How pleased I am that Culinary Tours of the Galilee has been officially launched, and in such an auspicious way. Over one week, I led two groups, both through the US Embassy, thanks to my wonderful new colleague and friend Bob, who is officially in charge of the general wellbeing of the embassy staff, but whose generous spirit extends far beyond that.
Our first tour was a Bedouin Picnic – a day emphasizing the local edible wild plants which are so abundant in this rainy winter season. We started at a spice farm where we sipped hot fruit tea and learned about, tasted and smelled many different local spices and spice mixtures. After that, we drove over to a nearby field where we met our picnic hosts – the Sabtan family, who are Bedouins from the neighboring village of Kaabiye. Nadya Sabtan has been teaching me about gathering edible wild plants for many years now and she was happy to share her knowledge with our group.
While her mother, Bahiya, tended the fire, Nadya let us on a walk in the fields and identified hubeiza (mallow), egeda (chicory), something Nadya called “camel’s neck”, which could be eaten after peeling the fibery outer stalk and which she said was good for the knees, and a few stalks of wild asparagus. We also encountered a large and shiny brown snake (that fortunately had as little interest in making contact with us as we had with it), and saw the tops of ancient burial caves and grape presses carved into the limestone boulders.
Nadya’s mother cooked the finely chopped hubeiza with plenty of chopped onion and olive oil over the fire and we had that, along with cooked chicory, Mejadra, a dish of bulgar and lentils that is a Galilee Arab staple, the rice and chicken dish known as Maklouba, tabouleh salad with plenty of fresh parsley, and fresh pita with zaatar which were cooked over the fire. Fortunately, dining al fresco builds up an appetite because there was so much delicious food! Between the beautiful weather, the gorgeous setting, the convivial group and the gracious hosts, as well as the bounteous spread, everyone had an excellent time.
The Bedouin Picnic was my “Tour of the Month” for February – part of my plan to feature a different tour each month emphasizing a particular seasonal food or theme. Now let’s see what I can come up with for March…