Food From The West Bank

Although under Israeli occupation, Palestine has a rich and vibrant culture where taste buds, not just eyes and minds, will reap the rewards of a visit. You will find a colourful cuisine that is filling (trust me..), along with well cooked and flavoursome. A walk down the street in any city will make this pretty obvious. The shops and souks are a goldmine for cooking ingredients; heaps of herbs aswell as lots of fresh produce are easily available if your into cooking some traditional recipes. The street food is equally as good though, and if you're looking for fast food containing some of whats on offer, the freshly prepped falafel, sharawma or kofte is often a far cry from the customary greasy post-night out kebab in the UK.

A Cook's Dream. (Photo Courtesy of Flora Murphy)

If your also lucky enough to have the opportunity of a meal at someone's house, make sure you go. We were served, and very much enjoyed the maqluba, a popular casserole rice dish eaten in the Arab world meaning 'upside down' in Arabic, due to the way its cooked in a pot and then turned upside down when served. Combined with fresh salad and labnah (yogurt), it makes for a highly delectable, authentic meal. Any thoughts of hunger on our last day were very much sated by this filling, but also flavoursome meal.

Maqluba For Lunch. (Photo Courtesy of Nandita Dowson)

If we could have found room for something sweet after such a great meal, we could have had some kanefeh, a dish originating from where many us visited in Nablus. It's a sweet treat made from cheese cooked with sugar syrup, and its certainly worth trying. Although feeling like I ate a lot, I know for a fact that what I ate and wrote about only scratched the surface of Palestinian, let alone Arab cuisine. The bucket list for my upcoming month in Palestine has gorging on more of the food very firmly pencilled in. Quite rightly, Palestine remains proud of its heritage and roots, of which its food is a huge part. Luckily for us, its there to experience.

Kanafeh At Its Best In Nablus. (Photo Courtesy of Flora Murphy)