Nazareth has become an Israeli culinary destination
When I read the headline in the New York Times travel section, “Nazareth as an Eating Destination,” I assumed it was about the town in northeastern Pennsylvania, an easy daytrip from New York. But no. The piece was about Nazareth, a Palestinian city in northern Israel that is best known and Jesus’ boyhood home and therefore, a major pilgrimage destination. Writer Rachel B. Doyle enthused about the increasingly interesting culinary scene and the ”creative Arabic fusion kitchens, where classic Palestinian dishes are given a worldly makeover.”
When I visited Palestine in mid-2010, I enjoyed a lot of typical Middle Eastern fare — fresh vegetables, lamb, hummus, rice pilaf, pita at many a meal. The restaurant that still stands out in my mind was La Fontana di Maria, not in what Israel calls the Occupied Territories but in Israel proper. This restaurant is the namesake of the site we know as Mary’s Well, where the Angel Gabriel is believed to have appeared to Mary to inform her that she was carrying the Son of God. The enormous restaurant named after this Biblical place rambles through several rooms in ancient stone building — someone told me, of Turkish design. Its size made me think it’s geared to handle several busloads of tourists at the same time.The Middle Eastern restaurant practice of serving appetizers for a table to share certainly lends itself to such tourist groups. (Click below to read more)
The service was attentive, the food fresh and abundant, and the portions enormous. The cuisine was not as sophisticated or fusion-y as the trendier places Doyle wrote about, but it was very tasty. And very filling.
Simply and cheerfully set table.
A selection of appetizers, all served family-style for congenial sharing.
Large portion of hummus.
Whole fish and whole mess of fries.
Dessert selection, also served family-style.
If the area were Palestinian-controlled there would be no churches or synagogues. There would be only mosques and certainly La Fontana di Maria restaurant would be destroyed and the owners forcibly converted to Islam.
So, it’s not Palestine. It’s Israel, as the people of Nazareth will tell you this.