Submitted by Avi Green, Jul 18, 2007 11:42

Coffee originally came from Ethiopia. I always find it so bizarre how some foods end up being credited to Arabia or as "Arabic food" when they're not. For instance, coffee. The Arabic word for coffee is "qahwa", which is a place name in Ethiopia, most likely where coffee originally came from.

Also, Debbie Schlussel once explained how hummus was eaten by Jews as well as Arabs long before the creation of Islam. Furthermore, Greeks, Armenians, Turks, Jews and Persians eat many of the same foods, which should be described as Middle Eastern foods, and not Arabic foods. There's no reason to believe that Arabs invented the typical middle eastern dishes.

Avi Green
Tel Chai Nation

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