Falafel

[Zoll]

Talk:Falafel (T-H-L)

Somehow, people are arguing about Falafels in Israel.

[rnu]

Talk:Falafel (T-H-L)

Somehow, people are arguing about Falafels in Israel.

The argument goes back to 2009. Five archive pages (much, but not all of it about Arab/Israeli issues).
CTOP rules apply.

[ArmasRebane]

Nableezy might be right, but a much better solution than arguing about some of this would be to put up the sources. The fact that "falafel is basically the Israeli national dish" being sourced to one cookbook for example, seems like something you'd want to address.

[Hemiauchenia]

I definitely agree that this peak Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars (T-H-L) material (hummus is already listed there for similarly lame nationalist edit-wars).

[nableezy]

Nableezy might be right

One word off of a truism of Wikipedia

but a much better solution than arguing about some of this would be to put up the sources.

I thought I did?

[MrErnie]

Nableezy here’s a good rule of thumb for editing disputes involving SPECIFICO. When they want content included? They will fight tooth and nail against an RFC. When they want content excluded? They will suggest editors hold an RFC. I find it funny that the AP2 clown car has driven over to the I/P conflict space and that you’ve got to deal with them now.

[ArmasRebane]

I definitely agree that this peak Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars (T-H-L) material (hummus is already listed there for similarly lame nationalist edit-wars).

If you’re fighting over chickpeas, you’re doing something wrong. Chickpeas aren’t worth all this!

[eppur si muove]

If you’re fighting over chickpeas, you’re doing something wrong. Chickpeas aren’t worth all this!

Of course it is a fight over the symbolism of chickpeas. In the first half of the twentieth century various Zionist Ashkenazi Jews left eastern and central Europe for what was then Palestine. As part of their desire to identify as citizens of a future Middle Eastern Jewish state they renounced various aspects of their past lives. Instead of speaking European languages such as Russian, Polish, German and Yiddish they revived a language that had been dead for a millennium and a half; they changed their surnames from things like "Grün", "Chertok", "Shkolnik", "Meyerson", ""Yezernitsky", "Perski" "Scheinerman",and "Brog" to less European sounding things such as "Ben-Gurion", "Sharett", "Eshkol", "Meir", "Shamir", "Peres", "Sharon" and "Barak"; and they stopped regarding chopped liver and lokshen soup as their traditional foods and instead "borrowed" humus and falafel from the indigenous population. SO the argument over whether those chickpea dishes are Israeli is an argument over the authenticity of Ashkenazi Jewish migrants to be Middle Eastern.

[nableezy]

Nableezy here’s a good rule of thumb for editing disputes involving SPECIFICO. When they want content included? They will fight tooth and nail against an RFC. When they want content excluded? They will suggest editors hold an RFC. I find it funny that the AP2 clown car has driven over to the I/P conflict space and that you’ve got to deal with them now.

To be fair, I’m Team Blue in real life too. But that group of editors has gotten away with all their silly shit mostly because their competition was even more obnoxious and people agreed with keeping a lid on truly idiotic things like Atsme trying to bar the Washington Post for anything Trump related. I reported Blueie once, idk how he wasn’t topic banned except for the fact that he was on the Right Side. Also told one of your comrades the truth on how these things go the way they go.

[rnu]

As long as we can all agree that (the sandwich version of) the Doner kebab (T-H-L) is German we're fine and no-one has to die.

[nableezy]

SO the argument over whether those chickpea dishes are Israeli is an argument over the authenticity of Ashkenazi Jewish migrants to be Middle Eastern.

It isn’t an argument about if it is Israeli cuisine or not, it’s an argument about the erasure of the Palestinians from Palestine. Even their food is colonized and then their history wiped away, like all those villages. Obviously Israelis can love falafel, it’s delicious, and even an Egyptian will say the Palestinian chickpea version is >>>>. But the beef is with it being presented as Israeli instead of Palestinian, not as Israeli adopted from Palestinian.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

As long as we can all agree that (the sandwich version of) the Doner kebab (T-H-L) is German we're fine and no-one has to die.

