Summer 2019 Coming to America Arab Americans Are Among the Many Ethnic Groups That Make up the United States
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Tucson Med Club ZUROUNA A publication of the Tucson MED Club tucsonmedclub.org Issue 55 Summer 2019 Coming to America Arab Americans are among the many ethnic groups that make up the United States. They trace their roots to the Arab world, which stretches from North Africa to “ West Asia. Arab Americans are I am the just as diverse as the Arab world it- self. They come from rural and ur- descendant ban areas in 22 different countries, of a people practice different religions, work in a variety of fields, and have a that builded range of educational backgrounds Damascus, and political affiliations. Despite this diversity, Arab Americans and Byblos, have a shared sense of history, lan- and Tyre and guage, and cultural heritage. http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/Coming-to-Amer- Whereas the majority of the peo- ica.id.18.htm Sidon you, ple who come from an Arab coun- and with a try identify themselves as Arab will Americans, some might identify by their country of origin such as Syrian Americans or Palestinian Americans. Some might identify themselves by their ethnic backgrounds such as Chaldean Americans. Kahlil Gibran “ Arabs have been coming to the The artifact is a reproduction United States for hundreds of of the bell worn around the years. Like others, they came seek- neck of each camel of the ing better opportunities. The first Camel Military Corps. Cour- significant number of immigrants tesy of the Texas Camel Corps came between 1880 and 1920. This (www.texascamelcorps.com) slowed down drastically because of restrictive immigration laws passed after World War I. Since the 1970s, the number of Arab Ameri- Beaded Shoes cans has increased rapidly due to a Beaded Shoes. When Sara Abdalla left change in these laws, and because Syria with these shoes in 1923 en route of wars and economic hardships in to the United States, her journey would some Arab countries. It is estimat- lead her to cross the Atlantic three ed that by 200 there were about 4.2 times before reaching her final desti- million Arab Americans. nation. Gift of Marie and Ollie Abdalla. 2 Issue 55 tucsonmedclub.org Summer 2019 ZUROUNA Middle Eastern Cuisine History | Part 2 Simone Samoeli THE MIDDLE-EASTERN CUISINE: THE TRADITION CONTINUES. The mere smell of cooking can evoke a whole civilization (Fernand Braudel) The Middle-Eastern cooking as we know it today largely evolved from the cuisine of the glorious days of the Abbasid Caliphate, and even further back to the an- cient Near-Eastern cultures of the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Persians, and Meso- potamians. Of these, the Mesopotamian is the oldest and the first documented world cuisine, of which only three Babylonian cuneiform tablets are extant today (housed at the Babylonian Collection of Yale University and are currently on dis- play at the present exhibition). When the Arabs conquered the Byzantine and Persian empires in the middle of the seventh century, they assimilated their own simple culinary heritage with that of the local rich traditions and inherited ancient techniques of the regions they ruled. They also adopted so many exotic elements from far and wide, facilitated by active trade, immigrant communities, and foreign domestic helpers of whom the excellent cooks were valuable commodities. During the golden days of the Abbasid Caliphate when Baghdad was called the navel of the earth, there was a considerable interest among the court and upper quest of Spain and Sicily. Farther East, classes in the culinary arts and in writing and reading about them. Fine living also the Mongols introduced the culinary necessitated the desire for a healthy living, which gave rise to so many cookbooks, traditions they learned in Baghdad to and books on medicine and dietetics. Fortunately, some of these books survived their new empire in Northern India. To the ravages of time. this day, traces of these traditions can still be detected in the Indian cuisine. The Omayyad Arabs from Syria expanded to North Africa, and reached the Ibe- The Ottoman Empire dominated the rian Peninsula in the early eighth-century and stayed there for eight centuries Middle East and Eastern Europe for (711-1492). They conquered the island of Sicily in southern Italy and stayed there centuries. The Turkish cuisine was for more than two centuries (831-1060). To al-Andalus (Andalusia) and Sicily, the essentially diverse. Its center was the Arabs brought the culinary tradition of the Eastern Islamic world, and with it, so capital, Istanbul, where a refined tradi- many new crops, such as rice, sugarcane, watermelon, lemon, orange, eggplant, tion was created by bringing together and spinach. Naturally, they also incorporated into their cooking the foodstuffs elements of regional culinary practices