The Feud over Falafel

Arab News

11-06-2025

A crispy clash of cultures and identity
The humble falafel, a simple mixture of ground beans, herbs and spices shaped into a ball or patty and deep-fried, is inextricably linked with the Middle East but now finds itself on menus in virtually every country in the world.
But this very ubiquity of a food, equally at home on a street vendor's cart in Cairo or a plate in an upmarket Parisian restaurant, has obscured its origins.
On World Falafel Day, Arab News takes a closer look at this seemingly simple snack that has a surprisingly complex backstory rooted in some of the darker moments of history, empire-building and colonialism.
Although it might seem like it has been around forever, falafel — claimed as a national dish by almost all peoples in the Middle East — may in fact date back only as far as the late-19th century, and quite possibly owes its creation to hungry British soldiers.
A postcard titled 'Egyptian Types and Scenes' showing a foul and falafel 'Ta'meya' street vendors in Egypt in 1923. Publ. Levy L.L.
A postcard titled 'Egyptian Types and Scenes' showing a foul and falafel 'Ta'meya' street vendors in Egypt in 1923. Publ. Levy L.L.
According to French journalist Paul Balta and Syrian historian Farouk Mardam-Bey, the first known appearance of falafel was in Egypt after the British occupied the country in 1882.
⁠In their works, they both suggest that British officers, having developed a taste for fried vegetable croquettes in India, might have asked Egyptian cooks to come up with a local version.
In the 2012 edition of 'The Mediterranean Diet for Sustainable Regional Development,' for example, Balta wrote that falafels are 'hardly mentioned in literature before the 20th century and only appear after the occupation of Egypt by the English in 1882.'
He continues: 'The Egyptians were inspired, to enhance them, by other types of fried croquettes (fish, meat, vegetable) originating from India and introduced by the British troops who, coming from India, liked them.'
Historian Shaul Stampfer, professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , supports this theory. In 'Bagel and Falafel: Two Iconic Jewish Foods and One Modern Jewish Identity,' a paper published in 2016, he wrote that many fried foods in India that were similar in shape and consistency to falafel predated it.
Moreover, he added, Jews in Kerala and Calcutta, along with their neighbors, commonly ate a food known as 'parippu vada' or 'filowri' — fried balls made from ground split green peas — that are 'strikingly similar to falafel.'
Top: A woman selling Aish (bread) and Taameya (falafel) in the market of Kerdasa, Giza in 1950 circa. Digitized Collections of the Greek Literary and Historical Archive (ELIA). Above: A Palestinian man makes falafel at a market during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem. NurPhoto via Getty Images
Top: A woman selling Aish (bread) and Taameya (falafel) in the market of Kerdasa, Giza in 1950 circa. Digitized Collections of the Greek Literary and Historical Archive (ELIA). Above: A Palestinian man makes falafel at a market during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Jerusalem. NurPhoto via Getty Images
Nawal Nasrallah, a food writer, historian and translator of medieval cookbooks, told Arab News: 'While we do not have concrete evidence, in the form of recipes or mention of it in ancient written records, of where falafel specifically originated, a credible claim for Egypt can still be made.'
Certainly, for a dish made from such simple ingredients, falafel's complex history remains a contentious topic in the region.
Nasrallah suggests that Coptic Christians in Egypt played a 'credible role' in the development of falafel.
'With legumes like chickpeas and fava beans they already knew at the time, they must have developed countless meatless dishes for their Lent fasting days, and it is not far-fetched to believe that the now ubiquitous falafel has been developed by them,' she said.
Many believe that falafel did indeed originate in the 19th century in the Egyptian port of Alexandria, at the time a base for British and other European troops, before spreading to other parts of the country under the now-common local name 'ta'miyya,' which translates literally as 'small piece of food.'
Although it is not known exactly when the name ta'miyya was coined, it is a transliteration based on the Arabic root word طعم, Nasrallah said.
'The name falafel, on the other hand, apparently has a more ancient origin that may be traced all the way back to the to the ancient Akkadian language of the Assyrians and Babylonians of ancient Iraq,' she added.
