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The humble falafel, a simple mixture of ground beans, herbs and spices shaped into a ball or patty and deep-fried, is inextricably linked with the Middle East but now finds itself on menus in virtually every country in the world. 

But this very ubiquity of a food, equally at home on a street vendor鈥檚 cart in Cairo or a plate in an upmarket Parisian restaurant, has obscured its origins. 

On World Falafel Day, Arab News takes a closer look at this seemingly simple snack that has a surprisingly complex backstory rooted in some of the darker moments of history, empire-building and colonialism. 

Although it might seem like it has been around forever, falafel 鈥� claimed as a national dish by almost all peoples in the Middle East 鈥� may in fact date back only as far as the late-19th century, and quite possibly owes its creation to hungry British soldiers.

According to French journalist Paul Balta and Syrian historian Farouk Mardam-Bey, the first known appearance of falafel was in Egypt after the British occupied the country in 1882.

鈦營n their works, they both suggest that British officers, having developed a taste for fried vegetable croquettes in India, might have asked Egyptian cooks to come up with a local version.

In the 2012 edition of 鈥淭he Mediterranean Diet for Sustainable Regional Development,鈥� for example, Balta wrote that falafels are 鈥渉ardly mentioned in literature before the 20th century and only appear after the occupation of Egypt by the English in 1882.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

He continues: 鈥淭he Egyptians were inspired, to enhance them, by other types of fried croquettes (fish, meat, vegetable) originating from India and introduced by the British troops who, coming from India, liked them.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Historian Shaul Stampfer, professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, supports this theory. In 鈥淏agel and Falafel: Two Iconic Jewish Foods and One Modern Jewish Identity,鈥� a paper published in 2016, he wrote that many fried foods in India that were similar in shape and consistency to falafel predated it.

Moreover, he added, Jews in Kerala and Calcutta, along with their neighbors, commonly ate a food known as 鈥減arippu vada鈥� or 鈥渇ilowri鈥� 鈥� fried balls made from ground split green peas 鈥� that are 鈥渟trikingly similar to falafel.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Nawal Nasrallah, a food writer, historian and translator of medieval cookbooks, told Arab News: 鈥淲hile we do not have concrete evidence, in the form of recipes or mention of it in ancient written records, of where falafel specifically originated, a credible claim for Egypt can still be made.鈥�

Certainly, for a dish made from such simple ingredients, falafel鈥檚 complex history remains a contentious topic in the region.  

Nasrallah suggests that Coptic Christians in Egypt played a 鈥渃redible role鈥� in the development of falafel.

鈥淲ith legumes like chickpeas and fava beans they already knew at the time, they must have developed countless meatless dishes for their Lent fasting days, and it is not far-fetched to believe that the now ubiquitous falafel has been developed by them,鈥� she said. 

Many believe that falafel did indeed originate in the 19th century in the Egyptian port of Alexandria, at the time a base for British and other European troops, before spreading to other parts of the country under the now-common local name 鈥渢a鈥檓iyya,鈥� which translates literally as 鈥渟mall piece of food.鈥�

Although it is not known exactly when the name ta鈥檓iyya was coined, it is a transliteration based on the Arabic root word 胤毓賲, Nasrallah said. 

鈥淭he name falafel, on the other hand, apparently has a more ancient origin that may be traced all the way back to the to the ancient Akkadian language of the Assyrians and Babylonians of ancient Iraq,鈥� she added. 

Nasrallah cites an Akkadian dictionary that includes the word 鈥減illu,鈥� meaning 鈥渇ruit/seed,鈥� which she says is related 鈥渘o doubt, to the pulse seeds鈥� referenced by 鈥渢he later-adapted Arabic form of the word, 鈥榝ul鈥� (meaning fava beans).鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

She continues: 鈥淚t is quite likely that the Akkadian name 鈥榩illu鈥� was adopted and adapted in subsequent languages, like Aramaic, Coptic and Arabic, into 鈥榝ul,鈥� and the plural 鈥榝alafel,鈥� to designate a dish with many pulses.鈥�&苍产蝉辫; 

Writing in 2019 in the magazine History Today, British historian Alexander Lee traced the spread of falafel, first throughout Egypt and then, shortly after the First World War, to Lebanon, Yemen, Turkiye and Libya. 

鈥淎ll those who adopted it made it their own,鈥� Lee wrote. 鈥淭hough they generally left the basic recipe unchanged, they altered the ingredients slightly to suit their own tastes or to reflect the balance of local agriculture. 

鈥淚n the Egyptian town of Mersa Matruh, for example, fava beans were replaced with hyacinth beans and a bit of beef. In the Levant, chickpeas were used instead.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Soon enough, falafel reached early Jewish communities in Palestine.

鈥淭ogether with the indigenous population, the earliest settlers (halutzim) adopted it readily,鈥� Lee wrote.

