Cuisine of the Mid East: pita bread, lamb, yogurt, etc.

hummus and pitas and stuff
Originally uploaded by roboppy.

For an independent project you may make a foreign dish for your class to sample. Keely Kitchura made date bars, intriducing the fruit of the date palm. Youmna Moufarrej made the classic sauce hummus and brought pita bread.

My criteria for geography class dishes:
a) something that will represent a taste adventure.
b) something that brings out ingredients typical of the region under our study.
c) something that is easy to eat - no refrigeration or heating required - and that does not easily make a mess. Our job is to keep the classroom super-clean while enjoying a special class dimension.

Typical value: simplest dishes, 5 pts. More complex dishes, 8 pts.

Add value by making a handout sheet with ingredients - along with brief explanations - and folowing that with 5 mutiple-choice questions that follow the background on your ingredients.

*********

Hummus can be sampled from a Greek or Lebanese restaurant or purchased in a gourmet department. Ingredients include:
chick peas (garbanzo beans), olive oil, tahini (sesame paste, sim. to peanut butter) and lemon juice.

For your inquiry: date bars, cous cous.