I know that the poverty and hunger statistics for Gaza are currently appalling. But it’s great to be reminded that the Strip has a fine and ancient culture, of which its food-prep culture is only a small part.
The inimitable Laila El-Haddad has a great piece about Gaza’s cuisine in the June edition of This week in Palestine. In it, she confronts head-on some of the stereotypes non-Gaza Palestinians hold about the Strip’s people. (“They are ‘brute’ and ‘unsophisticated,’ and what they lack in culture they make up for in strong-headedness.”) But she argues convincingly that, “Gaza boasts a unique cuisine rivalled in its variety only by its versatility of ingredients, with a flavour to satisfy every palate…”
She notes that the Gazan kitchen has been enriched by cultural interaction amongst the indigenous Gazans and that 80% of the Strip’s population who are 1948 refugees from surrounding towns and villages– and also, colored by the population’s experience of poverty:
- As far as Palestinian food goes, Gaza’s is characterized by its generous use of spices and, of course, chillies. Other major flavours and ingredients include dill, chard, garlic, cumin, lentils, chickpeas, pomegranates, sour plums and tamarind. Many of the traditional dishes rely on clay-pot cooking, which preserves the flavour and texture of the vegetables and results in fork-tender meat.
Traditionally, most of the dishes, such as rummaniya, are seasonal and rely on ingredients indigenous to the area and its surrounding villages, pre-1948. Poverty has also played an important role in determining many of the area’s simple meatless dishes and stews, such as saliq wa adas (chard and lentils) and bisara (skinless fava beans mashed with dried mulukhiya leaves, chilli, dill seed and garlic). One cannot discount the influence of the 1948 Nakba, which resulted in an influx of refugees from all over Palestine’s coast, tripling Gaza’s population overnight. Many of them were fellahin (peasants) who would rely on eating seasonally, based on what they grew, and who brought with them a variety of flavours and ingredients, especially those that were easy to carry and cook in the harsh conditions of the exile they were forced to live in, as many first-generation refugees testify.
Due to the Strip’s geographic isolation from the rest of Palestine as a result of decades of occupation and Israeli-imposed closures, many of its dishes have not been heard of outside of Gaza…
I can tell you, from the couple of times I was lucky enough to be included in an El-Haddad family meal when I was in Gaza, that these dishes are really tasy– and far, far spicier than most Palestinian cuisine. In fact, I think Laila’s mom, Um Tarek (who’s a retired pediatrician) should maybe plan a new career as a cookbook writer.
Anyway, go read Laila’s whole article. It will make your mouth water.