I do not know what happened to Tony Bono after the early 70s. Regards to him from Robert.

i would like to understand all the people who are moaning about israel taking '' arab'' food. why are you reading ''ISRAELI'' sites,

If a nation is steeling national food they might as well steal a bigger dish, not pick on the poor man food sham on the writer. By the way the falafel is an old Egeption food mad during the Glourious Pharous time not Quptics as claimed, Please check the history

What’s the point of rehashing the same subject again?

Sometimes the best food is that of the poor. As it happens, in about 1 hour, I'm having my falafel lunch with humous, couscous, olives and salad!

Those of you from Egypt, Jordan, etc. who are mouthing off about Jews stealing your food styles, read this... Jews were in Libya, Egypt and Morocco, to name a few examples of what are now considered "Arab" countries, before Arabs were there. Some places like Iraq, they've lived there at least as long. Obviously, if you consider "Palestine" an Arab country, Jews were there before Arabs, too (unless you consider the proto-Beduin Nabateans to be Arabs, which you may as well assert since the revisionists amongst you also assert that the Philistines and Caananites were Arabs). How is it that a Berber nation (Morocco) becomes "Arab"? How is it that Egypt, whose greatest exploits in ancient history were by Africans and not Arabs, somehow becomes "Arab", and the pyramids become "Arab", especially when the greatest loss of ancient Western civilization was at the hands of Arabs, the destruction of the Library of Alexandria? How is it that the Land of the Jews (Judea and Samaria), and its capital Jerusalem, is the target of complaints that it is being "Judaized"? Since when is that land "Arab"? How is it possible that you consider yourselves descendants of Jews, Philistines, Caananites, whomever you wish to buttress your claim here (with no proof, by the way), yet the very Jews themselves are considered "strangers"? You buy into idiotic claims with no proof (ie, pure speculation) that Jews in Israel are Khazars, when you know full well that even if it's true (it's not), most Jews in Israel aren't of European origin? You want to talk about theft, you guys TAUGHT the world about theft. The American Navy was established to deal with Arab piracy off the Barbary Coast, just to give one example. You steal from each other (Iraq vs. Kuwait, Hamas vs. PA, Jordan vs. W. Bank, Syria vs. Lebanon) and you have the nerve to cast suspicions on us? At the same time, isn't it clear, that no matter where Jews live, or how long they've lived there, even if they've lived longer in those places than Arabs, they are considered "strangers", such that when they take those recipes with them to Israel, their homeland, they are considered to have "stolen" them? Who the hell are you to cast a stone in a glass house? Even you must recognize that this People, the Jews, has its Homeland in Israel, since it cannot be possible that it is a stranger everywhere on Earth.

Egyptian! Absolutely nothing to beat it! And the best pita bread ever goes to... Israel!

"When deep fried, the falafel contains relatively little fat" ---- Providing it is fried in a high quality oil at the right temperature, and that the oil is only used once, or twice tops.

I was going by the Gregorian calendar. I supposed we can agree tht the modern state of Israel was established 59 years ago..

Mohammad in Belfast gets constructive with felafel. Rather than arguing over who is the "rightful owner" of the food, this distinguished gentlemen just acknowledges that both Israelis and Arabs like it and sees felafel as something that can unite it. Other posters harshly assert that somehow felafel is purely an Arab dish that no other group in the region is allowed to also enjoy as their own. Felafel is the food of the land, you can argue about who has a right to the land but felafel was in Egypt before the Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula conquered it. You people are absolutely pathetic. FYI if you eat potatoes and tomatoesyour assisting the white crusader Europeans in their "theft" of indignious Incas food in South America (an imperalist name for the continent). So your murraq dishes and Levant salads are also thieves and occupiers.

lead and other toxic matals out of the body, so I am glad falafel is a favorite food in Israel since it is spiced with coriander. I tried pita bread food long ago in 1973 in Westwood, California, at a deli named Jason's. The souvlaki in pita bread was the best sandwich i have ever tasted, but the falafel was awful. I hope they have changed their falafel recipe.

1 my israeli friend and i tried to make falafel the other day and instead of browning, the balls boiled out and dissolved into the oil - twice!!! we added a little flour to stiffen the mix and that worked. if not for that adventure, don't know if i would have read this article ... 2 i am truly amazed at the comments generated by this article - political, social, religious, emotional, personal, intellectual, foodie. there is a book, "everything i need to know, i learned in kindergarten" -- now i know, every idea to be contemplated about the middle east, can be generated in a discussion about FALAFEL. thank you!

that was....way way way way nice of you to point it out anyway

if I had to pick between the better sandwich on pita, the shawirma beats falafel by a mile. Not to mention somewhat healthier... "When deep fried, the falafel contains relatively little fat"---lol

look its one thing to argue over land but to argue over Falafel IS JUST STUPId.