Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food

by Fadi Kattan

Bethlehem is a celebration of Palestinian food and culture from one of the area’s most dynamic chefs and a portrait of one of the most storied cities in the world.

Fadi Kattan celebrates the hidden parts of Bethlehem, conjuring up the colors and smells of its market and spice shops and introducing the local farmers and artisans with whom he passionately pursues the perfect ingredients and shares his love of culinary experimentation.  

When Covid hit and Fadi was faced with closing his restaurant, he channeled his energy into a podcast interviewing the food artisans and farmers (often elderly women) in and around Bethlehem who were growing the grapes, milling the wheat, making the olive oil, and most importantly, passing down the generational food knowledge. Those podcasts inspired this book—a celebration of the legacy and enduring importance of Bethlehem.
 

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published May 14, 2024

Reviews

[thelamaesque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible cook book. This provides us a unique glimpse into Palestinian Christian recipes as well as other classic Palestinian dishes! I cannot recommend this enough.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really beautiful book. Gorgeous pictures throughout, with stories about people in Palestine, some history and what life is like currently, information about plants and food and where they grow in Palestine, and unique and accessible recipes (although some ingredients may be harder to find depending on where you live). There are also a lot of vegetarian/vegan recipes. I really loved everything about this, but particularly the recipes and stories around Bethlehem around Christmas.

Highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn about Palestine, see if your library has it or ask them to order it!

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Palestinian themed cookbook is gorgeously designed. In fact, it is the best designed kindle cookbook I have seen to date. The layout and photos are just lovely.

Divided by season, these authentic Palestinian recipes are well-written, easy to follow and incorporate interesting indigenous ingredients. While chock full of beautiful photos of the people and places of Bethlehem, I would have preferred the inclusion of pictures for all the recipes. The majority do have an accompanying picture, but not all.

Interspersed throughout the book are short essays profiling the author's grandparents and some of his favorite Bethlehem food purveyors. The essays are heartfelt and provide some history of the challenges faced by the Palestinian people.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful cookbook that entertwines seasonal Palestinian dishes with stories of the people and food. The binding and photos are gorgeous, though I wish more of the recipes had photos -- often the photos on the pages wouldn't be of the dish itself, which I can appreciate aesthetically, but is a little frustrating from an actual cookbook perspective. I do think this book does a good job of blending both, but occasionally sacrifices practicality. A good range of dishes, many of which I bookmarked and am very excited to make, including several with ingredients I don't generally cook with.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so glad I preordered this cookbook, even though calling it a cookbook feels almost disingenuous because it is so much more than that. The photos are lush and colorful, the food looks mouthwateringly delicious, and the stories interwoven are beautiful and heartbreakingly bittersweet. I’ve already earmarked the apricot baklawa and watermelon salad for summer solstice, and I know we will be making the barbecued whole chicken all summer long. Thank you Fadi for sharing your stories and giving each of us a little bit of Palestine to hold safe in our hearts and our homes. One day, free 🍉🕊️❣️

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very mixed emotions reading this book, at first as I begins to thumb through the first pages looking at photos of people and places, I can’t help getting sad thinking are these people in the book still alive? Are the homes they share and the places now bombed and gone? I hope not.
Then as I read through the stories of the origins of each dish it is a beautifully told history of family memories and delicious, mouthwatering food.
So many recipes I would love to make and so many ingredients I now want to source.
I got this book from the library, but I would love to own a copy one day!

[brianna ☁️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a beautiful country.

i'd love to some day make the recipes for mouhalabieh,
yakhni bamia, qalayet bandoura, squash cream soup, qidreh, and falafel.