And deep-fried Doner Kebab is Scottish!

[The Blue Newt]

As long as we can all agree that (the sandwich version of) the Doner kebab (T-H-L) is German we're fine and no-one has to die.

And deep-fried Doner Kebab is Scottish!

Only if you put in the Mars Bar.

[andre]

If you’re fighting over chickpeas, you’re doing something wrong. Chickpeas aren’t worth all this!

Of course it is a fight over the symbolism of chickpeas. In the first half of the twentieth century various Zionist Ashkenazi Jews left eastern and central Europe for what was then Palestine. As part of their desire to identify as citizens of a future Middle Eastern Jewish state they renounced various aspects of their past lives. Instead of speaking European languages such as Russian, Polish, German and Yiddish they revived a language that had been dead for a millennium and a half; they changed their surnames from things like "Grün", "Chertok", "Shkolnik", "Meyerson", ""Yezernitsky", "Perski" "Scheinerman",and "Brog" to less European sounding things such as "Ben-Gurion", "Sharett", "Eshkol", "Meir", "Shamir", "Peres", "Sharon" and "Barak"; and they stopped regarding chopped liver and lokshen soup as their traditional foods and instead "borrowed" humus and falafel from the indigenous population. SO the argument over whether those chickpea dishes are Israeli is an argument over the authenticity of Ashkenazi Jewish migrants to be Middle Eastern.

Actually Egyptian, Yemeni, Iraqi, and Syrian Jews had falafel, baba ghanough and hummus for centuries. There were even Jewish Arab Himyarites. When the Arab states expelled all their Jews around 1948, they all moved to Israel making up the Mizrahi. There have also been Jews in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron for thousands of years, probably eating falafel.

[andre]

Nableezy here’s a good rule of thumb for editing disputes involving SPECIFICO. When they want content included? They will fight tooth and nail against an RFC. When they want content excluded? They will suggest editors hold an RFC. I find it funny that the AP2 clown car has driven over to the I/P conflict space and that you’ve got to deal with them now.

To be fair, I’m Team Blue in real life too. But that group of editors has gotten away with all their silly shit mostly because their competition was even more obnoxious and people agreed with keeping a lid on truly idiotic things like Atsme trying to bar the Washington Post for anything Trump related. I reported Blueie once, idk how he wasn’t topic banned except for the fact that he was on the Right Side. Also told one of your comrades the truth on how these things go the way they go.

The transparent tendentious editing of certain right-wing editors deserves many topic bans over.

Their entire raison d'etre is to show up and try to remove content that he thinks makes the GOP look bad. So he gets opposition almost on principle because he never goes about things in a good faith way. If he showed up and actually copyedited articles without removing information that he doesn't like, there'd be no problem.

It's true that many articles on politics could be improved. In my opinion as simply a follower and not in any way a professional politician or political scientist or political consultant, the best way to improve them would be to read more analysis from academics and from experts, many of whom are journalists. Journalism is a field, and reputable journalists are reliable and should be treated as authoritative.

The disrespect that certain right wingers show to reliable sources like CNN, NYT, WaPo, etc., while simultaneously pushing their own misinfo propaganda sources like Fox, Breitbart, Daily Caller, etc., is part and parcel of fascism.

[eppur si muove]

If you’re fighting over chickpeas, you’re doing something wrong. Chickpeas aren’t worth all this!

Of course it is a fight over the symbolism of chickpeas. In the first half of the twentieth century various Zionist Ashkenazi Jews left eastern and central Europe for what was then Palestine. As part of their desire to identify as citizens of a future Middle Eastern Jewish state they renounced various aspects of their past lives. Instead of speaking European languages such as Russian, Polish, German and Yiddish they revived a language that had been dead for a millennium and a half; they changed their surnames from things like "Grün", "Chertok", "Shkolnik", "Meyerson", ""Yezernitsky", "Perski" "Scheinerman",and "Brog" to less European sounding things such as "Ben-Gurion", "Sharett", "Eshkol", "Meir", "Shamir", "Peres", "Sharon" and "Barak"; and they stopped regarding chopped liver and lokshen soup as their traditional foods and instead "borrowed" humus and falafel from the indigenous population. SO the argument over whether those chickpea dishes are Israeli is an argument over the authenticity of Ashkenazi Jewish migrants to be Middle Eastern.

