Middle East - Anthony Ham [83]
The end of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) is also celebrated in great culinary style. In Turkey, locals mark this important time with Şeker Bayramı (Sugar Festival), a three-day feast in which sweet foods (especially baklava) occupy centre stage.
Jewish Celebrations
The Shabbat (Sabbath) meal is an article of faith for most Jews and central to that weekly celebration is the bread known as challah (Sabbath bread), which is baked each week by Jewish householders in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. A slowly cooked heavy stew called cholent is another Sabbath tradition widely enjoyed in Israel. Fatty meat, beans, grains, potatoes, herbs and spices stewed for hours in a big pot will heartily serve the family as well as their guests.
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The Complete Middle East Cookbook, by Tess Mallos, is full of easy-to-follow recipes and devotes individual chapters to national cuisines including those of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Israel.
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The Pesah (Jewish Passover) is celebrated even by the nondevout, which comprises the majority of Israelis. Unleavened bread is the best-known ingredient. During Hanukkah, potato pancakes and special jam doughnuts (soofganiot) are traditional dishes, while Rosh HaShanah means eating sweet foods like apples, carrots or braided challah bread dipped in honey.
Easter
Easter heralds another round of feasting, with Good Friday’s abstinence from meat bringing out dishes such as m’jaddara (spiced lentils and rice) or shoraba zingool (sour soup with small balls of cracked wheat, flour and split peas) in Lebanon and Syria. Selak, rolls of silver beet (Swiss chard) stuffed with rice, tomato, chickpeas and spices, are also served. The fast is broken on Easter Sunday with round semolina cakes called maamoul (which also appear as desserts on some Damascus restaurant menus) stuffed with either walnuts or dates. The Armenian Christmas, the Epiphany (6 January), has the women busy making owamaut (small, deep-fried honey balls).
Rites of Passage
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Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews, by Poopa Dweck, is a universally acclaimed tour of the Jewish roots that helped create one of the Arab Middle East’s culinary capitals.
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In the Middle East, food is always associated with different milestones in an individual’s and a family’s life. When a baby is born, Egyptians mark the birth of a son by serving an aromatic rice pudding with aniseed called meghlie; in Syria and Lebanon it’s called mighlay and is made of rice flour and cinnamon. The same dish is called mughly in the Palestinian Territories, where it is believed to aid lactation.
In Syria and Lebanon, chickpeas and tooth-destroying sugar-coated almonds are the celebratory treats when the baby’s first tooth pushes through. In Egypt, ataïf (pancakes dipped in syrup) are eaten on the day of a betrothal and biscuits known as kahk bi loz (almond bracelets) are favourites at wedding parties. Turkish guests at engagement parties and weddings are invariably served baklava, providing sugary stamina for the rollicking hours of party-making ahead, not to mention the couple’s wedding night.
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Food echoes from the holy Books
▪ During the daily iftar feast of Ramadan, platters of dates on the table remind diners of the Prophet Mohammed’s only source of food while fasting in the desert.
▪ Turks eat aşure Bayramı on the 10th day of Muharram (the first month of the Muslim calendar) to celebrate Noah, his ark and the great glory of God. The story goes that when the flood waters were subsiding, Noah asked his wife to cook up all the food left in the pantry. She formulated a bizarre 40-ingredient pudding that included beans, barley, chickpeas, cinnamon, sultanas and burghul, and called it aşure.
▪ In Jewish tradition, challah (Sabbath bread) is baked to commemorate the Israelites being given a double portion