the Levant, lupine beans – poor folk’s food - are a tasty Middle-Eastern snack in need of more recognition. Except in some South American countries, the Western world doesn’t give lupines much regard. Chickpeas get much more publicity (like our vegan chickpea and artichoke salad). Maybe it has to do with the long [...]
For centuries, kombucha lovers have been drinking the fizzy tea beverage and claiming amazing health benefits from it. The origins of kombucha tea are veiled in ancient history. Some say that man first brewed tea with a “mother” kombucha culture in Korea. Others say it was in China, or Japan. While one website authoritatively states [...]
Matzah balls, the only Eastern European food that crossed over to Sephardic cuisine. While Ashkenazic Jews have enthusiastically adopted the spicy foods of Israeli’s Sephardic communities, there hasn’t been much culinary exchange from the other direction. Ordinarily, Sephardic Jews (Middle Eastern and North African origin) wrinkle their noses at the foods of Eastern European Jewry. [...]
Available for only a short season, green favas are considered a delicacy in the Middle East. Springtime in the shuk, and lots of prime greens have made their once-yearly appearance. Fresh green peas and artichokes, which I love to eat stuffed. Fresh green garlic to hang up and dry for the year. And fresh green [...]
Tasty, high-protein and low-cholesterol, camel meat even has the approval of the Australian Heart Association. Sustainability in the kitchen is our creed, and camel is a far more sustainable meat than beef (which the world was horrified to discover may be contaminated with horse meat). We have posted about camel milk and its health benefits. [...]
When does a plague of insects become a healthy snack? When locusts descend on earth. Free food! When Egyptian skies darkened with tiny whirring creatures bound for tender field crops, Israeli farmers went on high alert to ward off the cloud of locusts heading north. Foodies, on the other hand, recalled that chef Moshe Basson [...]
Major health institutions, restaurants, and company canteens in Israel now opt for a vegetarian Monday. Proud of its environmental initiatives, Israel created an interactive map showing Israeli green influence around the globe. Israelis can legitimately talk about grass-roots projects like turning a huge landfill into an ecology park, too. Now Israel has embraced the Meatless [...]
Wild marigold, sage and Palestine Oak?An international team sends researchers to Israel to forage medicinal plants. Old grandmothers, herbalists and nature lovers of all ages have long known that green medicine grows everywhere, as we’ve posted about here on how to grow 7 healing herbs at home. Even many decorative garden plants like aloe vera [...]
If you’ve got a jar of tahini going stale in the fridge, you’re missing out on all kinds of delicious flavor combinations that can make your meals special. As earthy as tahini is (or as we say in the Middle East, techinah) the semi-solid paste brightens up with lemon, garlic, herbs and spices. It’s great as [...]
Cut your meat consumption by half to combat global warming, urges UN Environment Program. All over the US, Europe and even in the Tel Aviv University, people are adopting Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono’s Meat-Free Mondays. But one meatless day a week isn’t enough to undo the environmental damage that industrial farming methods cause. The [...]
A vegetarian slow-cooked casserole with a fine Middle Eastern blend of flavors. Sustainable cooking means healthy food from local sources and fair worker’s wages. Sustainable agriculture not only maintains, but also enriches the natural resources that our food supply depends on. Join Green Prophet as we tour the Middle East region offering the quintessential sustainable dishes [...]
Miriam shows you a practical plan for constructing a living herb wall that fits your space. If growing organic culinary or healing herbs at home grabs you, a wall garden will bring you joy. As gorgeous as the massive system at the Al-Sultan Ibrahim restaurant in Maameltein, Lebanon is, the home owner can plan for [...]
The British fast-food chain hid up to 30% horse meat in its juicy burgers, then denied it. The British, most of whom regard eating horse as something like eating dogs, were rocked by the news that the burgers they loved were filled out with cheap horse meat. Burger King’s supplier in Ireland, ABP/Silvercrest, supplied the [...]
You can grow a living medicine chest in your garden with little effort. The old song says, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Let’s add echinacea, garlic and basil. Most are culinary herbs with poetic histories. All are green medicines that you can harvest at will. The herbs don’t take up much space, if not much [...]
33 exotic Moroccan recipes from the women who make and cook with argan oil. The argan tree is a Berber identity icon, and production of its oil is traditionally a woman’s job. But as with many folkways, interest in argan began to dwindle. It’s a finicky process with low yield. Unless marketed wisely, it’s hardly [...]
