The Myth of Israeli Cultural Food Appropriation

Anti-Israeli propagandists claim that Israelis have appropriated Palestinian cuisine in claiming it as its own. Is there any truth to those claims? The reality is that there is no uniquely Palestinian cuisine as Palestinians eat the same food as other Middle Easterners including e.g. Iraqi Jews. Israeli culture is mostly a blend of Ashkenazi Jewish and Mizrahi Jewish culture and this is also true of the Israeli cuisine. What is popularly internationally known as “Israeli food” such as hummus, falafel and tahini is simply the general Middle Eastern food traditionally eaten by Middle Eastern Jews who immigrated to Israel. The truth is rather that the Israeli food scene is by far the most varied and multicultural in the Middle East with influences brought by Jewish immigrants from around the world.