Food

Dragon fruit is also known by several other names depending on where you encounter it. In much of the U.S. and Latin America it’s commonly called pitaya or pitahaya, terms you’ll often see used interchangeably with dragon fruit on market labels. Botanically, the fruit comes from a cactus sometimes referred to as night-blooming cereus, a nod to the plant’s dramatic flowers that open after dark. Older or poetic names like strawberry pear, belle of the night, or queen of the night still appear occasionally, though today dragon fruit and pitaya are the names most shoppers recognize.

Qatayef - also spelled katayif or qatya’if - is traditionally eaten at Ramadan (get our Ramadan vegetarian ideas here), but it’s a treat anytime. In fact, it’s a treat that’s gone through history. A recipe for qatayif appears in a tenth century Arabic cookbook by the writer Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, who compiled recipes going back to the eighth and ninth centuries. People have been eating qatayif for a very long time.

What makes Souk El Tayeb in Lebanon remarkable is not only its insistence on local, seasonal produce, but its belief that dignity and sustainability must go hand in hand. Farmers are paid fairly. Villages are uplifted. Traditional recipes are kept alive not as nostalgia but as knowledge systems: real food is carbon-light, waste-free, and is adapted to the land.

Winter is citrus season, and the markets are full of golden oranges. Don’t even try to resist them. What could be more heavenly than the sweetness of a good orange? As juice, in salads, cooked with chicken or fish, or eaten out of hand, oranges are delicious, and provide a good hit of vitamin C as well.

Sheep, goat, and buffalo milk create some of the world’s most flavorful cheeses. And if you are going an extra step and can find it, camel milk cheese might be one to try.

Even meat labeled organic may contain injected saline, because FSIS lists salt and water as organic. The FSIS allows selling injected meat as “natural” and “fresh” unless the added solution changes the product’s nature in ways that require different labeling. If you want to make absolutely sure that product is free of added salt and water, look for a statement on the label reading “no artificial ingredients,” “minimally processed,” or similar.

For now, the symbolic impact is huge. “Reinventing dairy by removing cows from the equation” was once a science-fiction idea. With Canada’s green light, it’s officially a market reality — and the race to define the future of milk has entered a new phase.

From Rabbi Shimon’s cave to a global marketplace hungry for sustainable nutrition, carob’s revival reminds us that sometimes the future of food grows from the oldest roots of all.

Yes, pea pod wine is a real thing, an old-fashioned, home-brewed country wine made from the leftover pods after shelling fresh peas. It is a sustainable, no-waste practice, often popular among allotment gardeners.

For an easy, luscious appetizer, wrap a semi-firm white cheese like Brie or feta in grapevine leaves and bake or grill it. It's a...

By exploring forgotten folk dishes like lizard stew, Green Prophet continues to connect the dots between culture, ecology, and the future of sustainable living in the Middle East.

If we seize this moment, the 2026 review can catalyse a new wave of finance (see Green Finance mechanisms in the UAE), innovation and policy coherence — and move us closer to the vision of a nature-positive world by 2050. If not, the checkpoint risks becoming another missed opportunity while ecosystems, livelihoods and economies continue to degrade.

The good news: when the mice stopped the ketogenic diet, their metabolism began to recover. But the overall message remains cautionary. “I would urge anyone to talk to a health care provider if they’re thinking about going on a ketogenic diet,” Gallop advised.

While both spirulina and beef provide “complete” protein (i.e., containing all essential amino acids), the absorption and usability of that protein by the human body may differ. Animal-sourced proteins are often considered more easily digestible and more strongly tied to muscle repair and growth, though the exact difference can depend on numerous factors including cooking method, other dietary components and individual digestive efficiency.

The discovery in Turkey offers a rare physical example of bread from ~3300 BCE, giving insights into ancient diet, agriculture and ritual (the loaf was buried beneath a home’s threshold, suggesting a symbolic role). The revival in modern Turkey not only connects bread to cultural heritage, but promotes ancient grains (less‐common, drought-tolerant) and sustainable agriculture.