30 DAYS OPEN PURCHASEJerusalem is built on a coincidence that would be almost impossible to invent.
Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi were born in the same year, 1968, in the same city. Ottolenghi in the Jewish western part, Tamimi in the Arab eastern part. They grew up only a few kilometres apart without ever meeting, and did not meet until much later in London, where together they went on to build one of the city's most influential food businesses.
The book is their shared return. Jerusalem's food is the result of layer upon layer of communities, including Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahim from Iraq, Iran and North Africa, Palestinians, Armenians and Greeks, who have lived in the same tightly packed city for centuries and cooked alongside one another regardless of whatever else was happening.
The authors do not avoid the complexity. They write openly about the fact that many dishes have disputed origins and that the question of who invented hummus or falafel carries far more weight than it should. Their position is that the food reveals a shared and intertwined history that politics denies.
Its impact on Western kitchens was enormous. The 100 recipes brought tahini, za'atar, sumac, pomegranate molasses and preserved lemon into ordinary supermarkets, and turned vegetable dishes into main courses through acidity, herbs and proper seasoning rather than ideology.
The dishes include roast chicken with clementines and arak, chermoula baked aubergine with bulgur and yoghurt, mejadra, and a fattoush that has become a standard recipe in thousands of kitchens.
The book was named Cookbook of the Year by Observer Food Monthly and received a James Beard Award.
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 320
Number of recipes: 100
Publisher: Ebury Press
ISBN: 9780091943745
Language: English
First published: 2012
