On Olive Oil

Olive oil used to be the principal cooking oil used in Gaza, as in all of Palestine. Some dishes, especially the winter stews of the rural interior, were traditionally prepared with lamb tail fat or clarified butter, but otherwise both rich and poor cooked nearly everything with the lush green olive oil harvested from the region’s indigenous olive trees, famed for producing some of the world’s best oil.

Today, olive oil is a luxury that very few can afford, and when absolutely necessary for a particular dish, will be purchased in single-use unit sat a corner shop. A little drizzle is reserved for salads, to give them flavor, but even the wealthy seldom use it for cooking. In fact, several of the home cooks we spoke to in Gaza were incredulous at the thought that olive oil might have ever been the main fat in many of the traditional recipes, savory or sweet. Nearly all of Gaza now relies upon donor-distributed jugs of oil (usually soy or sunflower). Those fortunate enough to still have access to family olive groves carefully distribute small bottles of oil to family and friends, like a treasure.