Last week, the New York Times ran a story accusing Jews of kleptoparasitism. The piece insinuated that the people of the book had hoodwinked humanity into believing that Israeli food is an inherent component of the Jewish State’s identity, when in reality, the cuisine had been purloined from the true native inhabitants of the land.
Anti-Israel sentiment isn’t exactly terra incognita for the Gray Lady and other mainstream outlets. What’s new are the lengths to which its writers will go to cast doubt on the authenticity of Israeli culture.
Contrary to the aforementioned article’s fallacious narrative, Israeli cuisine’s Jewish roots run deep. After Israel declared its independence in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Mizrahi Jews across the Arab world were forced to flee to the fledgling democracy. With this influx of refugees came culinary influences from all over the Near East. This is how sabra cuisine was born, not through mass cultural appropriation.
Levantine Arabs undoubtedly influenced Israeli culinary heritage. But the notion that every food associated with Israel — hummus, shawarma, falafel — was stolen is just a thinly veiled attempt to erase Israeli history, whitewash atrocities committed against Jews living in Arab lands, and delegitimize the Zionist project.