Something from Israel
I like this way of cooking. While I was growing up, because of my culturally mixed background, I was exposed to different culinary influences, and this has shaped my own outlook on food preparation. We would eat typical Maltese and Jewish dishes, with a smattering of Greek, Turkish and North African touches. One of my fondest memories is of waking up to the smell of warm bagels on a holiday morning.
The food of the eastern Mediterranean and of the Middle East has come into vogue with the tendency towards fusion cooking, but I hope this is not just a passing craze, because this kind of food is nutritious, very tasty, and light to eat. Many of the recipes from the Middle East, where you will find all the religions ‘of the book’ represented – Jews, Muslims and Christians – have a common root and are variations of the same original method. It’s kofta in one place and kefta in another. You will find tabbouleh, hummus and falafel wherever you go in the Middle East.
In general terms, Jewish cooking falls into two traditional categories: that of the Ashkenazim, the Jews from the north, and that of the Sephardim, the Jews of the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East (Taste note – Samira Jamil includes a Sephardic recipe for an orange cake in her menu). Sephardic cuisine is characterized by the use of the ingredients of the region: fine olive oil, garlic, chilli, lemon, aromatics and hot spices. Cinnamon is used in sweet and savoury dishes. Yemenite Jewish cuisine from the Arabian area is new to me, but I have been exploring it recently. Here you will find the recipes for Yemenite zhough and giahnoun.
Marco Brown lives and works in Malta for most of the year, His paintings may be viewed on www.marcoart.co.uk.