In the Galilee’s Arab, Jewish, and Druze communities, life has a rural rhythm, slower than in big towns. You can tell that people like to stop and sniff the roses, as each garden displays roses and other lovingly tended fragrant bushes. And the old foodways are still alive in the Galilee, preserved by middle-aged housewives.
It looks like aliens took over the broccoli patch, doesn’t it? Romanesco broccoli is a unique vegetable that looks like a cauliflower gone crazy but has an intense broccoli flavor. It was first grown in Italy and is now available in more European countries, the US, and in Israel.
For Israelis, butter has mysteriously disappeared from being an open market product. We gather it’s a mix of climate change and the fact that a Chinese multinational bought out its national dairy. But leave it to use to keep the western east prosperous and happy. Hey, don’t mess with our butter. But if you have […]
The Jewish holiday of Purim 2018 begins this coming Wednesday night, the 28th of February, and continues through Thursday the 29th. In Jerusalem and other ancient walled cities, the holiday is called Shushan Purim and occurs on Thursday night, the 1st of March, through Friday.
It’s still chilly in the Middle East – still the season for comfort food. Try driving the cold away with msemmen, a flexible, square-shaped skillet cake (the best of Middle East and North African pancakes!), easily pulled apart into layers so you can stuff it. Msemmen is similar to the Emirati Khameer bread (recipe here), […]
A year has passed since I penned a sampler of how Valentine’s Day goes down in the Middle East. Tempus fugit, baby, that treacly holiday is back in Jordan with a vengeance and I’m seeing red.
Why would anyone want to eat plants that sting? And iron rich raw nettles do sting. But nettles – best foraged in fall or spring depending on where you live. They are a tasty, nutrient-dense food. People have been eating them since antiquity, and probably since pre-history. Their easily-metabolized iron rich content is so high […]
I’ve been cooking nonstop out of Nawal Nasrallah’s majestic cookbook, Delights From The Garden of Eden. And my family loves it, because every recipe yields a delicious dish. Like this one.
It happened. I am officially addicted to making ice-cream in my Vitamix machine. It arrived about six weeks ago by courier. At first I didn’t think that it would become such a staple in my life. It’s a high-powered blender, after all. Black, with two mixing containers: a wet one and a dry. I’d heard […]
When I think of a meal based on a light protein – something quick to make and yet satisfying – I think of fish. Have you ever considered fish luxuriously drizzled with tahini?
I am a fan of baba ghanoush, and I am a fan of food that looks erotic. In today’s way of conventional farming we’ve grown accustomed to getting that perfectly symmetrical eggplant or tomato.
It’s that frying time of the year again. Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights which lasts for eight days. The holiday commemorates the victory of the Jewish people against Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 165 B.C, and the restoration of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which had been ransacked and desecrated. The light in the Temple, […]
Now that winter is here we celebrate the virtues of the pomegranate. Did you know it is a plant of the Koran and it is also celebrated by Judaism? But how does one eat the seeds of this delicious and healthy fruit without spending hours doing it by hand? This video below shows us.
Simit (also spelled simeat) are well known throughout the eastern Mediterranean countries, especially Turkey. Despite some differences, they are all shaped as rings and are generously encrusted with sesame seeds. These could very well be the start of what is known today as the Jewish bagel. The authentic varieties, like Iraqi simit, are closely related […]
Opposites attract; just ask salted caramel, chocolate-covered pretzels, or kettle corn. These treats are all sweet-and-salty food combinations and here’s a new one to add to summer – just before the season ends. Watermelon and feta cheese may not seem like the perfect pair, but you’ll have to trust me when I tell you that […]