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Jewish And Israeli
Salads
Israeli salad
(Hebrew: סָלָט יְרָקוֹת יִשְׂרְאֵלִי, salat
yerakot yisraeli, "Israeli vegetable salad")
is a chopped salad of finely diced tomato
and cucumber. "Distinguished by the tiny
diced tomatoes and cucumbers," it is
described as the "most well-known national
dish of Israel."
In Israel, it is also commonly referred to
as salat yerakot (Hebrew: סָלָט יְרָקוֹת,
"vegetable salad"), salat katzutz
(Hebrew: סָלָט קָצוּץ, "chopped salad")[4]
or salat aravi (Hebrew: סָלָט עֲרָבִי,
"Arab salad").
Israeli salad is usually dressed with
fresh lemon juice and olive oil. Parsley and
spring onions are sometimes added, but not
lettuce.[6] Generally, the cucumbers are not
peeled. The key is using very fresh
vegetables and chopping them as finely as
possible.[7] The ability to chop the
tomatoes and cucumbers into the "finest,
most perfect dice" is considered a mark of
status among many kibbutz cooks.
Israeli salad is served as an independent
side dish, as an accompaniment to main
dishes, or stuffed in a pita with falafel or
shawarma. It was part of the traditional
Israeli breakfast at home before
Western-style breakfast cereals became
popular, and remains a standard feature at
buffet breakfasts at Israeli hotels.
History
The dish
cannot be an ancient one since the tomato
was introduced to cultivation in the Middle
East by John Barker, British consul in
Aleppo c. 1799 –c. 1825. Nineteenth century
descriptions of tomato consumption are
uniformly as a part of a cooked dish. In
1881 the tomato is described as only eaten
in the region, "within the last forty
years."
Israeli foods like hummus, falafel and
Israeli salad are common to much of the
Mediterranean and Arabic world." Gil Hovav, an Israeli food editor, says hummus
and falafel are Arabic, and that Israeli
salad is, "an Arab salad, Palestinian
salad."[13] Joseph Massad, a
Palestinian professor of Arab Politics at
Columbia University, cites the renaming of,
"Palestinian rural salad (now known in New
York delis as Israeli salad)," as one
example of the appropriation of Palestinian
and pan-Syrian foods by Zionists.
Other similar chopped salads found in the
Middle East, include the Persian salad
shirazi سالاد شيرازي
(which includes mint, diced onions, and
peeled cucumbers), and
the Turkish choban salad; among others found
throughout the eastern Mediterranean area in
Turkey, Lebanon, and even Egypt.
Jewish
Recipes:
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