1/13 Israeli here, I know I have barely any foreign followers, but I still thought it would be beneficial to write about the following topic: Food and culture appropriation. One narrative that's so prevalent in the I/P discourse is that Israelis, sorry, Zionists, steal >2/13 Palestinian culture, especially food. This type of discourse simply doesn't exist in Israel at all. It's so bizarre and detached from what's truly important, I don't know where to even begin, but apparently, it needs to be addressed. Nu shoin. First, when Israelis think >3/13 of Israeli food, they think of stuff like the "typical Israeli breakfast" which consists of an omlette, Arab salad (tomatos + cucumbers), bread and all kinds of spreards: white cheese, cottage cheese, tahini spread, tuna, etc. Most people don't eat that at home >4/13 but it's the typical breakfast one expects at hotels and food courts in Kibbutzim. Notice that it is usually dairy-kosher based. For lunch, kids returning home from school would be served schnitzels and spaghetti or rice. In food courts at places like universities >5/13 a bowl of salad could be considered typical for lunch. Besides that, shkedei marak (yellowish croutons for soups soups), cottage cheese, crembo (eaten during winter), bamba (a savory peanuts snack), etc. are what come to our mind when people mention Israeli food. >6/13 Indeed, it also includes hummus, tahini spread and falafel. But we know that their origin is Middle Eastern, no one thinks otherwise. We know that falafel is originally Egyptian. Food unsurprisingly gets adopted by different people from different cultures. >7/13 Food sharing is a good thing, actually. Ramen was adopted by Japanese from China, fish and chips were adopted by the British from a Sepharedi Jew refugee. In Israel, we know that there is a distinct Palestinian cuisine consisting of fatair, knafeh, maluchiya, etc. >8/13 Some foods are liked and known by Israeli Jews, like knafeh, others are less known. There are other cuisines like the Israeli Druze cuisine. One can usually spot a Druze stand at malls or food fairs in different locations throughout Israel. The typical food sold there >9/13 would be dawali (rolled grape leaves with rice), Druze pita bread, labaneh, etc. It obviously intersects with Palestinian cuisine. Besides that, one can also find Jewish food from different diasporas. From cholent, shakshuka, jachnun to chraime. >10/13 These foods are usually adaptation of local foods from where our ancestors used to live in diaspora. Some of them developed for Shabat, others adapted to be kosher. During holidays, my family still eats gefilte-fish and kneidalach. In general, Israelis eat all kinds of >11/13 food, and I find it utterly bizarre that people who have no clue about our culture post infographics upon infographics claimimg we either don't have our own culture or that we only steal Palestinian culture (lol, wut?). I ate kneidalach way before I ate falafel. >12/13 This hyperfocus on falafel and hummus is so bizarre. Israeli and Palestinians exchange cultures because they're thorns in another's butt. Both Israelis and Palestinians for example consider cactus as one of their symbols even though it is not native to the land >13/13 and was brought by the Ottomans. Anyone who ever posted any such infographic simply tells me they have zero knowledge about Israel. To me, it automatically means they're untrustworthy as a source.

1/13 Israeli here, I know I have barely any foreign followers, but I still thought it would be beneficial to write about the following topic: Food and culture appropriation. One narrative that's so prevalent in the I/P discourse is that Israelis, sorry, Zionists, steal > ... 2/13 Palestinian culture, especially food. This type of discourse simply doesn't exist in Israel at all. It's so bizarre and detached from what's truly important, I don't know where to even begin, but apparently, it needs to be addressed. Nu shoin. First, when Israelis think > ... 3/13 of Israeli food, they think of stuff like the "typical Israeli breakfast" which consists of an omlette, Arab salad (tomatos + cucumbers), bread and all kinds of spreards: white cheese, cottage cheese, tahini spread, tuna, etc. Most people don't eat that at home > ... 4/13 but it's the typical breakfast one expects at hotels and food courts in Kibbutzim. Notice that it is usually dairy-kosher based. For lunch, kids returning home from school would be served schnitzels and spaghetti or rice. In food courts at places like universities > ... 5/13 a bowl of salad could be considered typical for lunch. Besides that, shkedei marak (yellowish croutons for soups soups), cottage cheese, crembo (eaten during winter), bamba (a savory peanuts snack), etc. are what come to our mind when people mention Israeli food. > ... 6/13 Indeed, it also includes hummus, tahini spread and falafel. But we know that their origin is Middle Eastern, no one thinks otherwise. We know that falafel is originally Egyptian. Food unsurprisingly gets adopted by different people from different cultures. > ... 7/13 Food sharing is a good thing, actually. Ramen was adopted by Japanese from China, fish and chips were adopted by the British from a Sepharedi Jew refugee. In Israel, we know that there is a distinct Palestinian cuisine consisting of fatair, knafeh, maluchiya, etc. > ... 8/13 Some foods are liked and known by Israeli Jews, like knafeh, others are less known. There are other cuisines like the Israeli Druze cuisine. One can usually spot a Druze stand at malls or food fairs in different locations throughout Israel. The typical food sold there > ... 9/13 would be dawali (rolled grape leaves with rice), Druze pita bread, labaneh, etc. It obviously intersects with Palestinian cuisine. Besides that, one can also find Jewish food from different diasporas. From cholent, shakshuka, jachnun to chraime. > ... 10/13 These foods are usually adaptation of local foods from where our ancestors used to live in diaspora. Some of them developed for Shabat, others adapted to be kosher. During holidays, my family still eats gefilte-fish and kneidalach. In general, Israelis eat all kinds of > ... 11/13 food, and I find it utterly bizarre that people who have no clue about our culture post infographics upon infographics claimimg we either don't have our own culture or that we only steal Palestinian culture (lol, wut?). I ate kneidalach way before I ate falafel. > ... 12/13 This hyperfocus on falafel and hummus is so bizarre. Israeli and Palestinians exchange cultures because they're thorns in another's butt. Both Israelis and Palestinians for example consider cactus as one of their symbols even though it is not native to the land > ... 13/13 and was brought by the Ottomans. Anyone who ever posted any such infographic simply tells me they have zero knowledge about Israel. To me, it automatically means they're untrustworthy as a source.