Sami Tamimi on Palestinian cooking and cultural preservation amid the destruction in Gaza

Palestinian-British chef, food writer and restaurateur Sami Tamimi poses for a portrait before tasting a dish from his new cookbook during an interview with Reuters at his home in London, Britain

The ongoing war in Gaza has destroyed much of its cultural heritage. But amid the rubble, at least one Palestinian staple endures: the common mallow plant. This spinach-like leaf, which forms the basis of a traditional stew called “Khobiza” that has helped many Gazans stave off hunger, is one of many native plants at the centre of Palestinian cuisine. Sami Tamimi, the acclaimed Palestinian chef who comprises half of the duo behind the popular Ottolenghi deli and restaurant empire (the other half is his fellow Jerusalemite and business partner, Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi), pays tribute to this culinary tradition of “farming and foraging and eating what is growing in your backyard” in his forthcoming cookbook “Boustany,” or “My Garden” in Arabic, which will be released in the U.S. on July 15.

The timing is poignant. In a recent conversation with Reuters, Tamimi emphasised the importance of promoting and preserving the Palestinian people’s rich culinary heritage — not only amid the destruction of Gaza, but in the face of what he sees as the longstanding appropriation of traditional Palestinian dishes. Some Israeli culinary historians say that staples such as hummus, falafel and za'atar are as central to Middle Eastern Jewish cooking as they are to the Arab kitchen. While Tamimi acknowledges that some dishes are shared by different traditions, he argues that too often, the Palestinian history is erased.

Sami Tamimi: It wasn’t deliberate. I just wanted to promote our food, the culture, the stories behind it, where it all comes from, the whole connection to the land, all of which I felt, amid all the war, was getting slightly lost. The thing that winds me up is seeing so many Israeli restaurants opening in the U.K. and Europe, and America that are selling our food in the name of Israeli new cuisine. What they do is take a dish and take it out of context. They don’t have any backstory about where this dish comes from, what kind of tradition is behind it. It gets worse when they don’t even bother to change the name of the dish.