The Rolling Falafel Ball

The falafel and I relocated to Europe more or less simultaneously: I, to begin an academic career in the study of Middle Eastern history; the falafel, to start a spicier career as an authentic Middle Eastern health food. At that time, the turn of the twenty-first century, shrewd Israeli entrepreneurs marketed falafel in Western Europe and later also in North America, as an affordable Israeli vegetarian dish. However, at the pioneering branch of Maoz Falafel I regularly visited, in the university town of Leiden, the story told by the Egyptian kitchen workers to Dutch customers collided with the version presented on the walls: They explained that the falafel originated in the land of the Nile, and not in Israel, and that it is in fact an ancient Egyptian specialty. When the manager of the branch discovered the subversive explanation given out to customers, the workers were directed to poke a small Israeli flag on top of each pita laden with falafel balls, similar to the United States’ declaration of ownership of the moon.