Published: 20 December 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
SMELLS OF SPICES AND coffee waft from shop doorways in Bethlehem’s market. Outside limestone buildings, sellers perch under parasols with stacks of sweet ma’moul biscuits and buckets of bright-pink pickled cauliflower, orange loquat fruits and green sour cherries.
I’m being shown around by Fadi Kattan, a French Palestinian chef and hotel owner, and Nadine Baboun, co-founder of Farayek, which runs food tours of Bethlehem and East Jerusalem. Kattan tells me that the market, inaugurated in 1929, is a showcase of the best Palestinian food produce.
Much of the produce is brought from nearby villages by sellers such as Um Nabil, who has worked in the market for almost four decades. She used to sell dairy products but today she brings vegetables, including boxes of fresh green chickpeas, beans and sacks of herbs.
There is the chance to taste almost anything – from Um Nabil’s chunky raw garlic to makdous (tangy aubergine in olive oil with walnuts and carrots) sold at Samer Daoudi’s pickle and dairy shop, which was recently visited by Jamie Oliver.
PHOTO ESSAY: Little town of Bethlehem (The Guardian)
Photo: Market scene, Palestine (Issy Croker)
