Having decided to travel to the Palestinian town of Bethlehem it is not enough to admire the views and see all there is to see in this holy town one also has to dine. This is an overview of what kind of food the Palestinian people eat. Palestinian cuisine is a combination that stems from many different cultures. Overall Palestinian dishes have been inspired by three major Islamic groups: the Arabs, the Persian-influenced Arabs and the Turks. The Arabs brought with them simple culinary traditions based on rice, lamb, yogurt and dates. From Palestine we get olives, dried figs, raisins, the carob fruit, apples and pine nuts. Palestinian cuisine is divided up among its three primary regions. From the Galilee we get bulgur and beef or lamb. The West Bank has heavy meals with main dishes consisting of rice, flatbreads and roasted meats. On the Gaza Strip the main ingredient is fish due to their location on the Mediterranean coast. Their taste in food is influenced by traditional Egyptian cooking and they use chili peppers, dill seeds and garlic as the most common seasonings. Galilee food is very similar to Lebanese cuisine and their meals are based on bulgur, minced lamb or beef mixed with pepper and allspice among other spices which they combine and roll into balls and serve with mint leaves. It’s called Kubbi balls and they are baked in a bulgur crust. A common breakfast food is Manakeesh which is a little similar to pizza and topped with homemade cheese, olive oil, oregano, onions, spices and hot sauce. Great with tea, fresh vegetables and lebeneh homemade yogurt on the side. A special occasion meal is roasted lamb along with rice which has chopped lamb in it and is flavored with an assortment of spices and garnished with chopped parsley and toasted nuts. Grilled meats on skewers are popular. There are appetizers such as hummus which is sometimes topped with meat, stuffed grape leaves stuffed either with meat or vegetables, olives, pickles and hard cheeses. Another common main dish is Musakhan which consists of a roasted chicken over a taboon bread topped with pieces of fried sweet onions, sumac, allspice and pine nuts. Magluba is upside-down rice and baked eggplant casserole mixed with cooked cauliflowers, carrots and chicken or lamb. A traditional meal is Mansaf made mostly on special occasions or during holidays. It consists of a leg of lamb or large pieces of lamb on top of taboon bread smothered with yellow rice. Jameed a thick, dried cheesecloth yogurt made from goat’s milk is poured on top of the lamb and rice to give it a distinct flavor and taste. The dish is garnished with pine nuts and almonds. People also make homemade fruit-based jams. Fish is grilled or fried after being stuffed with cilantro, garlic, red peppers, cumin and marinated in a mix of coriander, red peppers, cumin and chopped lemons.
This is just to let you know what kind of cuisine can be expected when you tour Bethlehem and relax in the town’s restaurants.
Published At: Isnare.com
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