Recipes from the Historian’s Cookbook

In the spring of 1940, Mandatory Palestine was in a state of high tension. Though Italy had not yet declared war on the British Commonwealth, and the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa had so far been spared the horrors of bombing, the shadow of the Second World War had already fallen across the region. Already, thousands of Jews fleeing the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and Easter Europe were arriving in Palestine in defiance of the restrictions imposed on immigration by the British at the London Conference the previous year. The pressure on resources – especially food – was acute. Many familiar dishes, and even some staples, were out of reach. Falafel, however, was still available to all; and in the circumstances, appealed even to some of those who still regarded it as a ‘foreign' importation. On 27 May 1940, the following recipe appeared in Haaretz – then, as now, a leading newspaper. It is remarkable in a number of ways. Unlike most other recipes, it adopts a flexible attitude towards the main ingredients. Fava beans, dried peas, or any other pulse could be used. Even more unusually, it omits the herbs and spices which are most commonly associated with falafel (e.g. cumin and coriander) – but which were, of course, unavailable – and outlines not one, but two different methods of preparation in the recognition that cooking oil may not be available.