[Neil Pasricha · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandparents-in-law are 92 and 91 and when I asked them what one of the biggest changes they’ve seen in Toronto in their lifetimes they said “The restaurants!” They told me there were diners, then Italian, then Chinese. A couple weeks ago Leslie and I went to ​Louf​, a new Palestinian restaurant opened by chef Fadi Kattan who also owns ​Fawda​ in Bethlehem (where he lives) and ​Akub​ in London. Place was packed, food was delicious, service wonderful, and we walked out buying his cookbook. In the introduction Kattan writes that “Cooking is how I tell Bethlehem’s story” and the book really is a mix of stories and recipes. In “Breakfasts with Baba Fuad” he writes that “As a boy, I was always required to help with breakfast preparations, making sure that the coffee cups, plates, cutlery, and napkins were all set neatly in place. Then came the tray laden with zeit o zaatar—the winning combination of olive oil and a zaatar spice blend, some addictive thick and sticky dibs o tahinia (grape molasses mixed with sesame paste), and the crown jewels, homemade jams provided by Mama Micheline.” Are you drooling? We’re not even at lunch! Like the restaurant, this book has a deep soul and it’s clear it was made with so much care and heart.

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers many parts of historic Palestine and its diverse communities with stunning photos (my favorite is the gorgeous oil being poured out on p. 157), arranged by season. Unfamiliar terms can easily be found in the index, for example if you only know the word pita for bread, here you will learn kmaj, taboun, and shrak. The book is packed with family stories along with cultural and historical information, and does not shy away from current topics either, such as the sad state of the Jordan River, and problems travelling between enclaves under occupation. I loved reading about dishes I'd nearly forgotten, like yakhni bamia, sfiha, and mouhalabieh (bizarrely, profiled by Ligaya Mishan in the NYTM that arrived right while I was reading that part of this book). Liked that there is a museum - Beituna al-Talhami - just for local history (with Kattan's wooden cradle), and to read of customs specific to Christian families. The French connection for Kattan's specific family just added interest to the book.

[Singalongalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

😭😭😭 i sooo needed this bit of inspiration midworkday lunch, totally unexpected delight of a cafe visit gifted by a friend.. turns out the parents of the cafe owner are from aleppo and theyve got some BOMBBB cookbooks representing beautiful corners of our world so 🥺🥺🥺 thank you fraaannnddd

(stunninggg spreads of photos, stories of family, cultural, neighborhood threads 🥺 my fave kind of slow celebratory cookbooks that speak to all that food can be tied to..)

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Palestinian living in exile my entire life, with strong food memories and love memories from my Teta and Tantes, as well as lore of the Jeddo I never met.. this book touched me. I read every word of every recipe and will try many of them...From Haifa to Acca to Bethlehem...we all deserve the right to return and to continue our traditions of the Palestinian culture.

[Joana Diniz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so many books about palestinian cuisine, but I had to get this one because it relates to the christian palestinian recipes. I read the stories of Fadi and his sources of inspiration. I too felt sad for the injustices that his family and friends suffered from Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanna buy a physical copy but I don’t think my home is fancy enough…

Read this on ebook (yes, READ) the photography is absolutely stunning and there’s essays on some of the dishes or the authors family/connections to Bethlehem/Palestine

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was good for the soul. Amazing mixture of recipes including some dishes I miss dearly and can’t wait to recreate. Beautifully written anecdotes make this cook book comforting and cozy - gorgeous photos and recipes by season as well.

[Saica Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and full of cultural influences. While the recipes may, mostly, not be for me, I loved reading the story of this author and discovering some new spices. I'd never heard of ground mastic before and I can't wait to try it out in something.

[Melissa]

The Pantry

[Stephani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful. The stories are really special and insightful and the photography and recipes are gorgeous.

[Joa Koeneke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!

[Alisa]

Culture Study

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have held onto this from the library for a month but I intend on purchasing it and trying to make as many of the recipes as possible.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautifully laid-out cookbook. I’ve loved every recipe I’ve tried, but I really love the stories scattered throughout the recipes.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars

Pretty photography and lots of authentic recipes. Nothing I would likely make for everyday but a few looked good for special occasions.

[Ming Suan Ong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot more commentary on the political situation in Bethlehem than any other Palestinian cookbook I’ve read which gives good insights into the situation on the ground. Some recipes which look like I could possibly replicate in my kitchen - all the standards are in there. (Confess I compare it to Falastin which I still prefer )

[Farah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this so much I finished it in a day. Though I’ve never set foot in Palestine, the author’s evocative portrayal of the food and his experiences made me feel as though I were transported to this extraordinary land. I wish I could award it ten stars. Free Palestine 🇵🇸