Beyond Hummus: Palestinians Cook up New Food Trends

A cook prepares to serve plates of hummus and fava beans at a restaurant in the Old City of Jerusalem AHMAD GHARABLI AFP
A cook prepares to serve plates of hummus and fava beans at a restaurant in the Old City of Jerusalem AHMAD GHARABLI AFP
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Beyond Hummus: Palestinians Cook up New Food Trends

A cook prepares to serve plates of hummus and fava beans at a restaurant in the Old City of Jerusalem AHMAD GHARABLI AFP
A cook prepares to serve plates of hummus and fava beans at a restaurant in the Old City of Jerusalem AHMAD GHARABLI AFP

From the ancient alleys of Jerusalem's Old City to kitchens around the world, Palestinians are stirring new trends in cooking while abiding by traditions.

The trend has whipped up a growing appetite for specialized books and food tours.

"It's changing for the better, I think. Many Palestinians are keen on promoting their foods," said Nassar Odeh, as oven aromas wafted over a Jerusalem street.

The Palestinian entrepreneur has spent the past few months watching gourmands drift in and out of his new eatery, Taboon, named after the traditional clay oven.

Customers are tucking into dishes such as Armenian lahmajoon, a thin pizza with ground meat and spices which Odeh remembers being sold to hungry crowds in the Old City decades earlier.

"Armenian dishes are part of the Palestinian culture," AFP quoted Odeh.

"This is extremely important because this emphasizes the Palestinian presence and the entrepreneurship," he said. "We need to be proud of our products."

Opened last year in what was once the family's souvenir store, Taboon is part of a string of new Palestinian bars, cafes and restaurants.

Beyond those within the Old City walls, they have sprung up in other areas of annexed east Jerusalem such as the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, or further afield in Ramallah in the West Bank.

They range from a fine dining experience to fusion menus, blending Palestinian ingredients with European dishes, according to Izzeldin Bukhari, who runs Jerusalem food tours and cooking classes.

"It's a great start; we're really in the beginning," said Bukhari, who plans to offer consulting services to business owners wanting to revitalize their restaurants.

"Everyone was doing kind of the same thing, but lately I see people stepping up and doing a new concept, new ideas," he said.

Showcasing the breadth of Palestinian dishes and produce remains central for Dalia Dabdoub, who manages Taboon and owns bars in the West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Jericho.

"We want to change the industry, in doing more food that people don't know," she said.

A variety of aubergines renowned locally which come from Battir, a village in the Bethlehem area, will soon be hitting the Taboon menu, while some produce is imported from Gaza.

"I always try to choose the tomatoes; when they come from Gaza they're really red and they're tastier," said Dabdoub.

Gazan green chillies, meanwhile, are particularly fierce.

The advent of new eateries builds on the Old City's history of hole-in-the-wall spots, specializing in a single dish like falafel.

Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi grew up with home cooking, such as school packed lunches of cauliflower fritters stuffed in pita, and went out for certain foods.

"I remember carrying a plate and going to the hummus guy," said Tamimi, talking avidly about beloved dishes including stuffed vine leaves and courgettes.

Such traditional foods and contemporary takes were compiled in the chef's 2020 cookbook: 'Falastin'.

"Just 10 years ago, if you went to a publisher and said I want to publish a book about Palestinian food, they would say 'Who's going to buy it?'" said Tamimi, who moved to London more than two decades ago.

A growing interest in Palestinian food abroad is tied to a shift away from presenting Mediterranean or Middle Eastern cuisine as one set of recipes.

"Nowadays you see more focus on the country, or the place and their food... I think it's a wonderful thing," said Tamimi, who has a series of cookbooks and runs restaurants with Israeli business partner Yotam Ottolenghi.

Israelis have proven more successful than Palestinians in branding local cuisine, noted Bukhari, including an image of an Israeli flag atop falafel at Tel Aviv airport.

"They are very good at marketing it," said the SacredCuisine founder. "We are leaving a gap for the Israelis to talk about our food."

But Palestinians are catching up internationally, with Bethlehem chef Fadi Kattan set to open a London restaurant later this year.

Tamimi himself is due to return briefly to Jerusalem for a residency at the historic American Colony Hotel in October.

His two-week menu follows a previous event there when the chef saw just how much has changed on the city's food scene.

"It was the first time that I worked with a whole team of Palestinians," he said.



Private Lunar Lander Blue Ghost Falls Silent on the Moon after a 2-week Mission

Private lunar lander Blue Ghost’s shadow is seen on the moon’s surface after touching down on the moon with a special delivery for NASA, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (NASA/Firefly Aerospace via AP)
Private lunar lander Blue Ghost’s shadow is seen on the moon’s surface after touching down on the moon with a special delivery for NASA, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (NASA/Firefly Aerospace via AP)
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Private Lunar Lander Blue Ghost Falls Silent on the Moon after a 2-week Mission

Private lunar lander Blue Ghost’s shadow is seen on the moon’s surface after touching down on the moon with a special delivery for NASA, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (NASA/Firefly Aerospace via AP)
Private lunar lander Blue Ghost’s shadow is seen on the moon’s surface after touching down on the moon with a special delivery for NASA, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (NASA/Firefly Aerospace via AP)

It’s lights out for the first private lunar lander to pull off a fully successful moon mission.

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander fell silent over the weekend, wrapping up two weeks of science experiments for NASA. The end came as the sun set at the moon, no longer providing energy for the lander’s solar panels.

“Mission is completed,” Firefly CEO Jason Kim said via X late Sunday night. "But the Ghost still lives on in our hearts and minds for the journey it’s taken us on!"

The lander operated five hours into the lunar night as planned before it died Sunday evening. Photos of the lunar sunset and glow will be released on Tuesday, Kim said, The AP reported.

Blue Ghost launched from Cape Canaveral in January as part of NASA’s commercial lunar delivery program. It landed at the moon’s far northeastern edge on March 2. It carried a drill, vacuum and other science and tech instruments for NASA. Firefly confirmed Monday that all 10 experiments worked.

Late last week, Blue Ghost observed a total solar eclipse from the moon — a total lunar eclipse as seen from Earth.

The Texas-based Firefly became the first private company to land on the moon without falling or crashing after a string of failed missions by other companies over the past few years. Only five countries — the United States, Russia, China, India and Japan — have achieved a successful landing.

A Japanese company's lunar lander shared the SpaceX rocket ride, but took an even longer route to get to the moon. That lander from ispace is targeting an early June touchdown.

Another Texas company, Intuitive Machines, ended up sideways in a crater near the moon's south pole earlier this month, dooming the mission. It was the second incomplete mission for Intuitive Machines. Its first lander put the US back on the moon last year for the first time since the Apollo era after a less-than-perfect landing that hampered communications.

Firefly is already working on its next lunar lander and striving for one moon landing a year.