Shuk Bites – for $26 you can eat your way through Jerusalem’s famous food market There are plenty of self-guided tours in Jerusalem, and even a few culinary tours. But combining the two approaches, “Shuk Bites” is the first self-guided culinary tour. [“Shuk” is the Middle Eastern word for market place, seen commonly throughout the […]
The authentic flavor of Tej or t’ej beer made according to a centuries-old process. It’s sweet, funky, perfect with injera. An Ethiopian friend supervised my making Tej at home. It’s a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. It requires Gesho, a dried leaf used instead of hops (Rhamnus prinoides, a relative of buckthorn). But it’s as authentic […]
Mafroum potatoes melt in your mouth and fill your senses with truly Middle Eastern flavors. A festive dish, mafroum is one of those foods that reminds me of Moroccan grandmothers who bustle into the kitchen, don an apron, and lovingly conjure delicious food out of vegetables and meat fresh from the shouk.And one of the […]
Looking to build a city or vertical garden in a cramped space? These designer planters from Israel grow deep, and are good for carrots and tomatoes. Gardens growing on your patio or deck can get a facelift this year with a new planter from Israel that just won a prestigious design award. The Greenbo concept […]
You eat more under stressful conditions. Did you ever notice that you eat much more popcorn during the tense scenes at the movies? It’s a self-comforting thing to do, a response to stress. Researchers Brian Wasink and Koert van Ittersum at Cornell University recently discovered a parallel in a study done at one of the […]
Drinking beer is definitely more of a Western tradition than one of the East where wine is preferred, but beer has its place where tradition allows. Miriam has covered beer expos in Israel where there is a rise in boutique breweries like the Dancing Camel and a demand for organic beers. My mom always said […]
Kelly learns to cook like a local (vegetarian) Jordanian at Beit Sitti in Amman. For all those tourists in Amman who want to gain authentic Arabic cooking experience to bring back home and impress their dinner guests, or for the local Jordanian who wants to throw a unique rooftop party in the area, Beit Sitti, […]
The City of the Dead in Cairo isn’t known for its fertile soil, but Liveinslums is working to change that with an awesome mini urban farming initiative. Although everybody seems to understand that population growth is exploding, and that space – particularly in cities – comes at a premium, the extent of our vulnerability to […]
Eating only whites or buying Eggbeaters? Read more on the nutrients and benefits of whole eggs. (Above is Green Prophet’s editor Karin Kloosterman a few years back in her family’s chicken coop.) Eggs have been slandered, persecuted, and vilified for the last 50 years. However, in spite of their bad rap, eggs are a highly […]
Maimonides, a Jewish scholar, prescribed tahini almost 1,000 years ago. It’s a calcium food for vegans. When my friend Elia consulted her doctor complaining of debilitating pain in some of her joints, she was surprised to hear him suggest tahini (or tahina) paste rather than prescribing a pill. He explained that this cure came to […]
Call me Olivias de Maurico: This Syrian olive tree is loaded with fruit, most of which will fall to the ground, unpicked. The autumn olive harvest is still in full swing, and those of you who are now enjoying picking and preserving this ancient Middle Eastern fruit are surely aware that this year’s crop is […]
A traditional Arabic dish of ancient origins, mouth-watering Maklubah (maqlub, maqlube) is a gala menu all by itself.
Smooth and heavy – a guide to choosing the best raw olives for pickling at home. There’s nothing like the sensation of running your fingers through a heap of smooth, heavy, fresh olives. And now is the season. Open markets of the Middle East display stands heaped with the green and purple fruit, perfect for […]
This mountain gazelle can be seriously injured or killed if it tries to reached fenced in vineyards in Israel’s Judean Hills. Wineries like Barkan are “open” to solutions, but not at their expense. Israeli wildlife are already threatened by illegal hunting and development projects that result in a lack of available land for animals to roam […]
Locavore life on an almost invisible budget. Robin Mather has over 30 year’s experience working as a journalist with a passion for the truth behind food production. And she lets nothing get in her way. The head of Michigan’s largest dairy co-op once told her, “Young lady, if you write about rBST (a GMO hormone […]