
Falafel: The staple dish of the Middle East is as contested as the region - benbreen
https://www.historytoday.com/alexander-lee/falafel
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amitport
Israeli-Palestinian argue a lot... but they don't really argue about Falafel

Israelis generally see Falafel as an Arab origin dish.

+There are Jews that are in Israel for thousands of years (eating middle
eastern food)

+There are Arab-Jews

+There are Arab-Israelis

You won't really hear a Jew with Russian origins claiming Falafel is his
heritage

~~~
cobookman
There _were_ Arab Jews. Most the Arab countries kicked out their Jewish
population.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_Arab_and_Mu...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_Arab_and_Muslim_countries)

~~~
vanterdon
They are still Arab Jews, their being 'Arab' wasn't removed when they left for
Israel.

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yesenadam
Whether pavlova is Australian or New Zealandy has also been frequently
contested..

"The nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between the two
nations for many years"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlova_(cake)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlova_\(cake\))

[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-
pacific-11897482](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11897482)

[https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/news/pavlova-research-
re...](https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/news/pavlova-research-reveals-
desserts-shock-origins-20151010-gk5yv9)

But we don't want to wipe each other from the earth over that or anything
else.

~~~
ironic_ali
I was at a bbq recently and the host lady had made a pavlova (or "Pav" as it's
known). I jokingly asked if it was Australian and everyone including her
laughed, but there were daggers behind the eyes...

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robin_reala
Outside of the middle east, the best falafel I’ve eaten has been at Jalla
Jalla[1] in Malmö (arabic tradition) and L’As du Fallafel in Paris (jewish
tradition).

[1]
[https://www.facebook.com/JallaJalla2003/](https://www.facebook.com/JallaJalla2003/)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27As_du_Fallafel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27As_du_Fallafel)

~~~
virtualwhys
Shalom Falafel in Jerusalem is excellent, although the lack of a queue was a
bit of an adjustment for this non-hebrew speaking foreigner -- you basically
just shout (or wave your arms wildly in my case) to get someone's attention.

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nailer
> While the Israelis have fêted it as one of their national dishes, the
> Palestinians are resentful of what they perceive as the ‘theft’ of a
> distinctly Arab speciality.

This sentence doesn't quite make sense. From what I read around half the Jews
in Israel are Arabic.

~~~
nailer
Not sure why this being downvoted, I don't think anyone disputes it. If you
want a source, Bari Weiss from the NYT discussed this on Joe Rogan a few days
ago.

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ykevinator
What does levantine mean?

~~~
yots
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levant)

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pragmaticlurker
they are good!