The Hebrew University in Jerusalem improves one of the world’s most important food staples. In a world where rainfall is no longer predictable and droughts hold sway, even affecting politics in the Middle East, we are less and less complacent about food security. Developments like wine produced under desert conditions and pest-resistant wheat brighten the [...]
Moroccan flavors blend deliciously in a hearty chickpea soup. Our previous posts on sustainable eating in the Middle East/North Africa region featured rice and chicken kabsa from Saudi Arabia, Jordan’s traditional mansaf, and wheat berry pudding from Iran. All very delicious – but what about North Africa? Regional, seasonal, fresh and harvested under fair conditions. [...]
The Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat, a day especially loved by children, is a special eco-day in Israel. Celebrate it with a fruity feast. It’s true, a few days before the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat occurs, the almond trees in Israel begin to shake blossoms out along their branches. Travelers along the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem highway [...]
New Nature study research shows that fatal first world, hospital-born diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile can be treated with donor feces. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Transferring feces of a (healthy, tested) donor to the gut of a patient suffering from life-threatening diarrhea. These are cases where the body’s natural, beneficial bacteria are wiped out from many rounds [...]
This traditional Persian pudding makes a great winter breakfast or a satisfying dessert. Eating sustainably connotes regional foods that are available locally and in season. Fair conditions for workers and careful use of natural resources are part of what makes foodways sustainable. To draw attention to what is sustainable in the Middle East, we’ve embarked [...]
In the Middle East, now is the time to buy fresh turmeric root for freezing or planting. Fancy a turmeric smoothie? That’s how my husband gets his daily dose of the deep-yellow, pungent root. When his doctor took him off anti-inflammation medications, I cast around for a natural way to help him cope with the [...]
Our continued investigation into sustainable Middle Eastern food focuses on Mansaf, the Jordanian national dish. Regional cuisines evolve from foods that are available locally and in season. Eating this way implies sustainability from the very source, in addition to fair conditions for workers and mindful stewardship of natural resources. When it comes to the delicious [...]
Miriam introduces a new series on sustainable eating in the Middle-East/North Africa region. What does eating sustainably mean to you? By definition, sustainable food is nutritionally healthy, supports local agriculture and guarantees a fair wage to workers. Sustainable agriculture maintains and enriches the natural resources that our food supply depends on. On a personal level, [...]
Are Israelis eating a mouthful of pesticides for breakfast? If there’s one food group that Israelis love, it’s vegetables. In fact, all over the Middle East, vegetables are treated with love and presented at table in infinite artful ways. And people are picky about their produce, carefully inspecting each tomato and cucumber before consenting to [...]
A healthier spin on the season’s traditional potato pancakes. Hannukah is one of the most fun holidays in the Jewish calendar, maybe because for a full eight days there’s a feeling of celebration in the air. Family folks often quit work early to be home in time for the candle-lighting ceremony, games with the kids [...]
One man’s efforts to prevent ecological disaster and to save Turkey’s birds is permanent ink tats on his arms. It was the close of the day for us birdwatchers at the Hula Valley Bird Festival in Israel. Our guides dropped us off where we were to dine, and while we waited, we talked to the “birders” – passionate [...]
Author of the hugely popular cookbook Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi teamed up with co-chef Sami Tamimi to produce a cookbook that will dazzle, inspire, and satisfy your senses. Both men were born the same year in Jerusalem; Ottolenghi in the western Jewish side and Tamimi in Arab east Jerusalem. They never met until they were in [...]
In the Middle East, recipes for stuffed vegetables and leaves evolved from a simple, thrifty way with meat to a culinary passion. Careful housewives have long known that a little ground meat goes a long way when artfully seasoned and combined with rice. But it took imagination and care to develop the recipes of stuffed [...]
A better device for early breast cancer detection is expected to be available in 2013-2014. Any woman who’s endured the pain and embarrassment of a mammogram would welcome a painless alternative. Even better would be one that doesn’t subject her to radiation. Best would be a device that doesn’t crush her breasts, is radiation-free, and [...]
Friendship through sunflower seeds is still going to happen between Israelis and Palestinians, says artist Noam Edry who has organized a big sunflower seed chew off, called Seeds of Bliss. Edry refuses to let politics get in the way of her monumental sunflower seed peace effort. Even when politics translate into siren alerts. From her [...]
The Hula Valley Bird Park offers unique bird and nature-watching opportunities. We birdwatchers sat in a covered safari wagon as lines of cranes criss-crossed the evening sky. More and more cranes began to appear, and soon the air was full of powerful-looking birds calling in hoarse, creaking voices. Hundreds landed to roost in a field [...]