Quick to make and satisfying – roasted chickpeas answer the need for a healthy snack. When we casually dump a can-full of chickpeas into a pan, we’re thinking of dinner, not how the ancient world ate the little yellow grains. But chickpeas found in Middle-Eastern archeological excavations have been proved to be eaten by folks […]
Since 2007, land dedicated to organic greenhouse farming across the United Arab Emirates has increased by 15 percent Despite some debate over the carbon-footprint of locally grown food when using desalinated water, it is widely accepted that growing your own food locally is better and greener than shipping it in from all corners of the […]
Kanafeh: sweet cheese filling under a crunchy topping. A favorite Ramadan dessert. Ramadan 2011 begins after sunset on July 31st. One of the many luscious traditional pastries served during the night meals of Ramadan month is kanafeh. Subtly flavored with lemon and rosewater, doused with syrup, it makes up for all the calories burnt off […]
Lack of space in urban environments often means that farming opportunities are limited, but a technique of farming indoors and upwards may resolve this problem Over a week ago, I had the opportunity to attend an event featuring Dickson Despommier, the grandfather of vertical farming. As Green Prophet editor Karin explains in an interview with […]
The public was ignorant about the the dangers of smoking till the 1960s. The fashion for meat glue in food seems ominously similar. Finding a scientist to talk about meat glue wasn’t easy. I spoke to neurologists, biologists, pathologists, the head physician at a local hospital, and biochemists. None had even heard of transglutaminase. When […]
“Fukushima cows” starving to death – but some got shipped to the meat markets. Revelation that some 84 Japanese beef cattle shipped to markets in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan may be contaminated with radiation may not have happened had the exposed cattle been genetically “profiled” by a new DNA tracing process being developed by […]
Millions of people around the world will fast during Ramadan, and thousands will hide in the bathroom to sneak food. I tread lightly. I am not a Muslim. I’m not religious at all, though enforced bible education is firmly rooted in my neurological framework. So, it is with grave respect that I tackle the question […]
The verdant valleys in the Toubkal National Park stand in stark contrast to the dry, red mountain sides. After my last visit to Toubkal National Park in Morocco’s high Atlas Mountains, where I ungracefully scrambled to the summit of its namesake in order to prove to myself and the world that I am cool enough […]
Human genetic material and human gelatin – coming to your marshmallows and Jello soon? Reading the ingredients list in any processed food is always thought-provoking. If you really want to know what those mysterious combinations of letters and numbers mean, you have to become adept at Internet research. So I suppose it could be argued that artificial […]
Gaza fishermen preparing nets. Fishing by Gazans now a “hazardous occupation”. Restrictions placed on Gaza fishermen by Israeli naval vessels has made living from the sea an almost impossible occupation these days. This fact goes along with decreasing fish catches in the Mediterranean due to over fishing, increasing sea pollution from sewage, plastic material and […]
Evian’s campaign tries to tell consumers to “live young”, but it may end up reminding the public about its younger generation and the future of the planet. Bottled water is one of those environmentalists’ pet peeves. The plastic bottles are wasteful, often do not get recycled, and the water itself is often of lesser quality […]
Fire up your grill and cook these aromatic vegetable chunks to delicious perfection. If there’s one favorite way to cook in the Middle East, it’s the outdoor grill. There really is no way to produce that smoky flavor. We’ve gotten away from the traditional picture of a paunchy, unshaven guy in a T-shirt taking gulps […]
Can urban agriculture save Cairo? We think it’s a pretty good start There has been an important spotlight on agriculture not only in Egypt, which is suspected by the EU of causing the E. coli outbreak in Germany earlier this year, but also other Middle Eastern and North African countries such as Morocco whose poor […]
If you rub these recycled tire jugs three times will an eco-genie pop out? In the medina of Marrakesh at Jemâa el Fna, minutes away from the Jewish spice market, and the snake charmers, who Tafline finds aren’t so charming for animal and snake rights, we found a small eco-stall. A couple of old men […]
This really bad picture of former Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Youssef Wali should not blur his egregious crimes. Hosni Mubarak is not the only official to lose tremendous face following the dramatic Egyptian revolution earlier this year. The former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Youssef Wali also became the subject […]
For years now, Green Prophet has been reporting on the growing water shortage situation in Africa and the Middle East and its economic and geopolitical implications. However, the scale of the problem and the need for urgent international coordination to secure this basic commodity is becoming more urgent today as stories and pictures from Yemen […]
Egypt is losing an estimated 11,736 hectres of agricultural land every year according to UN sources From food contaminated with human waste in Cairo due to water shortages to concerns that the country could be on the brink of famine, Egypt is facing its fair share of food problems. Now, there are reports that desertification […]
Humanitarian crises erupt in Libya, Yemen and Syria as the populations revolt against their oppressive leaders From the very start, the price of food has played an important role in the emerging Arab Spring which has swept across Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Syria and Libya. As food prices rose so did the anger in […]
These warm, fragrant loaves bring Moroccan flavor to any meal. Karin’s stay in a beautiful eco-lodging high up in the Moroccan mountains, and Tafline’s intrepid hike up and down them, inspired me to find particularly Moroccan recipe. And I find that this flatbread, perfumed with anise and sesame seeds, puts dreams of Morocco in my […]
The EU has banned 10% of Egyptian agricultural products after linking that country to the devastating E. coli outbreak that killed 49 people earlier this year. The European Union has linked the May/June E. coli outbreak that killed 49 people to produce grown in Egypt. Following a dedicated probe, officials concluded that a shipment of […]
Latin America, once a part of the Spanish Empire, is home to Trees Give Life, the Muslim ran tree planting project. Read more on the tree huggers in Mexico.
It’s not just excess calories anymore. It could be that environmental chemicals are ordering your body to put on the pounds. We live surrounded by synthetic chemical substances. They’re in our food, our soaps, in hundreds of thousands of things we handle daily. Like parabens, a preservative found in moisturizers and bath products. Exposure to […]
Abnormally dry weather a nightmare for Afghanis who rely on wheat crops for survival. Afghanistan is likely to face a significant food shortage in the coming months, following poor rains which have affected this season’s wheat crop. Wheat is the primary food staple for most families. “There have been problems with rainfall, so there will […]
If you buy vegetables in Cairo, they could be contaminated with human waste. Faced with a shortage of water for irrigation (and the fact it might lose its right to the Nile), Ahmed Osman, a farmer in his late thirties, opted to divert local sewage water to irrigate his two-hectare vegetable plot in the heart […]
You don't have to be Muslim, to eat Halal. Green Prophet's eco-Muslim Zaufishan provides ten top tips for a more organic and Islamic diet, leading up to Ramadan.