indigenous to the conquered western regions. from across the empire, especially the Middle Eastern regions. It was also Spaniards and Sicilians absorbed Arabic arts and sciences. In Spanish, there are during this period that many of the hundreds of words of Arabic origin related to foods and cookery. Between the New World crops, such as potatoes and eleventh and thirteenth centuries, Western Europe was introduced to the culinary tomatoes, were adopted. Through the wealth of the Arabs through the Crusades. Christians, fascinated by the wealth of Ottomans, Europe came to know and their enemies, often borrowed from them. However, the major contribution of the love so many of the Middle Eastern Arab cuisine to European culture was largely through the conquest and re-con- delights, such as coffee. Plus vieille cuisine du The author attempts to give an idea about the monde [The Oldest history of food and its preparation in ancient Cuisine in the World: Mesopotamia. His primary sources are the Cooking in Mesopotamia] three clay tablets, dating back to the middle of by Jean Bottéro, trans- the second millennium (ca. 35 centuries ago), lated by Teresa Lavender housed at the Yale Babylonian Collection, and Fagan. Chicago, London: which the author calls "The Yale Recipes." The University of Chicago total number of the recipes in the three tables is Press, 2004. forty. Continue on next page Summer 2019 tucsonmedclub.org Issue 55 ZUROUNA 3 Daf' Madarr al-Aghdhiyah [On the Copied in A.H. 738 Kitab al-Tabikh [The Book Another edition of Means to Counteract the Harmful (A.D. 1338). Housed at of Cookery] by Muhammad Kitab al-Tabikh [The Effects of Various Kinds of Food], by Beinecke Rare Book ibn al-Hasan ibn Muham- Cookbook]. The Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi and Manuscript Li- mad ibn al-Karim al-Katib author, a native of (865?-925?). brary, Yale University al-Baghdadi (d. 1240), Baghdad, Iraq and (Landberg MSS 473). edited by Dawud al-Jalabi. an ardent food lover, In this manuscript Al-Musil: Matba'at Umm wrote his book to- the famous Muslim al-Rabi'ayn, 1934. ward the end of the physician and philos- Abbasid Caliphate. In opher al-Razi (Rhzes the recipes he men- in Latin) speaks about tions, he describes the various kinds of the different foods foods and drinks from and dishes used to a medicinal point of be prepared by the view. He mentions residents of Baghdad their benefits and how during the era of its to counteract their opulence. The manu- harmful effects. script of this book is an autograph which the author finished Tadhkirat Uli al-Albab bi-Marifat al-Ad- The author of this on 20 Dhu al-Hijjah, ab [Manual on human conduct: food, treatise on hu- 623 Hijri (12 Decem- dress, sleep, married life and children, so- man conduct is an ber, 1226) cial life, etc.] by Abd al-Rauf al-Munawi Egyptian Shafiite al-Haddadị (d. 1621), copied sometime in Muslim scholar At'imaṭ al-Marda [Manual of diet for the sick] the 1800's. Housed at Beinecke Rare Book who lived in Cairo. by Muhammaḍ ibn Ali al-Samarqandi (d. 1222). and Manuscript Library, Yale University In the first part of Housed at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Li- (Landberg MSS 163). this manuscript he brary, Yale University (Landberg MSS 608). Copied speaks about table in A.H. 769 (A.D. 1368). manners, banquet hospitality, the This treatise is different kinds of bound at the foods and how to end of anoth- handle and pre- er treatise on pare them in order medicine by the to achieve the best same author; a benefit and avoid prolific physician their harmful (originally from effects. Samarqand, Uz- bekistan). He was Mukhtasaṛ al-Tibyan fi ma Yahillụ wa-Yahrumụ min Copied in A.H. 855 (A.D. 1451). Housed killed in the city al-Hayawan [Dictionary of animals permitted and at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript of Herat (Afghan- Library, Yale University (Landberg MSS istan) during the forbidden for 172). The author of this manuscript is Mongol invasion use as food] a prolific Egyptian Muslim religious of the Islamic by Shihab al- scholar (faqih). In his enumeration of Empire. He de- Din Ahmaḍ the various animals (mammals, Birds, scribes the specif- ibn al-Imad fish, reptiles, insects, etc.) that are per- ic kinds of foods al-Aqfahsi mitted or forbidden to be eaten accord- that should be al-Shafi'i ing to the Shari'ah (Islamic law) he gives given to the sick (1349-1405). many details about the various foods suffering from made from the flesh of these animals. various kinds of illnesses. https://www.library.yale.edu/neareast/exhibitions/cuisine.html 4 Issue 55 tucsonmedclub.org Summer 2019 ZUROUNA HISTORY of Arab Americans in the US The first generation of immigrants from the Middle East began arriv- ing in the late 19th century. They were mostly Christians from the Greater Syria province of the Ot- toman Empire, which comprised modern day Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan.