Bethlehem
A Celebration of Palestinian Food
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR: Los Angeles Times
WINNER OF THE GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS INTERNATIONAL OR REGIONAL COOKBOOK AWARD 2025
Bethlehem is a celebration of Palestinian food and culture from one of the area’s most dynamic chefs and a portrait of one of the most storied cities in the world.
Franco-Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan celebrates the hidden parts of Bethlehem, his home, conjuring the colors and smells of its market and spice shops and introducing readers to the local farmers and artisans with whom he works to find the perfect ingredients and shares his love of culinary experimentation. Fadi’s inspiration comes from these food artisans, who grow the grapes, mill the wheat, make the olive oil, and most importantly, pass down the generational food knowledge.
His loving profiles of these people are accompanied by his own recipes, some passed down, some from his restaurants in Bethlehem and London. Learn to stuff grape leaves with Nabulsi cheese, slow roast lamb seasoned with fenugreek and cardamom, roll labaneh in nigella seeds, and make Mouhalabieh, a milky pudding scented with mastic and pistachios. Bright and bold flavors and the stories of their origins await readers in Bethlehem.
Amidst growing chaos and strife, these stories, recipes, and the legacy of this ancient city, Bethlehem, endure.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"A desire to show the real Bethlehem, and to celebrate it, is what led me to food and hospitality so many years ago," writes Kattan, the owner and chef behind London's Akub and Bethlehem's Fawda restaurants, in his sincere and beautiful debut. Inviting readers to "share in the memories and flavours of a land far away," he intersperses his seasonally grouped recipes with profiles of the people and places that play a role in Palestinian foodways, including his favorite herb vendor, Bethlehem's many bakeries, and Jericho's date trees. He also offers heartfelt personal memories of food shared with family members and opines about "the tangible impact of colonialism... visible in the effects it has had on Palestinian agriculture, access to land and natural sources of water, and restrictions on foraging." The appealing recipes are deeply rooted in tradition and range from the complex—taboun bread is historically baked on embers in a specially designed oven but can be made at home on a baking sheet covered in "clean, washed pebbles"—to the refreshingly simple, including a salad of figs tossed in olive oil and sumac. Spring recipes include mustard greens in labneh (a dish that, Kattan writes, is "full of creamy sunshine"), while winter brings hearty qidreh, a lamb and rice dish that is "the quintessential centerpiece for family celebrations in Palestine." Augmented with beautiful photos, this ode to Palestinian culinary culture stuns.