Actually Egyptian, Yemeni, Iraqi, and Syrian Jews had falafel, baba ghanough and hummus for centuries. There were even Jewish Arab Himyarites. When the Arab states expelled all their Jews around 1948, they all moved to Israel making up the Mizrahi. There have also been Jews in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron for thousands of years, probably eating falafel.

That's why I mentioned Ashkenazi Jews. Of course the cuisine of Mizrahi Jews would have been pretty similar to that of Palestinians and other Arabs in whose proximity the Mizrahi lived for centuries. But Israel is a country dominated by an ideology imported by Ashkenazi Jews from Europe. And the political power has been with that group as seen by how the list of prime ministers largely consists of Ashkenazi who have changed their surnames to look more Middle Eastern. (And that trend has continued into the second and third generation of prime ministers. Netanyahu's father's surname was Mileikowsky before he changed it.) The change of name and the adoption of local foods by Zionist Ashkenazi immigrants was a performance to convince themselves and others that they belonged in that part of the world and had a right to the land which trumped that of the indigenous population. So their stealing the cuisine of Palestinian is ideologically related to the stealing of their homeland.

[nableezy]

When the Arab states expelled all their Jews around 1948, they all moved to Israel making up the Mizrahi.

Except that didn’t happen. I really wish you’d read a bit before jumping in to all these disputes. But nobody can make you I guess.

[Smultronstället]

Hemp seeds or sunflower seeds can replace chickpeas in falafel.

How did half of Israel (scroll up) end up being Middle Eastern Jews if it wasn't due to expulsion from Arab States around the time Israel was founded?

[eppur si muove]

Hemp seeds or sunflower seeds can replace chickpeas in falafel.

How did half of Israel (scroll up) end up being Middle Eastern Jews if it wasn't due to expulsion from Arab States around the time Israel was founded?

I think there was a push-me pull-you factor. Life was becoming less pleasant for Mizrahi Jews in their own homelands of Syria, Iraq etc as they were seen as suspect and tainted by Zionism, whether they supported it or not, and at the same time the Israeli government was encouraging immigration.

And of course there will be plenty of people who maintain that exactly one out of the Palestinians and the Mizrahi Jews were forcibly expelled and the other wasn't with their pre-conceived ideas about who are the goodies and who the baddies in this conflict being the principle reason for their choosing which group was expelled and which left voluntarily.

[No Ledge]

Bbbbut "Falafel has been listed as one of the Agriculture, food and drink good articles under the good article criteria" for over a decade.

An article that fails the "It is not stable due to edit warring on the page" criterion should be reassessed and possibly delisted.

[nableezy]

How did half of Israel (scroll up) end up being Middle Eastern Jews if it wasn't due to expulsion from Arab States around the time Israel was founded?

There were some expulsions, Iraq mostly, some instances of life being made impossible which I’ll also call effective expulsion, like Syria, but mostly large scale voluntary emigration. And mostly well after 1948. Egypt had most of its Jews leave after the Lavon Affair in 1954 for example.

[rnu]

Hemp seeds or sunflower seeds can replace chickpeas in falafel.

How did half of Israel (scroll up) end up being Middle Eastern Jews if it wasn't due to expulsion from Arab States around the time Israel was founded?

Jewish exodus from the Muslim world (T-H-L)

[Catfish Jim & spd]

Hemp seeds or sunflower seeds can replace chickpeas in falafel.

The biggest alternative is faba bean, mostly in Egypt. For various reasons a large amount is imported from the UK, some bred by me.

[andre]

antisemitism, persecution, and pogroms, political instability,[18] poverty,[18] and expulsion.

[rnu]

antisemitism, persecution, and pogroms, political instability,[18] poverty,[18] and expulsion.

