Traditional Palestinian Farming Spurs Rare Plant Boom

Age-old agricultural techniques in the West Bank help conserve rare plants that might otherwise have perished, according to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. A new survey shows that farmers following traditional practices in the south Hebron Hills have sustained a large number of rare plants.  According to plant researcher Yair Or, the fieldwork turned […]

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Shisha: Don’t Read This If You Love Smoking It

This guy may look kind of sexy with his pipe, but the BBC unveils just how toxic smoking shisha really is. It’s always been a source of curiosity to me that even my health-conscious friends in the Middle East rarely pass up an opportunity to suck on a shisha pipe – as though that seductive […]

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Heart Attacks in Kids for One or More Cans a Day?

Kids in the Middle East love those super-sweet soda and drink beverages. Loaded with sugar, parents should limit intake for new reasons. With all the food and beverage issues making headlines, like pink slime hamburgers and meat glue worries, there is new bad news on syrupy soft drinks that people order with those “slime burgers” and French […]

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Haroset, The Passover Seder’s Sweet Treat RECIPE

Enslaved Jews in Egypt built storehouses in  Pithom and Ramses, according to tradition. But did they cement the bricks with dates and honey? “Seder” means “order.” The first Passover night’s meal follows a specific  order, and the first thing we see on the seder table is a plate of symbolic foods. In the center of […]

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Sliced Sweet Potatoes Roasted in Date Honey

Looking for a quick, delicious and healthy side dish? Grab some sweet potatoes. There’s lots of cooking going on at this time of year. Passover, Easter, vacation time – guests coming over, family at home, and festive meals to prepare. A busy cook needs easy, reliable recipes to fill out her or his menus. Sweet […]

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How NASA Sees the Changing Middle East Landscape

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q4YTpa3Bwg] Who would have known 50 years ago that Angel Falls can be experienced like this? Flying in a motorized paraglider over one of the most diverse continents in the world I find it absolutely awe inspiringly mind blowingly beautiful that nowadays we have the technology to provides us with new perspectives on this spherical […]

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What’s in season in March?

Ever wonder what to do with eggplants? Read on for some Middle Eastern eggplant ideas. At the start of the month, markets didn’t have much new. Everything in February’s post still applied.  Newcomers like strawberries were still expensive and not sweet yet. Now, seasonal produce is on the upward swing towards summer’s abundance and those […]