Nasrallah cites an Akkadian dictionary that includes the word 'pillu,' meaning 'fruit/seed,' which she says is related 'no doubt, to the pulse seeds' referenced by 'the later-adapted Arabic form of the word, 'ful' (meaning fava beans).'
She continues: 'It is quite likely that the Akkadian name 'pillu' was adopted and adapted in subsequent languages, like Aramaic, Coptic and Arabic, into 'ful,' and the plural 'falafel,' to designate a dish with many pulses.'
A group of donkeys stands near a falafel vendor in East Jerusalem, Palestine, in 1935. Photo by Zoltan Kluger via the National Photo Collection of Israel
A group of donkeys stands near a falafel vendor in East Jerusalem, Palestine, in 1935. Photo by Zoltan Kluger via the National Photo Collection of Israel
Writing in 2019 in the magazine History Today, British historian Alexander Lee traced the spread of falafel, first throughout Egypt and then, shortly after the First World War, to Lebanon, Yemen, Turkiye and Libya.
'All those who adopted it made it their own,' Lee wrote. 'Though they generally left the basic recipe unchanged, they altered the ingredients slightly to suit their own tastes or to reflect the balance of local agriculture.
'In the Egyptian town of Mersa Matruh, for example, fava beans were replaced with hyacinth beans and a bit of beef. In the Levant, chickpeas were used instead.'
Soon enough, falafel reached early Jewish communities in Palestine.
'Together with the indigenous population, the earliest settlers (halutzim) adopted it readily,' Lee wrote.
'Having long grown used to cultural exchange with their Muslim neighbors, they gave no thought to whether it was an 'Arab' food or not. They simply integrated it into their own cuisine, as they had countless other foods.'
That all changed with the wave of Jewish migration to Palestine from Eastern Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, Lee added: 'Suspicious of anything they regarded as 'Arabic', they stuck doggedly to their own cuisine, shunning falafel as an 'alien' dish.
Israel's declaration of independence in 1948, and the wave of Jewish immigration from Europe that followed, changed Jewish attitudes toward falafel once again.
Short of cash and food, and facing a flood of new citizens, the embryonic Israeli government introduced rationing and this, wrote Lee, 'boosted falafel's popularity. Not only was it a good source of protein, but its ingredients were also readily available even to the poorest families.'
Another factor that restored the reputation of falafel in Israel was the arrival of tens of thousands of Jewish Arabs from countries such as Yemen and Turkiye, who brought with them their love of the food.
'Not only did it help to convince their still-skeptical co-religionists that falafel genuinely was a suitable food for Jews, but it also allowed falafel to shed its associations with the Arab peoples,' Lee wrote.
'This was something the Israeli government was glad to encourage. In the wake of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-49, there was a concerted effort to foster a distinctive sense of Israeli national identity and … the Israeli government avidly promoted the idea that falafel had been imported not from Egypt but from Yemen.
'It was a patent falsehood, but it served its purpose. '
Israelis eating at a Tel Aviv falafel stall, 1958. Jewish immigrants from Arab countries played a key role in popularizing this food, which the Israeli government then leveraged to foster a national identity and combat food scarcity. Photo by Fritz Cohen via the National Photo Collection of Israel
Israelis eating at a Tel Aviv falafel stall, 1958. Jewish immigrants from Arab countries played a key role in popularizing this food, which the Israeli government then leveraged to foster a national identity and combat food scarcity. Photo by Fritz Cohen via the National Photo Collection of Israel
Regarding such politicization of the food, Nasrallah said: 'I do not believe that a dish like falafel can be claimed to have its home in an individual country. Rather, the entire region may credibly be claimed to be its home.'
The unassuming falafel has not only sparked rivalries between nations that claim its origins, it has even divided families. In 1933, Mustafa Sahyoun began selling falafel from a street cart on Beshara Khoury Street in downtown Beirut, and eventually established a storefront that still operates today.
⁠His legacy was passed to two of his sons, Zoheir and Fouad. The Lebanese Civil War strained the brothers' relationship as they found themselves living on opposite sides of the divided city.