You know a topic is contentious when the lead has 21 sources.

[rnu]

antisemitism, persecution, and pogroms, political instability,[18] poverty,[18] and expulsion.

You know a topic is contentious when the lead has 21 sources.

Edit: Btw that source is only about Yemen. See 1947 anti-Jewish riots in Aden (T-H-L) and Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen) (T-H-L).

[nableezy]

antisemitism, persecution, and pogroms, political instability,[18] poverty,[18] and expulsion.

When I suggested you read something I meant a book, not a Wikipedia article.

[andre]

antisemitism, persecution, and pogroms, political instability,[18] poverty,[18] and expulsion.

When I suggested you read something I meant a book, not a Wikipedia article.

1920 Nebi Musa riots (T-H-L) and 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine (T-H-L) are worth a read as well

As far as books? link Read all about it. Muslim clerics even justified the expulsion of the dhimmis.

But yeah no, it never happened, must be Zionist deluded propaganda to justify atrocities. Jews are actually Khazars, etc. Got it.

[rnu]

antisemitism, persecution, and pogroms, political instability,[18] poverty,[18] and expulsion.

When I suggested you read something I meant a book, not a Wikipedia article.

1920 Nebi Musa riots (T-H-L) and 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine (T-H-L) are worth a read as well

As far as books? link Read all about it. Muslim clerics even justified the expulsion of the dhimmis.

But yeah no, it never happened, must be Zionist deluded propaganda to justify atrocities. Jews are actually Khazars, etc. Got it.

But is that an objective book? Can you recommend something written by a Filipino?

https://www.raananhershberg.com/

[andre]

But is that an objective book? Can you recommend something written by a Filipino?

Great premise. I actually think your version of the joke is funnier than his. Better comedic rhythm. There's something inherently funny about the word Filipino relative to this, 'cause it sort of sounds like Palestinian or Philistia (the likely etymology of the word Palestine), at least the alliteration and the syllables. Not sure if he does a callback to that later in the act, but it would be very good as delivered the way you formulated it.

Fun fact about me, my girlfriend is Filipino (though from the US) but her parents are Filipino from the Philippines, and they have a visceral love of Israel and dislike of Muslim jihadist terrorism, as it's a problem there as well, so they actually do have a bit of skin in the game. But still works for the joke.

If you need a book that has the right accent on the name, try A History of Jewish-Muslim Relations: From the Origins to the Present Day by Abdelwahab Meddeb

[Ron Lybonly]

Isn’t there also an ideological divide between the Ashkenazi Jews that arrived before those who came before 1990 (fall of the USSR) and after?

[andre]

Isn’t there also an ideological divide between the Ashkenazi Jews that arrived before those who came before 1990 (fall of the USSR) and after?

Yeah, the recent arrivals from Eastern Europe, recent meaning since the 1980s, are typically the most aggressively right wing, and xenophobic, and Orthodox or at least very conservative. Not altogether different from how recent immigrants are in any country or time period. There's an earlier generation of Ashkenazi Jews that were mostly left-socialists and many came from the US. It's also quite common for ex-Soviet immigrants to be more right-wing anywhere in the world. It's a reaction to living under Stalinist totalitarianism and thinking that that is socialism.

My family came to America between about 1880 and 1915, from mostly Eastern Europe. My great-grandparents' generation was more likely to keep kosher and wear a yarmulke around and stuff like this, or observe Shabbat, marry Jewish, etc. Their children, my grandparents (I have 1 left still), mostly don't keep kosher or do any of that, but celebrate the holidays and keep the culture alive through the language and cuisine. Their children didn't speak the language anymore, didn't go to synagogue on the holidays but still celebrate them. Etc.

Same thing in Israel. There are Jewish families that are ancient and have been there for thousands of years. Some that arrived in the 1800s. Some in the 1990s. Recent immigrants are more likely to be traditional and backwards, you know, "FOB"s. The Soviet Union kept its Jews in basically a nasty shtetl ghetto.

