One Friday morning a few weeks ago, I arrived at Kfar Manda for my weekly Arabic lesson, and as I climbed the stairs to my teacher, Malek’s apartment, on the porch/roof I noticed piles of wheat laid out on a canvas drying in the sun (where was my camera when I needed it?). Um Malek … Read More »
Culinary Historian
A Circassian Find
The Circassian community in Israel is very small and not well known. Originally from a mountainous region in the Caucuses near the Black Sea, they were brutally driven out of their land by the Russians in the 19th century, then embraced by the Ottoman Turks, who settled them throughout their empire. The men were famed … Read More »
I’ll Have Mine Baladi
For those who are interested in fresh local produce, “baladi” is the term for vegetables that are not raised industrially in greenhouses, but are grown in the old, traditional way. The word comes from “balad” which in Arabic means village. Baladi vegetables can usually be found in the produce markets in Arab villages and are … Read More »
Baking with Balkees
One of the most felicitous outcomes of my research on the local foods of the Galilee has been the friendship that has developed between me and Balkees Abu Rabieh of Nazareth. Balkees is one of the most gifted cooks and bakers I’ve ever met and the love that she invests in each of her creations … Read More »
Farike
On the last day of Passover, which this year coincided with Easter Monday, I got the call. Friends of my friend Balkees – farmers in the village of Mashhad, just outside Nazareth – were making farike and we were invited to join. Farike – for the unfamiliar – is wheat, harvested when the kernels are … Read More »