First Roger Cohen:
I’m a big believer in the stress-dissipating, difference-bridging kitchen. Nothing dissolves angst as fast as culinary creation. I look forward to the first Israeli-Palestinian food festival and the inaugural Indian-Pakistani gastronomic fair. Visceral enemies betray themselves in the similarity of their foods. We know from the Bible how blood brothers slay each other.
Cohen touches upon an often overlooked and encouraging aspect of the Israeli-Palestine conflict: The exchange of culinary and to some degree, linguistic traits in Israel. Many day-to-day expressions in Hebrew betray Arabic origins (including the great majority of curse words). Of course there are those who take this as evidence of cultural imperialism and indeed, I have on many occasions heard offhand remarks by Israeli soldiers on the glory of Gazan hummus, but I prefer to be optimistic and think that if we can cover a lot of ground at the dinner table.
On the other hand, in an article on Israel's success in Hi-Tech, David Brooks wrote:
Milton Friedman used to joke that Israel disproved every Jewish stereotype. People used to think Jews were good cooks, good economic managers and bad soldiers; Israel proved them wrong.
I could not disagree more, Mr. Brooks, though I suppose my real beef is with Mr. Friedman. Israel features a wide array of culinary traditions from European as well as Middle-Eastern countries. More to the point, a new generation of Israeli chiefs take the same dedication, discipline and spirit of innovation Brooks writes sees in Hi-Tech right into the kitchen. Mr. Brooks, next time you're in Israel, I've got some Sabich you should try.
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