Hummus, Falafel and Arayes: Debate Grows Over Palestinian and Levantine Foods Rebranded as Israeli Cuisine
September 20, 2026
ANOTHER DISH THEFT.
Hummus. Falafel. Arayes. Knefeh. Dishes with centuries of history across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, the food of grandmothers, weddings, street corners, everyday family tables long before 1948. Now they show up on menus worldwide labeled “Israeli cuisine,” stripped of the culture that actually created them.
This isn’t a menu quirk. As Palestinian chef Reem Kassis put it: presenting dishes of Palestinian origin as “Israeli” doesn’t just skip a credit line, it erases the history and existence of the people who made them.
You can’t build a national identity by borrowing someone else’s kitchen and renaming it. Arayes wasn’t invented in a marketing meeting. Hummus wasn’t born on a restaurant menu. It came from Levantine hands, Levantine homes, Levantine history — the same land, the same people, being erased everywhere else too.
Food carries memory. Stop stealing it.
Source: @royanewsenglish
#FreePalestine #CulturalAppropriation #LevantineCuisine #saytheirnames #fyp
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