WEST BANK: Hebron's traditional dish, 'qidreh', has become the city's most famous affordable fast food meal

Record ID: 560565

  • Title: WEST BANK: Hebron's traditional dish, 'qidreh', has become the city's most famous affordable fast food meal
  • Date: 12th January 2011
  • Summary: HEBRON, WEST BANK (JANUARY 09, 2011) (REUTERS) MAN WALKING INTO KITCHEN THAT MAKES QIDREH FAST FOOD MAN PUSHING TRAY OF CHICKEN INTO WOODEN OVEN TRAYS AND POTS INSIDE OVEN MAN PULLING CHICKEN OUT OF OVEN MAN PUTS COOKED CHICKENS ON WORKING TABLE VARIOUS OF WORKERS MOVING CHICKEN FROM TRAY MAN POURS OIL OVER POT MAN PULLS POT OUT OF OVEN WOOD BURNING IN OVEN EXTERIOR OF RESTAURANT RESTAURANT SIGN COOK CARRYING COOKED POT OF QIDREH INTO KITCHEN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESTAURANT OWNER, KAMAL SARSOUR, SAYING: "The food is cooked on wood, and in brass pots. We have continued to use the same method Since ancient times, the same oven, the same process - like our ancestors used to do before us, we have continued to do the same." WORKER SCOOPING RICE FROM POT VARIOUS OF COOK SERVING RICE INTO TAKEAWAY BOXES VARIOUS OF CLIENTS STANDING IN LINE MEN EATING IN RESTAURANT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESTAURANT CUSTOMER, JAWAD AL-NATSHE, SAYING: "I came to eat a fast food that is called the Hebronite Qidreh, it is Hebron's most famous dish. When a visitor comes to visit, it is customary to invite them to eat qidreh because it is Hebron's most popular dish." VARIOUS OF YOUNG MAN EATING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESTAURANT CUSTOMER, QUSAY NASSAR, SAYING: "Now we can eat it whenever we want. Before, it used to be expensive, 18 or 20 shekels ($4-5), now it costs 10 shekels ($2.5). And you can eat it wherever we want." VARIOUS OF MEN EATING IN RESTAURANT PLATE FULL OF RICE, CHICKEN, AND A POT YOGHURT ON THE SIDE MEN EATING IN RESTAURANT PEOPLE STANDING IN RESTAURANT COOK CARRYING EMPTY POTS OUT OF RESTAURANT EMPTY POTS PILED OUTSIDE OF RESTAURANT
  • Embargoed: 27th January 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVADEWAPB3LJX5AKE5NTWHU02D51
  • Story Text: Hebron's most famous traditional dish, 'qidreh', has been turned into the city's most famous affordable fast food meal.
    Qidreh is Arabic for 'cooking pot', and is Hebron's speciality dish. Made from chicken or lamb, it is cooked in a brass pot with rice, spices, and clarified butter. The ingredients are then combined and put in a wood stove where it cooks for three hours.
    Qidreh is expensive to make, and takes a long time to cook. So for centuries it has been eaten mainly on holidays, special occasions, and to serve guests.
    But in the West Bank city of Hebron, qidreh has recently become a fast food dish costing a mere 10 shekels ($2.5) per meal, and is available just around the corner.
    Restaurant owner Kamal Sarsour has been in the cooking business for twenty-eight years. He says that his family has ben cooking qidreh in the same traditional way for hundreds of years, and that it is important for him to preserve the traditional cooking methods of this local dish.
    "The food is cooked on wood, and in brass pots. Since ancient times we have continued to use the same method, the same oven, the same process - like our ancestors used to do before us, we have continued to do the same," explained Sarsour.
    But the idea of turning a delicacy into a fast food came when he realised that the economic situation would continue to worsen and prices would rise, while consumers suffer.
    Sarsour opened his restaurant named 'al Iteri' a few months ago, and he has reached his goal of making Hebron's most famous dish affordable to everyone. He says he makes a very small profit on each meal, but sells hundreds of meals everyday.
    Financial support from the Palestinian Authority's (PA) Western and Arab allies will help the Palestinian economy grow by at least 7 percent in 2011, Palestinian officials have said.
    In an interview with Reuters, the Palestinian Economy Minister Hassan Abu Libdeh said the Palestinian territories' economy grew by 8 percent in 2010, growth that was also largely propelled by aid from the United States, Europe and Arab governments that back the PA.
    But the minister said such growth rates were unsustainable without a further easing of Israeli restrictions on the movement of goods and people in the Palestinian territories.
    During the lunch hour in Hebron working people on their lunch breaks, hungry school boys, or leisurely lunchers crowd Sarsour's restaurant for a generous plate of rice, a large piece of chicken, a carton of yoghurt, and a soft drink to be eaten in the restaurant or taken to go.
    Jawad al-Natshe, who had invited his friends over for lunch at the last minute, quickly made his way to the restaurant and bought five meals to go.
    "I came to eat a fast food that is called the Hebronite Qidreh, it is Hebron's most famous dish. When a visitor comes to visit, it is customary to invite them to eat qidreh because it is Hebron's most popular dish," al-Natshe said.
    Qusay Nassar, a university student, says that eating qidreh as a fast food is not only a warm and hearty meal but is also cheaper than buying a sandwich.
    "Now we can eat it whenever we want. Before, it used to be expensive, 18 or 20 shekels ($4-5), now it costs 10 shekels ($2.5). And you can eat it wherever we want," Nassar says.
    Affordable qidreh is the latest food fad in the Hebron area. Since Sarsour's restaurant opened, dozens of restaurants have followed suit.
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