Abu Shanab (Uncle Mustache) - Falafel
Although falafel has become the international symbol for health fast-food, it has been the Palestinian equivalent to the American hamburger for centuries. Residents of Jerusalem cannot remember the Old City of Jerusalem withouf falafel vendors, and the most famous of these are the "Abu Shanab" family.
In the 1940's three brothers (Ahmed, Mohammed, and Yassin)
from the well-known Badr family from Jerusalem opened a small shop just
inside Bab-As-Sahira (Herod's Gate) in the Old City of Jerusalem called
Abu-Hamed's, selling all sorts of goods including the now famous falafel
sandwiches. When a new building was constructed 100 meters away in 1963,
they closed their corner store and opened up a falafel shop, which became
known as "uncle mustache's falafel's" because of the huge mustache of Ahmed
Badr.
As the Badr family grew, so did their business, and now there are Abu-Shanab Falafel shops in Ramallah, Shufat, Beit Hanina, as well as the Old City in Jerusalem. The shops sell falafel, Humus (salad made for chick peas) and Fuul (salad made from fava beans).
The current owner of the shop in Jerusalem's Old City is Hamdi Badr (son of Mohammed Badr), but he doesn't sport the famous mustache, because he said " no one in the family has been able to grow in a really impressive mustache like Ahmed Badr's". He did ask however, if anyone has any tips on how to grow a really impressive mustache - he would be very grateful if they could stop by the shop and tell him.
Abu Shanab's Falafel recipe:
Ingredients: