Tabboulé: Ancient Salad of Mesopotamia and the Levant

THE JOUKOWSKY INSTITUTE COOKBOOK compiled by John F. Cherry and Müge Durusu-Tanrıöver The Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World Brown University Providence, RI 2015 Joukowsky Institute Publication 6.5 General Series Editor: Professor John F. Cherry Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World Brown University, Box 1837/60 George Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA Printed for the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World by Brown Graphic Services Brown University, Box 1851, Providence, RI 02912, USA 2015 © The individual contributors, sorta. Everyone knows that virtually all recipes are shared, borrowed, or stolen. So, help yourself. Paperback Edition: ISBN 123-4-56789-123-4 Digital Edition: You will have to wait for that until we’ve cleared the print edition Library of Congress Catologing-in-Publication Data The joukowsky institute cookbook / compiled by John F. Cherry and Müge Durusu-Tanrıöver pages cm. – (Joukowsky Institute publication : 6.5) Includes no bibliographical references, but a couple of useful indexes. ISBN 123-4-56789-123-4 1. Food. 2. Recipes -- tasty. 3. Cooking – social aspects. 4. Memory – places these dishes were first encountered. 5. People – members of JIAAW, 2006-2015. 6. Nostalgia -- past meals. I. Cherry, John F. and Durusu-Tanrıöver, Müge All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, except when it is transformed into food in the kitchen. Tabboulé: Ancient Salad of Mesopotamia and the Levant Brett Kaufman (with Marc A. Abdallah) (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2014 – ) Tabboulé is a vegetarian Middle Eastern salad or garnish that may find its roots in the Akkadian verb BāLaLu, meaning “mix; mix several ingredients; mix with oil,” attested by inscriptions as early as the mid-second millennium BC in Bronze Age Mesopotamia. The dish seems to have passed into the Iron Age Northwest Semitic languages of Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaean, and Punic associated with the verb BLL, denoting a mix of vegetables, olive oil, flour, and lemon. Inscriptions mentioning the dish range from Mesopotamia to Marseille, and ancient variations also included milk, honey, and legumes, usually served during rituals. In Mesopotamia, sesame oil was used instead of olive oil. The Arabic word tabboulé, as we know it today, is linked linguistically to “flavor; spice; seasoning”, with TBL meaning “to mix with lemon and garlic”. Research into the etymological and archaeological origins of tabboulé is ongoing. Meanwhile peoples all across the modern Middle East and Mediterranean share the dish as part of their palate. INGREDIENTS (4 servings)         2 bunches of parsley ⅓ of a bunch of mint 6 small tomatoes juice of 2 squeezed lemons 1 onion 3 T of olive oil 2 pinches of salt 1 small handful of bulgur (cracked wheat) DIRECTIONS This recipe relays as closely as possible the ancient dish, combined with the traditional Lebanese approach. To prepare a plate of tabboulé for four people, dice and evenly mix the ingredients. Serve cold. [Note: For more information on the origins of tabboulé, see Marc Abou Abdallah, “Que pourrait être-t-elle l’origine du plat ‘Tabboulé’?”, Kronos (forthcoming).] 27