In the oven, the rice is cooked with pieces of meat, often lamb, whole garlic cloves, garbanzo beans, cardamom pods, and various other spices such as turmeric—which gives it a yellow color—cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cumin.

Though some have argued that hummus was the food of biblical Jews or that the Jews of Damascus ate the same chopped salad and falafel as their Muslim and Christian neighbors, many Israeli food scholars and chefs agree that Israelis adopted foods like hummus from Palestinians.

Falafel was made popular in Israel by Yemeni Jews in the 1950s. They brought with them the chickpea version of the dish from Yemen and introduced the concept of serving falafel balls in pita bread. And the way the Israeli falafel is served is, in my opinion, the main reason why Israeli falafel is truly, well, Israeli.

Originating in the Tulkarm and Jenin area, musakhan is often considered the national dish of Palestine.