For lack of a better name, I call these “bottle squash”. Their name in Arabic is “kareh-ah”, where the last syllable is pronounced as if you just received a gentle blow to the stomach. They are a summer vegetable that is commonly found in Arab produce markets here. Until I started spending time in the … Read More »
Culinary Historian
A Tomato Education
More on the subject of “baal” tomatoes… For some weeks now, I’ve been trying to coordinate with Balkees a time that we could go together to visit our friends where they are growing their waterless summer produce. I’ve been enjoying these amazing vegetables, through her, but there is nothing like visiting the field and picking … Read More »
Tomatoes Without Watering
It’s tomato season and all of a sudden these quintessential summer fruits have taken center stage. First, through Slow Food Movement connections, I recently had the good fortune to meet Roberta – a lovely US ex-pat who gave up city life to live on a farm in the Po Valley, learn Italian cooking and raise … Read More »
A New Article in Gastronomica
Over a year has passed since Ron, Balkees and I helped harvest green wheat to make farike. After that amazing experience, I wrote an article which was accepted for publication in Gastronomica magazine – that very fine journal of food and culture that is put out by UC Press. The article was accepted in the … Read More »
Celebrating First Fruits
The holiday of Shavuoth is fast approaching – a festival which was celebrated in the Old Testament days to mark the wheat harvest. Specifically, the tribes of Israel were mandated to take the first sheaves of the harvest and bring them as a sacrificial offering to the Temple in Jerusalem. The term for this offering … Read More »