Inside the Israeli Pita
Falafel, an ancient dish from Egypt, found itself in our era in the middle of this civilization collision mess. If only all other outcomes of cultural conflicts were so tasteful.
I’m afraid we are all living in what that famous Chinese saying calls “interesting times”. And it’s most certainly too interesting here, in Israel.
Even if you follow the news, you probably don’t get the full picture. It is complicated, and I’m really here to write about food, so I’ll say just that: both us Israelis and our Palestinians brothers, are good people with lousy leaders.
But well, I’m here to tell you about the complexity of the Israeli pita bread, so lets get down to it.
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Falafel with Dada, Hummus with Nasrallah
Berlin hummus special, part II
After a week in Berlin, without real hummus, I was ready to go a long way – literally – to eat my favorite dish. Finally, after some scary experiences, I got what seemed like a second best: a great Falafel.
In the second week of our current visit to Berlin, we met David, a former Israeli who lives in Berlin for many years now.
David was very sympathetic to our sad story about not being able to find good hummus in the city. He suggested we go to Casalot, a Palestinian place in the Mitte quarter, serving traditional Arab dishes (here’s their German site).
Are Falafel and Tahini nutritious too?
OK, so hummus is good for you. But what about falafel and tahini? And all that olive oil? Lets shed some light.
In a recent posts I already explained how nutritious Hummus is (I’m talking about REAL hummus of course, freshly made from dried chickpeas. Here’s the recipe).
Recently, a few people asked me about the nutritional benefits of other middle-eastern dishes, such as falafel, tahini and olive oil. So here are the basic facts.
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Who stole my hummus?
Hummus, Falafel and Shawarma ARE Arab foods. And they are also Israeli foods. Those who claim differently, too often lack the knowledge or the wisdom to see things as they really are.
I already addressed the issue of subjecting hummus and other middle-eastern foods to political disputes. You can read all about it in my post Hummus, is it Israeli or Arab. But I can’t help commenting on this piece, a column by George S. Hishmeh titled ” The undeclared war on Arab cuisine”.
Hishmeh says: “My niece, Irene, called me a few days ago indignant that some of her American friends, including some Jews, keep describing typical Arab foods such as falafel, hummus and shawarma, among others, as Israeli. She wanted to know how she can convince them this is not the case.” Read more
Hummus in Berlin
Here’s a place I’m sure to visit on my next trip to Berlin.
Just came across a place that combines two of my favorites, Berlin and Hummus:
Berlin’s HummusGarten. I was not aware that such place had existed, otherwise I’d probably visit it earlier, in one of my trips to Berlin.
It’s located between Rosa-Luxemburg Platz and Rosenthalerstr., two places in which I’ve been more than a few times. And you can be sure I’d visit and review it the next time I’m in Berlin (and by the way, if your home town has good hummus places, feel free to write something about it and send us – we’ll be thankful up to our ears).
To read about places in Berlin which combines 3 of my favorites, read this one: Berlin’s best falafel Joints.
The Falafel king Game
At first, I though to myself – what kind of idea this is to make a game about falafel? On the other hand, who would think of such thing as a blog about hummus?
True, The Hummus Blog is mainly about hummus – as the name may suggest – but we haven’t found a game about hummus so far. We do know a game about falafel, though.
It’s called King of Falafel, and the purpose of the game is – more or less – to fill pocket pita breads with falafel balls, salad, potato chips and tahini. If you are acquainted with this traditional constellation, you will probably find this game pretty amusing. If not, well… you should definitely try eating it sometime soon.
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Falafel fact sheet
Sometimes it is shaped like a ball and sometimes like a flat burger. It may have a pail brown color, or be darksome. Have a smooth or grainy texture, and be eaten inside a pita or a Turkish bread. Make way for the hummus’s brother: falafel.
Falafel is the second most common dish made of chickpeas, after hummus of course. It is eaten in many Arab and Mediterranean countries, each with it’s own special version.
You can find falafel all around the world today. But when in the US and North Europe, is it usually made by ex-Israeli’s, Lebanese, Egyptians or Turks. Falafel is very common in these countries (except Turkey).
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