Falafel: A recipe for connection

The Food Programme

BBC

Arts, Food

4.4 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Falafels are a widely celebrated and much loved food that have become an everyday part of street food culture in many cities across Europe, the United States and the Middle East. Falafel is known for being cheap, easily available, and accessible - no matter what a person's class, background, religious belief or dietary requirements.

There have long been debates about whether falafel belongs or is authentic to any one nation or culture. Spoiler alert: this programme does not try to answer that question! What Leyla sets out to discover is just how different falafel can be depending on the cultural background of the person cooking it. For example, culturally-definitive recipes for the falafel itself, and specific salads, sauces and breads.

In this programme, we explore how falafel is tied up in a political story of food propaganda, and how it’s been used to create division between different nationalities. But also how the food has followed people to different countries at times of conflict, and still provides a constant reminder of good times and home.

We meet market stall traders in Shepherd's Bush who show the diverse make up of different falafel recipes. We meet the Syrian chef who lost a chain of successful restaurants selling falafel during the conflict in Syria. And a London chef who doesn’t understand why his patrons keep ordering it.

Presented by Leyla Kazim Produced by Robbie Wojciechowski

Transcript

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0:49.0	Some foods are so well loved that they become ubiquitous parts of our global food
0:56.6	culture and I can think a few better examples than falafel. That amazing
1:02.2	crispy delicious blend of legumes mixed with spices and herbs that can
1:08.0	be found everywhere from Cairo to Melbourne. The ultimate falafal moment for me is this. You need to sit there on
1:15.4	the counter looking at the tiles of the mirror. Very, very sweet called grape juice.
1:20.2	The pita needs to have kind of like enough structural integrity to hold the whole thing
1:25.6	but it also never will. Its origin is synonymous with countries across the Middle East
1:31.7	where just mentioning it brings back vivid memories for many.
1:36.0	A flavor, a taste, an aroma triggers memories, and it's very emotional
1:45.0	especially if you're an immigrant it can make you cry.
	...

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