Christmas in mainstream Jewish Israel is a non-event, but in the Galilee, where 50% of the population is Arab, it’s another story. In those Arab cities and towns where there is a Christian population, Christmas lights and decorations light up the evenings, and nighttime Christmas bazaars attract visitors, regardless of religion, over the weekend before the … Read More »
Spot the Spinach
If mallow is flamboyant, then wild spinach is coy. Can you spot the shiny, diamond-shaped leaves in the crowd? This has been a bumper year for wild spinach and I have been gathering it in large sacks. In my kitchen, these tender, iron-rich leaves generally are used to make a filling for a filo-dough pastry. But … Read More »
Stand!
There have been several books that have profoundly influenced the way I see the Galilee landscape. One is the Hebrew Bible, and the second is Jarred Diamond’s “Guns, Germs and Steel”. Diamond explains how the confluence of topography, climate and indigenous fauna and flora in the Fertile Crescent gave rise to the transition of hunting … Read More »
My Name is Arum
After my culinary memoir “Breaking Bread in Galilee” was published, I realized I had neglected to include the scientific names of the edible wild plants along with their colloquial ones. If it is ever re-issued, I will remedy this oversight, and may even sketch each plant to fill out the picture, so to speak. In … Read More »
Green Black-Eyed Peas – Post 101
After 100 posts on the original Galilee Seasonality blog, this post number 101 launches a new blog/website I created to bring together my writing in all its formats. Hopefully the transition has been seamless for followers of my blog, and I apologize if there have been any duplicate postings… Putting the finishing touches on the … Read More »