Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food

(Hardback)

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Bethlehem is a celebration of Palestinian food and culture from one of the areas 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 colours 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. Fadis 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 flavours 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.

Reviews

"The immense love and pride that restaurateur Kattan feels for his native city shines through on every page of this elegant collection. Appealing and approachable traditional recipes are studded with moving portraits of Bethlehem locals, including a vendor Kattan dubs the Queen of Herbs and members of his own extended family."--Publishers Weekly

"This stunning volume reminds us that culinary history needs to be recorded and shared. A deeply personal book that focuses on the beautiful food of Palestine organized by seasons: fig jam, aubergines roasted with tahinia, lentil soup with cumin and turmeric, and dibs and tahinia shortbread. Essays featuring great home cooks, olive oil production, and other local, seasonal foods of Palestine make this a very readable book."--Kathy Gunst, WBUR

"Between the recipes here, chef Fadi Kattan introduces readers to the Bethlehem vendors of fresh herbs and vegetables, the bakers offering scalding-hot kmaj, and the butchers in the old souk. Kattan weaves their stories into the fabric of family memories and iconic Palestinian dishes, organized by season."--Maggie Hoffman, Epicurious,

Author Bio

Fadi Kattanis a Franco-Palestinian chef living in Bethlehem. He has two restaurants: Fawda, in Bethlehem, and Akub, in London, as well as a Youtube series profiling Palestinian grandmothers and their food knowledge and traditions.