[andre]

But Israel is a country dominated by an ideology imported by Ashkenazi Jews from Europe. And the political power has been with that group as seen by how the list of prime ministers largely consists of Ashkenazi who have changed their surnames to look more Middle Eastern. (And that trend has continued into the second and third generation of prime ministers. Netanyahu's father's surname was Mileikowsky before he changed it.) The change of name and the adoption of local foods by Zionist Ashkenazi immigrants was a performance to convince themselves and others that they belonged in that part of the world and had a right to the land which trumped that of the indigenous population. So their stealing the cuisine of Palestinian is ideologically related to the stealing of their homeland.

Their surnames were changed in a process known as Hebraization of surnames (T-H-L). They were not changed to be more Middle Eastern per se, but to be part of the Hebrew cultural revival and the creation of the Modern Hebrew language, which was a gradual process, but not a "theft" of that language, rather a revival of an ancient thing that is indeed Middle Eastern, since Jews originate in the Middle East in antiquity. That is why they changed their names to things like Ben Gurion, which is Hebrew, and not Ibn Gurion. Mizrahi Jews did speak Judaeo-Arabic (and Aramaic before that) but nobody adopted Arabic as the language. So it kind of pokes holes in your whole theft of Middle Eastern culture theory. It's true that nobody really spoke Hebrew as a spoken or vernacular language until it was revived, but it was a written liturgical language similar to Latin.

As far as the stealing, as I thought we established, Arab Palestinians nor Jewish Israelis created something like falafel, that is ancient and probably from the Egyptians, one of the original colonial empires in history. The Hyksos from Retjenu, some kind of Canaanite or Semitic polity, or maybe it was Hurrian or Hittite, colonized Egypt too.

As far as the "theft of homeland" argument, the Old Yishuv (T-H-L) was largely begun through BUYING, not stealing, land. The colonization program was funded by that old thing, money. The Arabs did not like the growth of Jewish colonization. But it wasn't theft per se.

As far as the Nakba goes, there were definitely Jewish terrorists and Jewish displacement of Arabs by 1948, but there's at least going back to the 1920s or the late 1800s plenty of ethnic tensions, and "legitimate" colonization. Which is to say that I would never claim someone's homeland is based on ancient history. Neither Jews or Arabs are indigenous. Arabs were also a massive colonial Empire - the Umayyads, the Abbasids, etc. Before that we had the Hellenistic Seleucids, Persian/Greeks, after that we had the Romans. It's nobody's and everybody's land. Not to mention the Crusaders. The land is holy to Muslims, Jews, Christians, I mean we've got Baha'i, Druze, Samaritans.... the list goes on. Nobody can say this land is my land. There are many many different places in that land and each one is special to someone. The Dome of the Rock is a grand architectural marvel - much grander than the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It's human heritage. It happens to sit on top of the Temple Mount.

[Ron Lybonly]

Their surnames were changed in a process known as Hebraization of surnames (T-H-L). They were not changed to be more Middle Eastern per se, but to be part of the Hebrew cultural revival and the creation of the Modern Hebrew language, which was a gradual process, but not a "theft" of that language, rather a revival of an ancient thing that is indeed Middle Eastern, since Jews originate in the Middle East in antiquity. That is why they changed their names to things like Ben Gurion, which is Hebrew, and not Ibn Gurion. Mizrahi Jews did speak Judaeo-Arabic (and Aramaic before that) but nobody adopted Arabic as the language. So it kind of pokes holes in your whole theft of Middle Eastern culture theory. It's true that nobody really spoke Hebrew as a spoken or vernacular language until it was revived, but it was a written liturgical language similar to Latin.

Another reason for the revival of Hebrew was practical: following the Holocaust, Israel was rapidly settled by displaced Jews with perhaps two dozen mother languages. Many didn’t speak older Jewish languages like Yiddish or Ladino - they spoke Dutch, Russian, etc.

Also glossed over in many histories, many Holocaust survivors first tried going back to their pre-war homes to find other people living there. They were run off. This is an inconvenient fact for many European democracies. That was the trigger for some Jews’ immigration to Israel. They weren’t welcome back home.