鈥淗aving long grown used to cultural exchange with their Muslim neighbors, they gave no thought to whether it was an 鈥楢rab鈥� food or not. They simply integrated it into their own cuisine, as they had countless other foods.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

That all changed with the wave of Jewish migration to Palestine from Eastern Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, Lee added: 鈥淪uspicious of anything they regarded as 鈥楢rabic鈥�, they stuck doggedly to their own cuisine, shunning falafel as an 鈥榓lien鈥� dish.

Israel鈥檚 declaration of independence in 1948, and the wave of Jewish immigration from Europe that followed, changed Jewish attitudes toward falafel once again.

Short of cash and food, and facing a flood of new citizens, the embryonic Israeli government introduced rationing and this, wrote Lee, 鈥渂oosted falafel鈥檚 popularity. Not only was it a good source of protein, but its ingredients were also readily available even to the poorest families.鈥�

Another factor that restored the reputation of falafel in Israel was the arrival of tens of thousands of Jewish Arabs from countries such as Yemen and Turkiye, who brought with them their love of the food. 

鈥淣ot only did it help to convince their still-skeptical co-religionists that falafel genuinely was a suitable food for Jews, but it also allowed falafel to shed its associations with the Arab peoples,鈥� Lee wrote. 

鈥淭his was something the Israeli government was glad to encourage. In the wake of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-49, there was a concerted effort to foster a distinctive sense of Israeli national identity and 鈥� the Israeli government avidly promoted the idea that falafel had been imported not from Egypt but from Yemen. 

鈥淚t was a patent falsehood, but it served its purpose.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Regarding such politicization of the food, Nasrallah said: 鈥淚 do not believe that a dish like falafel can be claimed to have its home in an individual country. Rather, the entire region may credibly be claimed to be its home.鈥�

The unassuming falafel has not only sparked rivalries between nations that claim its origins, it has even divided families. In 1933, Mustafa Sahyoun began selling falafel from a street cart on Beshara Khoury Street in downtown Beirut, and eventually established a storefront that still operates today.

鈦燞is legacy was passed to two of his sons, Zoheir and Fouad. The Lebanese Civil War strained the brothers鈥� relationship as they found themselves living on opposite sides of the divided city.

Yet, their bond endured and they braved Beirut鈥檚 dangerous no-man鈥檚 land 鈥� the so-called Green Line that at the time separated the capital鈥檚 Christian east from the Muslim west, where the store was located 鈥� to support each other when they could.

By 2006, however, the brothers had fallen out completely. Zoheir continued to run the original Sahyoun falafel shop, while Fouad opened a competing vendor next door, boldly displaying red signs declaring his store to be 鈥淔alafel M. Sahyoun.鈥�

The latter shut up shop in 2021, citing the effects of the long-running economic crisis in the country, but Sahyoun falafel remains an iconic business in Lebanon, attracting both locals and tourists. Even world-renowned celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain visited both shops in 2010 for his hit TV show 鈥淣o Reservations.鈥�

By the 1960s, geopolitics had once again sent falafel on its travels. Arab immigrants heading west to escape conflict and turmoil introduced falafel to Europe and North America as a common street food that could easily be made and sold from a cart. 

In Germany, after initially gaining significant traction among the country鈥檚 large Turkish community, falafel quickly found its way onto the wider German food scene as well. By the 1970s, Turkish food stalls and restaurants were thriving, serving up falafel to an ever-expanding clientele and inspiring new variations on the recipe.

Across the Atlantic, falafel had also arrived in the US, where it established a foothold among migrant communities during the 1960s and 1970s, soon winning over a wider audience and spreading farther afield.

鈥淔usion鈥� versions of the food began to pop up on menus, including falafel au gratin, falafel sliders and falafel cake, and renowned chefs better known for their eccentric and expensive culinary creations began to develop a taste for the once-humble street food. 

In 2014, for example, American celebrity chef Bobby Flay prepared a 鈥渟mashed falafel鈥� dish on his TV show 鈥淏eat Bobby Flay.鈥� It featured a deconstructed falafel sandwich paired with pomegranate tahini and a pan-roasted jalapeno pesto yogurt.

A few years earlier, in 2011, Israeli American chef Michael Solomonov appeared on reality show 鈥淚ron Chef America鈥� and showcased a variation on falafel that incorporated passion fruit and amba (a tangy mango pickle), served alongside tuna carpaccio stuffed with tabbouleh.

Now, thousands of restaurants all around the world proudly serve up falafel in every imaginable style, including bold 鈥� to some, perhaps, sacrilegious 鈥� creations such as falafel pizza, sushi or even tacos.

Created, it seems, in Egypt in the 19th century, the descendant of a relative from India, its conception a by-product of the ambitions of a once-mighty empire, falafel has traveled far and wide and found itself at the heart of some of the great geopolitical upheavals of the modern age. 

In a sense representative of history on a plate, there is no longer anything humble about the all-conquering falafel.