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Palestinian-Jordanian Foodways

Community

⚠ THE LARGEST SINGLE COMPONENT OF JORDAN’S POPULATION AND KITCHEN, AND NEITHER COLLAPSIBLE INTO THE OTHER. Palestinians arrived in large numbers in 1948 and again in 1967, and Jordanians of Palestinian origin are commonly estimated at around half the population; the West Bank was under Jordanian administration between 1950 and 1967. So Palestinian food is not a minority cuisine in Jordan — it is half of what is cooked. MUSAKHAN, sumac-and-onion chicken on taboon bread with a great deal of olive oil, which is emphatically Palestinian; MAQLUBA, the upturned pot of rice, aubergine or cauliflower and meat; MAFTOUL, the hand-rolled coarse couscous; SUMAGHIYYEH and the Gazan dill-and-chilli kitchen; FATAYER and sfiha; QIDREH, the Hebron rice cooked in a sealed pot; and OLIVE OIL as the defining fat. ⚠ THE DISHES ARE SHARED AND THE IDENTITIES ARE NOT: this row records a Palestinian tradition cooked in Jordan, which is a different statement from either "Jordanian food" or "Palestinian food in exile", and both communities object to being dissolved into the other.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Palestinians community documented

Languages: South Levantine Arabic

What is recorded

  • Palestinians arrived in Jordan in large numbers in 1948 and 1967, and Jordanians of Palestinian origin are commonly estimated at around half the population; the West Bank was under Jordanian administration between 1950 and 1967. Palestinian food is therefore recorded as a major component of what is cooked in Jordan rather than as a minority cuisine. Musakhan, maftoul, sumaghiyyeh and qidreh are recorded as Palestinian. Neither identity is dissolved into the other. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Palestinian Cuisine documented

    ⚠ Around half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian origin. This is not a minority cuisine — it is half of what is cooked, and neither identity may be dissolved into the other.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.