What’s vegewarian? It means reducing the amount of meat you eat every week, celebrating delicious food and sustainability with vegetable-based dishes. This week we bring you Ruz Bukhari, a traditional and well-loved Arabic dish. Pilgrims from Uzbekistan brought Ruz Bukhari with them long ago, as they traveled to Mecca and Medina. We’re sure they traveled […]
Doctors at the Memorial Hospital, Istanbul, help patients’ recovery with soulful music. In the Intensive Care unit, Dr. Erol Can puts a flute to his lips. He is wearing blue hospital scrubs and his stethoscope still hangs around his neck. Propped up in bed and connected to an oxygen tank, a patient listens as the […]
Air pollution is one of many environmental factors that impact public health. But doctors aren’t learning about this, finds new Israeli study. According to a new study by Israeli medical students, doctors in the United States, Israel and Europe are receiving inadequate environmental health education. The study, titled “Our Health and Environment,” was sponsored by […]
One of the surprising facts in Florence William’s new book: breast milk is more expensive than oil. Jet fuel in breast milk? Breasts getting bigger than generations ago? These are just two discoveries that investigative journalist, Florence William’s, shares in her latest book about the environmental impact on breasts. Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History […]
This olive oil and lemon-based potato salad brings bright flavors to your mezze. Traditional mezze appetizers tend to based on vegetables. In our hot, dry climate, it makes sense to put many small dishes of piquant salads on the table at the start of a meal. You can count on them to waken a languishing […]
Middle Eastern olive oil producers are baring the brunt of falling oil prices Olive oil prices have hit a 10 year low, severely impacting producers in Spain, Italy , Greece and Protugal- which produce more than 60 percent of the world’s olive oil. However, Middle Eastern Farmers in Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Israel and Palestine will […]
Ayala Moriel has captured and bottled natural Middle East smells and made them into natural perfumes. With captivating names, perfumer Ayala Mor from Canada has distilled the best scents of the Middle East and has turned them into bottles of perfume. From Israel, her scents are reminiscent of her roots: the Old City in Jerusalem, […]
Can there be ways to protect olive oil prices and the sustainable ways of olive farming in the Middle East? The price for olive oil has dropped to its lowest level in a decade and farmers in the Middle East are bearing the brunt as Spain and Italy dump their government-subsidized stocks at below cost. […]
Asbestos, linked directly to mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer, is still present in many products used daily in Lebanon. But there’s no protection for workers or the population at large. In 1998, Lebanon submitted to popular pressure and banned asbestos imports. In 2000, Eternit, the country’s major importer of asbestos closed down. But […]
In Israel the organic food market is still comparatively small and underdeveloped. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz organic food only comprises one and half percent of Israel’s agricultural output. A whopping 90% of it is exported abroad, mainly to European markets. An annual Agriculture Ministry survey in 2011 discovered that 37.4% of the organic […]
Your reusable totes may be full of bacteria and can turn you seriously “green”. Time to practice good bag hygiene. Researchers at the University of Arizona tested 84 reusable shopping totes and found over half were contaminated with harmful bacteria, including the dangerous E.coli. Contamination occurs when fluids such as fruit juices and meat blood leak […]
Enjoy a delicious dairy dessert on Shavuot (but don’t count the calories). Shavuot, the Jewish festival that celebrates receiving the Torah on Mt. Sinai, has always been associated with having a dairy meal. The origins of the custom go back to antiquity, and there are several explanations for it. Some hold that milk symbolizes the […]
Whisked away down the toilet and into our waterways, we are losing stocks of phosphorus and the result can be very scary. Looking for something new to worry about? Phosphorus hops onto the list of rapidly diminishing natural resources: a dangerous dwindling of something that probably never crossed your mind. Production will likely peak in our […]
Verdolaga con queso recipe made from foraged superweeds.
This past weekend Yael Stav offered tours of her home and vertical garden as part of the “Houses From Within” Batim Mibifnim exhibition in Tel Aviv. Some of the garden was built using recycled materials and compost from her children’s eco-friendly diapers.
Down side of crop dusting is pesticides that cause neurological damage: photo by Alberto Denkberg/Haaretz Air and water pollution in Israel from insecticides, oil and other petroleum-based residues from older gas stations; and other chemicals are feared to be causing neurological damage to people according to new studies. Various forms of insecticides, especially the use […]
Sour green plums the size of large marbles are in the shuk now, a seasonal favorite of the Iraqi community. Eat them out of hand as a snack, sprinkling each bite with a little salt. The classic Iraqi way to cook them is to pair them with meat in a flavorful stew. And if you […]
I just spit out my coffee. About to move house for the fifth time in as many years, I take a day to escape the cardboard box Himalayas towering in the living room. Plus there’s heavy construction going on next door, and it sounds like all of Amman’s stray cats are in heat. I grab a laptop and […]
An Islamic bank in Jordan, Sanabel, has bought up over a quarter of a Congo forest for ‘sustainable projects’ When I first read about the acquisition of 500,000 hectares of high value forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo by an Islamic investment bank in Jordan, I thought one thing: land grab. Over the last […]
Two Israeli women founded TIPA – the first company in Israel to offer 100% biodegradable and recyclable beverage packaging, which is a particularly difficult feat to achieve. Daphna Nissenbaum and Tal Neuman founded the company in 2010 in order to address the dire need for packaging that is genuinely ecologically-sensitive. And so far, they have […]
Tomatoes are staple to the Israeli diet; Israel looks to Jordan to augment its tomato supply. Last year a spike in cottage cheese prices helped spark the tent protests in Tel Aviv and inspired the worldwide Occupy movement. Cottage is a staple of the Israeli diet, so much so that it became a national symbol […]
Energy drinks have come under renewed scrutiny in Dubai, but the Dubai Central Laboratory (DCL) responsible for ensuring their quality and safety has said that they do comply with UAE specifications according to a recent report in Khaleej Times. Last year the UAE banned the sale of drinks like Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar to […]
Autism is one of those worries that all new parents have to deal with at some point in the early years. The rise in diagnosed cases of over the past few years has been alarming to say the least. The search for answers as to what could be the possible cause or trigger has been […]
Sun bathing in Sinai is like asking for trouble if not adequately screened from the sun’s UV rays. Beach season is now beginning in Middle East countries sharing beach fronts on the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Along with problems like beach littering; and increasing and even record high summer temperatures in the Middle East […]
Eat breakfast the way a Moroccan grandmother might make it with this milky, slow-cooked wheat soup. Vegewarian (vegetarian- aware recipes like these) offer you an alternative to meat-based food. Here’s one for this week which brings Morocco into the kitchen. Home cooks in Morocco make a variety of cereal-based soups and porridge from millet, barley […]