[andre]

Their surnames were changed in a process known as Hebraization of surnames (T-H-L). They were not changed to be more Middle Eastern per se, but to be part of the Hebrew cultural revival and the creation of the Modern Hebrew language, which was a gradual process, but not a "theft" of that language, rather a revival of an ancient thing that is indeed Middle Eastern, since Jews originate in the Middle East in antiquity. That is why they changed their names to things like Ben Gurion, which is Hebrew, and not Ibn Gurion. Mizrahi Jews did speak Judaeo-Arabic (and Aramaic before that) but nobody adopted Arabic as the language. So it kind of pokes holes in your whole theft of Middle Eastern culture theory. It's true that nobody really spoke Hebrew as a spoken or vernacular language until it was revived, but it was a written liturgical language similar to Latin.

Another reason for the revival of Hebrew was practical: following the Holocaust, Israel was rapidly settled by displaced Jews with perhaps two dozen mother languages. Many didn’t speak older Jewish languages like Yiddish or Ladino - they spoke Dutch, Russian, etc.

Also glossed over in many histories, many Holocaust survivors first tried going back to their pre-war homes to find other people living there. They were run off. This is an inconvenient fact for many European democracies. That was the trigger for some Jews’ immigration to Israel. They weren’t welcome back home.

and the right of return has been giving Jewish refugees, the subject of continued antisemitism, a place to go ever since. Not just from the Holocaust throughout Europe, but the airlift of the Ethiopian Jews was only back in 1991.

[Zoll]

As long as we can all agree that (the sandwich version of) the Doner kebab (T-H-L) is German we're fine and no-one has to die.

Made in Berlin

[Zoll]

The answer is simple guys: If I move to South Korea, and South Korea has had a German minority for centuries, then off course rather then eating Bretzel, many will eat Kimchi just as much. Then lets say the South Koreans magically disappear, and a lot of new German come to take their place, they see that the German minority is eating Kimchi, and south korea has a lot of Cabbage Farms, so why not? Why not eat Kimchi, the other Germans are already eating is, and it's delicious af, so I'll Feed it to my children, and so on.

[nableezy]

As long as we can all agree that (the sandwich version of) the Doner kebab (T-H-L) is German we're fine and no-one has to die.

Made in Berlin

Berlin had the best shawarma I’ve ever had in my life, actually the best two. Damishqi and Yasmin Alsham were unreal, better than Cairo and every other Arab city I’ve been to. Yasmin Alsham took the wrap and dipped it in the drippings from the spit and re grilled it, was a revelation. Made me even more upset we didn’t take any Syrian refugees here, their shawarmas are so much better than Dearborn and anywhere else in the states.

[rnu]

Berlin had the best shawarma I’ve ever had in my life, actually the best two. Damishqi and Yasmin Alsham were unreal, better than Cairo and every other Arab city I’ve been to. Yasmin Alsham took the wrap and dipped it in the drippings from the spit and re grilled it, was a revelation. Made me even more upset we didn’t take any Syrian refugees here, their shawarmas are so much better than Dearborn and anywhere else in the states.

A friend of mine used to live above a Chinese restaurant. The owner once told him that every time he needed a new cook he had to explain to German bureaucrats why he needed a work permit for a Chinese cook and couldn't just hire some German cook.

[Zoll]

As long as we can all agree that (the sandwich version of) the Doner kebab (T-H-L) is German we're fine and no-one has to die.

Made in Berlin

Berlin had the best shawarma I’ve ever had in my life, actually the best two. Damishqi and Yasmin Alsham were unreal, better than Cairo and every other Arab city I’ve been to. Yasmin Alsham took the wrap and dipped it in the drippings from the spit and re grilled it, was a revelation. Made me even more upset we didn’t take any Syrian refugees here, their shawarmas are so much better than Dearborn and anywhere else in the states.

Döner was actually invented by Turkish Migrants, who needed a fast, cheap meal, that tasted like home, but with ingredients from Germany. Though, I get your point, my local Döner "Bude" (joint) is also run by Syrians.

