This BuzzFeed article by ReThinkIsrael is so ridiculous and disrespectful to international cuisines that I don’t know where to start. The author could have simply stated there are things you could eat in Israel, but to claim that these are Israeli specialties is just too much. Moreover, how can you claim that a fruit is specialty?
I scanned through the list quickly and 8 of the 19 items listed are definitely not Israeli and I am sure there are others as well. One thing that caught my attention was the Krembo, which is the equivalent of Tarboosh in Lebanon. There have been talks that Tarboosh may be copied from a Swiss company’s product (Le Petit Perrier) but I am pretty sure both came before the Krembo.
As far as Hummus is concerned, here’s a proof that Hummus is Lebanese.
Shawarma is Turkish, no?
I checked the list and all of these foods are indeed popular in Israel, contain ingredients native to Israel (cactus fruit, chickpeas) or were eaten by Jewish communities worldwide before Israel existed. Some of them even eaten by Jewish communities for who knows how long and adapted to Jewish dietary laws. Over here many people eat rice dishes which were imported from Indonesia over sixty years ago then adopted to local preferences. Today, Turkish food is being integrated and eaten by many people (especially after a night of partying). They may not have been around for centuries but they are part of the weekly diet of much of the country.
So how many centuries does a country need before it claim food to be specialties of their cuisine? Or should there be made an exception where some countries need to forever refer to where their food originally came from?
You have been to Europe. You could make unlimited blog posts about hundreds of customs, celebrations and specialties in Europe and claim they are not specialties of their respective countries because they were “stolen” from other cultures anywhere between 0 and a 1000 years ago.
Thank you for your reasoned comment. Israelis do not claim these foods as exclusively theirs but they do constitute favorite national dishes brought by immigrants from all over the world who now make Israel their home. All the rants against calling these foods Israeli are about delegitimizing any and everything Israeli and the deep wish to cast Israel out of the Middle East.
Donaire is Turkish and it’s not even close to tasting like Shawarma…As for the Israeli Zionists…They are thieves I tell you. Stealing all the best we have. Don’t open the borders or the drop dead gorgeous Lebanese ladies will take their surgically enhanced “bod”s South! 😛
Why can’t they agree on the term “Middle Eastern” even iffff ,that ifff they were created lets say in the Palestianian-Israeli land if not Pheonicians
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rymzz/13-delicacies-that-arent-israeli-o3zg?s=mobile
Hummus is 100% Lebanese tradition since hundred of years, hummus need passion, love and care to be well served and abouabdalla have the best hummus at dawra check their website Najib …