Palestinian cuisine
Palestinian cuisine consists of foods from or commonly eaten by Palestinians or in the region of Palestine, whether in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, or refugee camps in nearby countries, or by the Palestinian diaspora. The cuisine is a diffusion of the cultures of civilizations that settled in the region of Palestine, particularly during and after the Islamic era beginning with the Arab Ummayad conquest, then the eventual Persian-influenced Abbasids and ending with the strong influences of Turkish cuisine, resulting from the coming of the Ottoman Turks. It is similar to other Levantine cuisines, including Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian.
Rice and variations of kibbee are common in the Galilee. West Bank cuisine consists of taboon bread, rice and meat, while fish and lentils are staples on the coast. Gaza cuisine is more diverse in terms of seafood and spices, with widespread use of chili peppers.
The area is also home to many desserts, ranging from those made regularly and those that are commonly reserved for the holidays. Most Palestinian sweets are pastries filled with either sweetened cheeses, dates or various nuts such as almonds, walnuts or pistachios. Beverages could also depend on holidays such as during Ramadan, when carob, tamarind and apricot juices are consumed at sunset. Coffee is consumed throughout the day and liquor is not very prevalent among the population; however, some alcoholic beverages such as arak or beer are consumed by Christians and some Muslims.
History
The region of the southern Levant has a varied past and as such, its cuisine has contributions from various cultures.After the area originally inhabited by Jews, Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites was conquered by the Muslims in the 7th century CE, it became part of a Bilad al-Sham under the name Jund Filastin. Therefore, many aspects of Palestinian cuisine are similar to the cuisine of Syria—especially in the Galilee. Modern Syrian-Palestinian dishes have been generally influenced by the rule of three major Islamic groups: the Arabs, the Persian-influenced Arabs and the Turks.
The Arabs that conquered Syria and Palestine initially had simple culinary traditions primarily based on the use of rice, lamb, yogurt and dates. This cuisine did not advance for centuries until the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate, that established Baghdad as its capital and integrated elements of Persian cuisine into the existing Arab cuisine. The Jerusalemite geographer al-Muqaddasi said this of Palestine's foods:
From Palestine comes olives, dried figs, raisins, the carob fruit... from Jerusalem comes cheeses and the celebrated raisins of the species known as Ainuni and Duri, excellent apples... also pine nuts of the kind called 'Kuraish-bite', and their equal is not found elsewhere... from Sughar and Baysan come dates, the treacle called Dibs.
The cuisine of the Ottoman Empire—which incorporated Palestine in 1516—was partially made up of what had become, by then a "rich" Arab cuisine. After the Crimean War, in 1855, many other communities including Bosnians, Greeks, French and Italians began settling in the area especially in urban centers such as Jerusalem, Jaffa and Bethlehem. These communities' cuisines contributed to the character of Palestinian cuisine, especially communities from the Balkans.
The Palestine Exploration Funds 1903 Quarterly Statement reported on several culinary trades in Palestine, including:
- Bakers; who baked dough for townspeople in a furn in exchange for payment. It was noted that country people tended to use tannurs instead, and that townspeople never baked at home.
- Confectioners, who sold ma'amoul, karabeej Halab, mutabaq, knafeh, and raha.
- Street sellers of bread, who also sold "cakes" of white flour bread coated with toasted sesame seeds, distinct from unleavened.
- Butchers; who chopped meat finely for use in mahashi, described as "the favorite dish of all townspeople".
Until around the 1950s–1960s, the main ingredients for rural Palestinian cuisine were olive oil, oregano and bread baked in a simple oven called a taboon. Author G. Robinson Lees, writing in 1905, observed that "The oven is not in the house, it has a building of its own, the joint property of several families whose duty is to keep it always hot."
Regional cuisines
There are three primary culinary regions in historical Palestine—the Galilee, Gaza and the West Bank. In the Galilee, bulgur and meat are primary ingredients that are often combined to form several variations of dishes ranging from a family-sized meal to a side dish. However, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the populations have a cooking style of their own. In the West Bank, meals are particularly heavy and contrast from the foods of the northern Levant. Main dishes involve rice, flatbreads and roasted meats. The staple food of the inhabitants in the Gaza Strip is fish due to its location on the Mediterranean seacoast. Their culinary influences are also strongly affected by traditional Egyptian cooking and chili peppers, dill seeds and garlic are the most common seasonings. Although the cuisine is diverse, generally Palestinians are not restricted to the foods of their specific region and there is constant culinary diffusion amongst them—although, because of Gaza's isolation from other Palestinian and Levantine Arab areas, their cooking styles are less known in the region.Galilee
The Galilee is highly influenced by Lebanese cuisine, due to extensive communication between the two regions before the establishment of Israel. The Galilee specializes in a number of meals based on the combination of bulgur, spices and meat, known as kibbee by Arabs. Kibbee bi-siniyyeh|Kibbee bi-siniyee is a combination of minced lamb or beef mixed with pepper, allspice and other spices wrapped in a bulgur crust, then baked. Kibee bi-siniyee could serve as the main dish during a Palestinian lunch. Kibbee neyee is a variation of kibee that is served as raw meat mixed with bulgur and a variety of spices. It is mostly eaten as a side dish and pita or markook bread is used for scooping the meat. Its leftovers are usually cooked as a different meal the next day, such as fried kibbee balls.A specific rice meal, called pilaf, is common in the Galilee and consists of a mixture of rice with chopped lamb and pine nuts flavored with an assortment of spices, accompanied by a lamb leg or whole chickens. In addition, a variety of dishes made up of meatballs and potatoes are eaten during special occasions. Shish kebab or lahme mashwi and shish taouk are grilled meats on skewers and are commonly eaten after an array of appetizers known as the mezze.