Yet, their bond endured and they braved Beirut's dangerous no-man's land — the so-called Green Line that at the time separated the capital's Christian east from the Muslim west, where the store was located — to support each other when they could.
By 2006, however, the brothers had fallen out completely. Zoheir continued to run the original Sahyoun falafel shop, while Fouad opened a competing vendor next door, boldly displaying red signs declaring his store to be 'Falafel M. Sahyoun.'
A tale of two shops: The Sahyoun brothers, Fouad and Zoheir, operated their rival falafel stalls right next to each other on Beshara Khoury Street in downtown Beirut. However, economic challenges led to the closure of Fouad's shop in 2021. Supplied
A tale of two shops: The Sahyoun brothers, Fouad and Zoheir, operated their rival falafel stalls right next to each other on Beshara Khoury Street in downtown Beirut. However, economic challenges led to the closure of Fouad's shop in 2021. Supplied
The latter shut up shop in 2021, citing the effects of the long-running economic crisis in the country, but Sahyoun falafel remains an iconic business in Lebanon, attracting both locals and tourists. Even world-renowned celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain visited both shops in 2010 for his hit TV show 'No Reservations.'
By the 1960s, geopolitics had once again sent falafel on its travels. Arab immigrants heading west to escape conflict and turmoil introduced falafel to Europe and North America as a common street food that could easily be made and sold from a cart.
In Germany, after initially gaining significant traction among the country's large Turkish community, falafel quickly found its way onto the wider German food scene as well. By the 1970s, Turkish food stalls and restaurants were thriving, serving up falafel to an ever-expanding clientele and inspiring new variations on the recipe.
Across the Atlantic, falafel had also arrived in the US, where it established a foothold among migrant communities during the 1960s and 1970s, soon winning over a wider audience and spreading farther afield.
'Fusion' versions of the food began to pop up on menus, including falafel au gratin, falafel sliders and falafel cake, and renowned chefs better known for their eccentric and expensive culinary creations began to develop a taste for the once-humble street food.
In 2014, for example, American celebrity chef Bobby Flay prepared a 'smashed falafel' dish on his TV show 'Beat Bobby Flay.' It featured a deconstructed falafel sandwich paired with pomegranate tahini and a pan-roasted jalapeno pesto yogurt.
A few years earlier, in 2011, Israeli American chef Michael Solomonov appeared on reality show 'Iron Chef America' and showcased a variation on falafel that incorporated passion fruit and amba (a tangy mango pickle), served alongside tuna carpaccio stuffed with tabbouleh.
Now, thousands of restaurants all around the world proudly serve up falafel in every imaginable style, including bold — to some, perhaps, sacrilegious — creations such as falafel pizza, sushi or even tacos.
Created, it seems, in Egypt in the 19th century, the descendant of a relative from India, its conception a by-product of the ambitions of a once-mighty empire, falafel has traveled far and wide and found itself at the heart of some of the great geopolitical upheavals of the modern age.
In a sense representative of history on a plate, there is no longer anything humble about the all-conquering falafel.
COMMON INGREDIENTS
Base
The base is made of fava beans, chickpeas or a mix of both.
Herbs
Typically include parsley, cilantro, and sometimes dill.
Spices
Include cumin, coriander seeds, black pepper, and occasionally cayenne pepper or chili.
Binders
While some recipes use flour or breadcrumbs to hold the mixture together, traditional falafel often binds solely with chickpea starch.
TOOLS AND COOKING METHODS Kitchen tools
Food processor, mixing bowl, strainer, frying pan or deep fryer, tongs, and paper towels for draining.
Writing: Zaira Lakhpatwala, Jonathan Gornall
Editor: Tarek Ali Ahmad
Research: Gabriele Malvisi, Sherouk Maher
Creative director: Omar Nashashibi
Design & Graphics: Douglas Okasaki
Picture researcher: Sheila Mayo
Copy editor: Liam Cairney
Editor-in-Chief: Faisal J. Abbas