What is 'Israeli food'?
Dishes found in Israel have recently been popularised across the western world. In amongst the ‘trends’ of hummus, charred aubergine and za’atar breads, a key part of the story of these popular dishes has been left out of food media. This course will be highlighting the origins of dishes eaten by Israelis - a population of people with a complex mix of cultures and a hugely diverse heritage from the Jewish diaspora and Arab world - giving respect to the roots and journey these ingredients and dishes took to get to the Israeli kitchen table. Tracing these dishes back is a complicated and messy task and there will be a case to be made for multiple origins, since they appear in various forms across modern country borders throughout history. The makeup of Israeli society is often misunderstood, seen as largely Ashkenazi but in fact what you see are Arab and Jewish traditions which have a long history of being woven together. In the making of this course we had the pleasure of speaking with Israelis whose heritage spans Russia, Palestine, Iraq, Poland, Greece…to name a few!
A short intro to the history
The Ottoman Empire was already in decline at the start of the First World War but following heavy military casualties, in 1922 it officially ended and the last remaining Ottoman territories were divided between Britain, France, Greece and Russia. The aim of this was to liberate the people in those territories from the oppression of the Ottoman Empire, ruling until the time came where they could stand on their own. Britain had control over areas between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan, Jordan itself and southern Iraq but where it gets messy is the drawing of state boundaries were left up to the controlling powers - the consequences of which are still felt in conflicts today.
Rewinding to the pre-War years, there was growing anti-semitism in Europe which affected the ability and desire for Jewish people to assimilate into Western society. The Zionism movement, support for the establishment of a national sovereign identity for displaced Jews, was growing as Jewish people were looking for greater security. There were different views within the movement of where they should establish themselves - Uganda being one of several other proposed locations. However, the most influential type of Zionism believed in a religious homeland in the Middle East, specifically Palestine, citing ancient, sacred sites referenced in the Jewish holy text, the Torah. Despite disagreements within the movement, there were early waves of Jewish immigration into Palestine. After the Second World War, there was widespread sympathy for victims of the Holocaust, the Zionism movement was at a height, and the British government at the time created a Jewish national home in Palestine. This is just the start of what has been a turbulent and war-stricken history between Israel and Palestine.
