The War On Falafel
A task in an any newly visited city, find the spot with the best falafel. And I have finally completed my mission, here in Barcelona. The first recommendation is: Bismilla Kebab. A gritty and dark place, “solo efectivo, vale?” (only cash, okay?). A man on the right is preparing fresh bread from a tandoor with the traditional method of sticking the dough to the walls of the tandoor.
I start to rub my hands together and already know it will be good. The bread is what sets it apart. Airy but quite thick. Where the usual falafel wrap is quite thin because it’s not self made. The falafel well spiced and bright green what means it’s either combined with chickpeas and green peas or it has a lot of
The second recommendation; El Cuiner de Damasc. On the corner of a quiet street in the Gotic neighbourhood. Ran by Salem Kahbbaz, a 76 year old man from Damascus.
As soon as you enter the restaurant he greets you “Salaam Alaikum, how are you friend?”. He fed me and my friend fresh hummus by spoon. He advised us on what to eat to take care of the body. He asked where we from and in the meanwhile he would greet others, make jokes. A soul that radiates light and breathes life.
The falafel bright and full of taste. Slightly toasted bread. Another interesting way is in which he did the shawarma. He uses a mix of turkey and lamb and spices it with cinnamon. Which was absolutely phenomenal
Falafel
Today there is war on falafel. Because everybody wants to claim this delights’ creation. Who will it be Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian, Saudi Arabia or Yemen. Place your bets.
To my own surprise, falafel is quite a modern invention. Falafel has it’s first mention in Egyptian literature in 1882. Egypt at that time was occupied by the British Empire. The British Empire span wide and far thus the British has had a developed taste palette. When British officers arrived in Egypt presumably they asked the cooks to make a version of the croquettes they ate in India.
Historian Shaul Stampfer suggests that in the late 19th century, the Jews of Kerala and Calcutta often made fried balls of split green peas known as parippu **vada or filowri, which are similar to falafel
Alexandria
Falafel got it’s name from the main ingredient: fava beans (fül)
A staple in Egyptian cuisine and grown along the green vein that breathes life in Egypt, the Nile.
Alexandria was Egypt’s main port and that’s where falafel gained its prominence. Quickly it became known throughout Egypt and started to migrate to different countries. After the First World War, it had reached Lebanon. Where in 1933, Mustafa Sahyoun opened his falafel shop in Beirut. At about the same time, falafel travelled down the Red Sea coast towards Yemen, north along the Mediterranean to Turkey and west towards Libya.
The Evolution of Falafel
The beautiful thing about falafel was the fact that it had no set recipe. It were basically deep fried beans/legumes in a wrapped bread. Every town, city and region had their version of falafel. The town of Mersa Matruhh used the hyacinth bean and a hint of beef. The region of Levant, which is the area of Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestinian made their falafel with chickpeas.
Jewish Adoption
When falafel took over the Levant region, it also reached Jewish communities in Palestine. They adopted it immediately and their was always a mutual transaction between the Muslim and Jewish culture. When Jews started arriving from Eastern Europe during the Fifth Aliyah. The Eastern Europeans were suspicious of everything Arabic and coined falafel to be unclean.
Adoption Strategy
After the Second World War, Israel was in trouble. It was suffering from a massive influx of immigrants thus new ways had to be found to supply the immigrants with food. Israel introduced “Tzena”, a program where food, clothes and furniture was rationed with coupons.
“They received oil, sugar, margarine and rice, and indulged in meat maybe once a week and fish maybe twice a month. Occasionally they received eggs, chocolate, 100 grams of cheese, or dried fruit.”
Tzena gave momentum to falafel, a dish made from humble ingredients with incredible nutritious value.
Arabic Jews
Next to European immigrants, Israel also had a large wave of jews from Yemen, North Africa and Turkey. These jews were accustomed to falafel and didn’t see it as something that was Arabic. Helped by the fact that many Yemenis soon started opening falafel stalls, the Israeli government avidly promoted the idea that falafel had been imported not from Egypt but from Yemen. It was a patent falsehood, but it served its purpose. In the midst of the Israeli - Arab war, it could be dangerous to promote this idea.
Pop Culture and Falafel
Falafel grew to immense popularity in Israel. Even songs were dedicated to it like Dan Almagor’s: Ve-Lanu Yesh Falafel (And we have Falafel) released in 1958. Singer Nissim Garame made the song famous and claimed falafel to be an Isrealian dish.
The consumption of falafel took off. Before long, it had become so popular – and so closely identified with the Israeli state – that songs were being written about it. Perhaps the best known is Dan Almagor’s Ve-Lanu Yesh Falafel (‘And we have falafel’), released in 1958. Made famous by the singer Nissim Garame, it was unambiguous in claiming falafel for Israel: ‘Every country in the world has a national dish that everyone knows’, it began:
Every child knows that macaroni is Italian.
The Austrians in Vienna have tasty schnitzel
and the French eat frogs …
And we have falafel,
falafel, falafel,
a present for Dad,
even Mum buys it here,
or old Grandma
we’ll buy half a portion.
And today even the mother-in-law will get
falafel, falafel,
with lots and lots of peppers.
Bonding the Middle East
The Middle East has always been a chaotic and eventful region but one thing that brings it all together is falafel. Although the debate around who came up with the falafel is still hot. Does it really matter when this multicultural product feeds poor, rich, young and old? And most importantly is evidence of what multiculturalism can produce.