West Bank
Musakhan is a common main dish that originated in the Jenin and Tulkarm area in the northern West Bank. It consists of a roasted chicken over a taboon bread that has been topped with pieces of fried sweet onions, sumac, allspice and pine nuts. Maqluba is an upside-down rice and baked eggplant casserole mixed with cooked cauliflower, carrots and chicken or lamb. The meal is known throughout the Levant but among Palestinians especially. It dates back to the 13th century.Image:Mansaf1.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|Mansaf
Mansaf is a traditional meal in the central West Bank and Naqab region in the southern West Bank, having its roots from the Bedouin population of Jordan. It is mostly cooked on occasions such as holidays, weddings or large gatherings. Mansaf is cooked as a lamb leg or large pieces of lamb on top of a taboon bread that has usually been smothered with yellow rice. A type of thick and dried cheesecloth yogurt from goat's milk, called jameed, is poured on top of the lamb and rice to give it its distinct flavor and taste. The dish is also garnished with cooked pine nuts and almonds. The classic form of eating mansaf is using the right hand as a utensil. For politeness, participants in the feast tear pieces of meat to hand to the person next to them.
Image:Maqluba.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Maqluba with lamb
In addition to meals, the West Bank's many subregions have their own fruit-based jams. In the Hebron area, the primary crops are grapes. Families living in the area harvest the grapes in the spring and summer to produce a variety of products ranging from raisins, jams and a molasses known as dibs, or a fruit leather called malban, dibs and malban are often made from grapes that went unsold in the market. The Bethlehem area, are known regionally for their apricots and apricot jam as is the Tulkarm area for its olives and olive oil.
Gaza
The cuisine of the Gaza Strip is influenced by both neighboring Egypt and its location on the Mediterranean coast. The staple food for the majority of the inhabitants in the area is fish. The Gaza Strip has a major fishing industry and fish is often served either grilled or fried after being stuffed with cilantro, garlic, red peppers and cumin and marinated in a mix of coriander, red peppers, cumin, and chopped lemons. Besides fish, as well as other types of seafood, Gazan cooking styles are affected by Egyptian culinary influences. This generally includes using hot peppers, garlic and chard to flavor many of their meals. Zibdieh is a clay pot dish that consists of shrimp baked in a stew of olive oil, garlic, hot peppers, and peeled tomatoes. Crabs are cooked and then stuffed with a red hot pepper paste called shatta.A dish native to the Gaza area is sumaghiyyeh. The meal consists of water-soaked ground sumac mixed with tahina. The mixture is added to sliced chard and pieces of stewed beef and garbanzo beans and then additionally flavored with dill seeds, garlic and hot peppers. It is often eaten cool with khubz. Rummaniyya depends on the particular time of the year and it is made up of unripened pomegranate seeds, eggplant, tahina, garlic, hot peppers and lentils. Fukharit adas is a slow-cooked lentil stew flavored with red pepper flakes, crushed dill seeds, garlic, and cumin, traditionally made during winter and early spring.
Palestinians in Gaza rely on several clay utensils in their cooking, including the zibdiyyeh, a clay vessel used as a serving bowl, mortar and pestle, and cooking vessel, as well as clay water pitchers and clay cooking jars known as qidra.
Qidra is a rice dish named after the large clay vessel and clay oven that is used to bake it. In the oven, the rice is cooked with pieces of meat, often lamb, whole garlic cloves, garbanzo beans, cardamom pods, and various other spices such as turmeric—which gives it a yellow color—cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cumin. Plain rice cooked in meat or chicken broth and flavored with mild spices including cinnamon is known as fatteh ghazzawiyyeh. The rice is layered over a thin markook bread known as farasheeh, smothered in ghee and topped with stuffed chicken or lamb. The meal is eaten with green peppers and lemon sauce.
Palestinian author Laila el-Haddad writes that the exact history of the popularity of chilis in Gaza is a mystery, she attributes their modern importance in Gazan cuisine to their nutritional value, affordability, and ease of cultivation.