Reem Kassis new cookbook, The Palestinian Table, is as much a memoir as a collection of recipes. “These are recipes that have been in my family for generations,” says Ms. Kassis. “When I first left Jerusalem at 17 to study in the US, I think the last place I wanted to end up was the kitchen, but soon after I had my daughters, a part of me felt in a way nostalgic.”
Olives, olive oil, and figs are central ingredients in Palestinian cuisine says the cookbook author. “There are staple ingredients like maftoul, which many people may not have heard of. It’s grains of bulgur that are rolled in wheat flour, and that turns them into these caviar-size little pearls, similar to couscous but larger. So that’s typically Palestinian.” Ms. Kassis makes the cultural point that Palestinians families usually eat supper all together. “You know, the families are big. You often find siblings and children and relatives living within close proximity to each other. Dinner is rarely a family of two — it becomes a family of 20, and when you cook, any uninvited guest is welcome.”
And there’s one thing that Reem Kassis is sure about, her cookbook is not about politics. “I don’t want this to be a political manifesto. This is our food, this is our culture. And let that speak for itself.”
