Monday, October 6, 2008

Hungry Arab

[""Lebanon is planning on filing an international law suit against Israel for violating a food copyright, Fadi Abboud, president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association, told the al-Arabiya network. The Lebanese claim is that Israel markets original Lebanese food like tabouleh, kubbeh, hummus, falafel and fattoush which the Lebanese considered their trademarks prior to the establishment of the Jewish state." While at it, maybe Lebanon can remember that Israel also still occupies Lebanese territories. (thanks Olivia)".]

I lifted the blog entry below from Angry Arab, you can follow the link for the original article. Of course, Abboud is totally wrong, in this chauvinistic and arrogant way that characterizes many Lebanese. None of these foods are Lebanese, because Lebanon (the country) only came to life less than 100 years ago. Mount Lebanon of course existed, and its people cooked foods that were not different from those of Syria and Palestine where kebbeh, for instance is also part of the culinary traditions. You know why there is burghul in kebbeh right? To make the meat last longer and feed more people. In the old times (like when I was born) they used to make kebbeh it with lots of burghul and very little meat and it felt like everyone in the house had eaten meat. Many people in my village still prefer their "frakeh" (raw kebbeh) very rich in burghul. Not the young ones unfortunately.

And falafel are definitely not from the region: it is said that falafel is originally an Indian dish.

2 comments:

Marcy Newman said...

okay so how about a class action lawsuit? syria and palestine can get in on the action.

and by the way, for those who are interested in food fusion: my stepson and i made felafel a few years ago for a snack but had none of the additional ingredients to make a proper sandwich. but we had plenty of chutney in the house (my stepson is indian). so we dipped the felafel in tamarind chutney and created our own new snack. it may sound odd, but i promise it is delicious.

Ms Levantine said...

We obviously invented the alphabet and hummus.

On top of that, the israelis are incapable of pronouncing hummus, they call it khummus. So what is their point?

Kulluna, lil watan lil 'ula lil 'alam pom pom pom.

MM.