Middle Eastern Food Studies

“Middle Eastern Food Studies,” as a distinct field within food studies, has seen extensive interest and growth. The study of Middle Eastern food and foodways involves researching the social contexts that make food meaningful, from fields to markets, kitchens, factory spaces, and restaurants across a diverse range of geographical and historical parameters. The Middle East, a region bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and the Central Asian plateau, is characterized by a unique ecological diversity that has historically encouraged specialization and market exchange. Scholarship addressing foodways in this broad region has tended to adopt the Western-coined term “Middle East” as a central geographical framing rather than more specific subregional categories like the Levant or the Arabian Peninsula. Middle Eastern food studies emerged with the translation and interpretation of medieval Arabic texts about food, focusing on recipes and a broad regional framing. Early scholarly attention focused on medieval Arabic culinary literature, leading to the translation of nearly all known medieval Arabic cookbooks into English. The field has since expanded to include questions related to national and regional foodways, examining how these foodways offer ways of conceptualizing the Middle East beyond traditional national borders and formal sociopolitical arrangements. Scholars in this field display diversity in their theoretical approaches, research methods, and empirical foci, exploring how dishes and culinary styles coalesced as products of global diasporas, modernization, and national tradition making. Several strands of contemporary food studies literature indicate the growing role of Middle Eastern food studies in the broader scholarship of food studies. One significant strand engages in conversations about the history and culture of Middle Eastern foodways: the illustrating of how food mediated the encounter between the Middle East and the rest of the world, including the globalization of Middle Eastern foodways and the effects of immigration on culinary traditions. Another notable strand is the flourishing scholarly work on the food, agriculture, and foodways of Israel and Palestine within the past decades. This focus is driven by the ongoing conflict, political tension, and the significant role that food and agriculture play in this context, which has led to numerous articles in food studies, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, and geography journals, as well as scholarly monographs. This article maps out rigorous social science research, including ethnography and theories, on what people and communities in the Middle East produce, consume, cook, and eat, as well as how food is involved in broader sociopolitical processes such as nation making, postcolonial conflicts, globalization, and antiglobalization, fitting within contemporary cultural and social life in this region.