Recipes and food

In any culture, food is a source of continuity. Wherever you go, you take the tastes of childhood with you. The Jews of Tripoli have been displaced from their homeland, but have not forgotten it’s tastes.

I enjoyed the special delights of this cuisine as I visited my aunts and uncles after they emigrated to Brooklyn.. These are warm, happy memories of family…. so, I was delighted to find a record has been made of the cuisine of the Jews of Libya.

• In Sephardic cooking by Copeland Marks..there is a section on the food of the Magreb… including a section on Libya . Featured are recipes for foods I know such as Mafrum, T’fina, Couscous, Burekas and Hrieme. There are also foods I do not know such as Bestil ,Tabikhsa bil Houmas and Tabikhsa bil Karrate. The section on Tunisia featured other familar foods such as Dabla, Harissa and Makroud.
• Most recently I was introduced to a cookbook published in Italy- La Cucina Tripolina by Linda Guetta Hassan. Sadly, I am so far not able to get the book here in New York.