[MrErnie]

The one near my place in Munich was run by Afghanis. I spoke English to the proprietors kids so they could practice with a native speaker and he gave my kid free Capri Suns. Great people, and incredible food. Give it to me scharf with all of the Soßen.

[andre]

Makeandtoss (T-C-L) is back with some new thoughts on chickpeas and who owns them.

[tarantino]

it's a debate that's gone on for decades.

McFalafel
Three pieces of falafel garnished with tomatoes, lettuce, onion, pickles and topped with Tehina sauce, all wrapped inside a freshly backed tortilla wrap.

The Falafel War

...we started talking about food, “my favorite food is the Jewish Falafel” he swaggered. This is the first time that I heard of food having faith. As an Arab who grew up in Egypt, I have been eating falafel all my life, believing that falafel is just a Mediterranean food. Through history the Zionist founder fathers, knew it early on, to acquire the land of Palestine, you need also to appropriate its cultural; by claiming its food, music, and arts. All I’m saying is that Falafel is a regional food: Mediterranean food, made by the people who live there. Like Pizza is an Italian food not a Catholic food, Ooze is a Greek drink and not an Orthodoxy drink. So if you were an Arab Jew or a Jew who happened to live in the Mediterranean area along with Arabs and you made or ate Falafel; it is still a Mediterranean food, an ethnic food not a religious food.

Paris's Falafel Rivalry Is a Full-Blown Food War

In the Middle East, falafel is a staple. It is the ultimate Lebanese and Israeli street food. While its exact origins are debated, its recipe remains roughly the same from one country to the other. Basic falafel is made of chickpeas, garlic, onion, and a mix of spices. Once the dough is ready, what comes next determines the falafel's ultimate fate. If the deep frying oil is too hot, the falafels will be dark on the outside, and raw on the inside. In Lebanon, they are served with a yogurt sauce, and in Israel, it is eaten with tahini, a sesame sauce. Over in Egypt, they use fava beans instead of chickpeas. Each of these populations claim to have pioneered the falafel. And here, in Paris, the Jewish community considers the dough ball a standard in its gastronomic culture.

The falafel battle: which country cooks it best?

All the countries of the Middle East argue over who invented the chickpea snack. The inaugural London falafel festival gave fans the chance to compare – and the Egyptians won

Berlin falafel wars: A microcosm of changing sentiment towards Jews living in Germany?

Falafel is supposed to represent a universal symbol of peace—the oily bond between Muslims and Jews, even as the Middle East fries in violence. But in Berlin, it has become a cause for concern.

Haaretz - Food Wars: Did Jews Invent Falafel After All?

In latest chapter of the debate on whether Jews or Arabs invented falafel, an Israeli researcher says the tasty street food was a modern creation: There is no ancient record of it and the technology just wasn’t there.

[Catfish Jim & spd]

Haaretz - Food Wars: Did Jews Invent Falafel After All?

In latest chapter of the debate on whether Jews or Arabs invented falafel, an Israeli researcher says the tasty street food was a modern creation: There is no ancient record of it and the technology just wasn’t there.

The technology wasn't there? It's ground chickpeas, garlic, onion, herbs and spices rolled into balls and fried.

[tarantino]

He says, "Oil would have been too expensive before the modern era for deep frying". I suppose they could have baked them, which I've done. I've also made falafel waffles.

[The Blue Newt]

He says, "Oil would have been too expensive before the modern era for deep frying". I suppose they could have baked them, which I've done. I've also made falafel waffles.

It’s blatant nonsense. First, the word, with the current meaning, predates Israel. For example, see [hyperlink] https://books.google.com/books?id=TppV7 ... afil&hl=en[/hyperlink] Note that this is Egyptian demotic from 1895. Note also that it is transliterated differently from modern English.

The idea that fat-frying was unfeasible in some distant past…does that even pass the giggle test? This is essentially saing that your. grandparent’s memories of fish and chips or french fried potatoes were confabulation. Yeah, oil and fats were expensive, and treated accordingly: used to within an inch of its life.