Which country invented falafel

One thing is for certain, this little ball is loaded with history and plenty of surprises! Foodies are devouring it and vegetarians swear by it… Just scroll through your Instagram feed to see the falafel shine.

And for good reason, it has conquered the world! From the Rue des Rosiers in Paris to the Beirut stalls and the trendy Brooklyn neighborhoods, falafel can be sampled in a pita bread in its street food version or as part of a colorful mezze assortment. So how did it become so popular and where exactly does it come from?

Pierre-Brice Lebrun, an avid gourmet and traveller, unravels the mystery. It was most likely born in Egypt , years before Christ. We do know that the Egyptians had beans, that they mastered frying and opted for animal fat when doing so. Another theory suggests that it was invented more specifically by the Coptic Christians of Egypt. They would have chosen the falafel as a viable alternative to meat during Lent, due to its similar appearance to meatballs.

It should be remembered, however that many versions of rounded patties throughout the world are of Jewish origin. Jews have throughout history, often by obligation, cooked offal. Etymologically speaking, the word falafel could come from the word mlaff , which means wrapped, as it is often eaten in a sandwich.

The Middle East is a very commercial region, there is a lot of trade, a lot of commercial ports: Alexandria, Gaza, Beirut, Tripoli… The falafel spread thanks to these streams.

Not forgetting that chickpeas and beans were present throughout the region. Wars, battles and conquests are also at the origin of its spread. Stampfer said that also the bagel is a fairly recent addition to Jewish culinary tradition.

Yet some of these foods were more like pastries, some were made from rye and they came in varying shapes and sizes. The food that we would recognize as a bagel — a fat, round ring large enough to be sliced open and topped with fillings — was developed by Jewish immigrants in New York City around the beginning of the 20th century.

The now-traditional practice of eating bagels with lox and cream cheese is an even newer development, apparently becoming popular only after , he notes. This process of creating an identity has actually been mirrored by the Palestinians, he notes.

Some argue that falafel was an Arab dish that was appropriated by Israeli Jews — an act of cultural appropriation said to mirror other forms of Israeli violence against Palestinians. This argument rests on the assumption that falafel has a long history in the Arab world, and that Jewish immigrants to the Middle East have attempted to disregard or erase its Arab or Palestinian roots by calling it an Israeli food.

Until now, a common counter argument was that many Israeli Jews are originally from Arab nations, and their ancestors therefore made falafel, too. But Stampfer says that these arguments rest on claims that are simply incorrect.

Falafel is too recent a development to have been appropriated by anyone, he writes. Despite the political implications, Stampfer says he never set out to write a political essay.

Others say that falafel can from India in the 6th century. One of the more accepted theories places the invention of falafel in more modern times, in the late 19th century.

This is about the time when the dish started appearing in Egyptian literature, right after the British occupation in According to this theory, British officers enjoyed fried vegetable croquettes when they were in India and asked their Egyptian cooks to prepare a version with local ingredients. It is believed that falafel first emerged in Alexandria, the principal port of Egypt and the city with the largest concentration of European troops.

As the name for fava beans in Egyptian is ful, it is believed that the word falafel comes from these original Mediterranean recipes. Despite plenty of evidence pointing to falafel originating in Egypt, a number of other countries claim falafel as their own. Israel is perhaps the most steadfast in its claim, even advertising falafel as one of their national dishes and putting it into songs.