There are Jews in the Middle East, Right?

Last week, I was reading a food magazine that I usually like. The issue featured foods from the Middle East, which is a cuisine I tend to enjoy. Imagine my surprise and dismay, then, when I had read through the entire magazine and found that not a word about Jewish people and their cuisine had been included.

The last time I checked, Israel is a country in the Middle East, and many of the other Middle Eastern countries have had or currently have Jewish populations. So why were the Jews invisible in this food magazine? Is it a political statement? That certainly is possible, though disappointing, since the magazine is published in a country that tends to support Palestinians and to be somewhat anti-Jewish (and/or to be ignorant about Jews).

What is additionally interesting about this is that around four years ago, I wrote to the editor of the magazine. I mentioned that it was odd that I never once saw a Jewish recipe featured, even in the annual holiday issue that included references to Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions and dishes. He wrote me back and said they would rectify that at some point, especially since one of the magazine’s regular writers and recipe-creators was half-Jewish.

So, years later, the same magazine has once again ignored a group of people who, while undoubtedly a minority in the world, nevertheless should be included at the very least in an issue about food in the Middle East, and perhaps at other times, too. If it’s meant to be a statement of sorts, the editors should be upfront about their policy, though a food magazine doesn’t seem to me to be the best or most appropriate place to boycott a group of people (especially a group that makes good food!).

Time for me to go eat a bagel and bake some mandelbrot!

--Curly