Everything about Falafel totally explained
Falafel (; also known in
Egypt and
Sudan as ta'meya, Arabic طعمية), is a fried ball or patty made from
spiced
fava beans and/or
chickpeas. It is a popular form of fast food in the
Middle East, where it's also served as a
mezze (snack or tapas).
The word "falafel" is the plural of the Arabic word فلفل (
filfil), meaning "pepper." Variant spellings in English include
felafel and
filafil.
Falafel is generally served in
pita bread, either inside the pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flat pita. In many countries, falafel is a popular
street food or
fast food. The falafel balls, whole or crushed, may be topped with salads, pickled vegetables and hot sauce, and drizzled with tehina (
tahini). Falafel balls may also be eaten alone as a snack or served as part of a
mezze. During
Ramadan, they're sometimes eaten as part of an
iftar, the meal which breaks the daily fast after sunset.
Falafel has been part of the diet of
Arabs and
Mizrahi Jews for centuries. It is also considered a national food in
Israel where it has become a common part of the
Israeli diet. Now a popular street food in many countries around the world, it's sometimes offered as a
vegetarian alternative to
Döner kebab.
History
Falafel originated in
Egypt, where it was first made with
fava beans as the base. As the dish migrated northwards to
Syria and
Palestine,
chickpeas were introduced instead. Falafel was consumed by Arabs of all religious denominations, including Jews in Egypt and Syria.
After hundreds of thousands of Jews emigrated to Israel from
Arab countries in the 1950s, falafel became an Israeli emblem. The proliferation of falafel stands, operated in particular by Jews from
Yemen, made "it possible to incorporate elements like falafel without referring to them as
Palestinian."
Some Israelis and Jews have since recognized the controversy. For example, Ammiel Alcalay, a Jewish professor of Middle Eastern culture, has described the Israeli adoption of falafel as "total appropriation" and Dan Almagor notes that if he were composing his song on falafel today, he'd now include a line mentioning the dish's
Arab origins.
[
]Ingredients
Falafel is made from fava beans or chickpeas or a combination of the two. The Egyptian variation uses exclusively fava beans, while other variations may only use chickpeas. Falafel made exclusively from chickpeas became popular in Israel because of favism, a potentially fatal genetic disease among some Mediterranean Jews causing a a hemolytic reaction to fava beans. Unlike many other bean patties, in falafel the beans are not cooked prior to use. Instead they're soaked, possibly skinned, then ground with the addition of a small quantity of onion, parsley, spices (including cumin), and bicarbonate of soda, and deep fried at a high temperature. Sesame seeds may be added to the balls before they're fried; this is particularly common when falafel is served as a dish on its own rather than as a sandwich filling.
Recent culinary trends have seen the triumph of the chickpea falafel over the fava bean falafel. Chickpea falafels are served across the Middle East, and have been popularized by expatriates of those countries living abroad.
Variations
Outside the Middle East a Greek-style pita bread is often used as a pocket and stuffed with the different ingredients; in Arab countries a round khubz bread, 'eish' in Egypt, is halved, and the two resulting round pieces are used to create a cigar-shaped wrap. In Arab countries, hummus (chickpeas pureed with tahini) is rarely an ingredient. The usual sauce is tahini (sesame seed paste) thinned with water and lemon. The most common salad ingredients are tomato and parsley. In Lebanon parsley is mixed with chopped mint leaves. It is also common in Syria and Lebanon to add pickles; the two canonical ones are pickled turnip, colored pink with beetroot, and pickled cucumber. Recently, there has been a new "filled" falafel, its center usually consisting of ground meat or minced onions or a boiled egg. These fillings are wrapped by the uncooked falafel mixture, and then deep fried.
The salads or the pita itself may be seasoned with sumac or salt; alternatively, these may be sprinkled on top. In Syria, sumac is widely used.
Related dishes
In Italian cuisine, there's a chickpea fritter called frittata di ceci; other similar Italian dishes include panelle and farinata.
Acarajé, an Afro-Brazilian street food from the northeastern state of Bahia, are pureed black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in palm oil.
Cultural and literary references
TV personality Bill O'Reilly is nicknamed the Falafel Guy, after mistakenly referring to the loofah sponge as a "falafel" midway through an alleged phone conversation with Andrea Mackris.
In the popular TV series, a character portrayed by the actor Paul Norell is known as Falafel, because he's a Falafel vendor.
In the hit TV series Friends, Rachel's sister Amy, the character portrayed by the actress Christina Applegate mistakes Ross played by David Schwimmer as a Falafel vendor in episode number 224, season 10.
John Birmingham wrote the 1994 novel He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, subsequently produced as a play and a film.Further Information
Get more info on 'Falafel'.
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