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Mai @Almond&Fig

@almondandfig

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I cook and write to preserve Palestinian recipes and stories, sustaining our cultural identity and resilience. 🇵🇸🍉🗝️
Creator #aprilisforarabfood

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Labaneh and the bag that inspired my curiosity in the kitchen as a child. A love story and a tribute to my Teta. For the full recipe https://www.almondandfig.com/amp/labaneh-from-scratch by @almondandfig

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5 years ago

Rumman رمان is the Arabic word for pomegranates.
بدي افرط الرمانات
My grandmother would announce after lunch
تعالو تحلو come back for dessert

Teta would set a stainless steel bowl in her veranda right off the kitchen, to peel pomegranates. she would peel so many she would stain her fingers and her apron. ‘Rumman’ is way more than a fruit. It is a poetry word it’s full of emotions and illustrations. It’s often referenced in literature and songs. Images of Rumman are often handcrafted on palestinian embroidery, ceramics and art pieces. Growing up we had a few pomegranate trees in our garden. Its ruby fruits hang like an ornament on a Christmas tree.
Teta served the pomegranate jewels with a sprinkling of sugar on top For a simple dessert
This bowl of fresh pomegranates reminds me of winter of my home in Palestine and my Teta. See tetas original bowl on my story 💔 by @almondandfig

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4 years ago

Our Palestinian kitchen is so diverse and is influenced by the geography of the land. Rumanieh or حبة رمان comes from the Arabic word Ruman رمان which means pomegranates. Is a slightly tangy dish of stewed lentils and eggplants. It has deep roots in the coastal towns of Lydda and Jaffa, where my sister in law Abeer is from, and where I first had this dish. When Palestinians were displaced from Jaffa and Lydda in the Nakba of 1948 many went to Gaza, Ramallah and Jerusalem where this recipe is now popular. People brought their recipes and stories with them. Rummaniyeh is one such recipe, this delicious humble stew traveled with Palestinians around the world and is built from memories of the people that once lived in Jaffa and Lydda.
The recipes they brought with them became stories in themselves. These recipes are evidence of identity and existence of the old villages and cities of Palestine.
This recipe is adapted from my sister in law Abeer whose family now lives in Ramallah and my friends joudie @palestineonaplate and Hani @hani.elfar.7 who document their grandmothers/family recipes from lydda and Jaffa.

Rumanieh is Best enjoyed at room temperature with charred taboon bread, olives, fresh veggies and herbs. by @almondandfig

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4 years ago

Some boxes are filled with products.

Ours are filled with stories.

From the rich taste of Palestinian olive oil to the hands that painted the ceramic mug and Shireen’s artwork inspired by Jerusalem, every item inside the Summer Palbox represents the people, traditions, and craftsmanship of Palestine.

Thank you, @almondandfig for sharing this beautiful unboxing with us. 💛

✨ The Summer Palbox is available only until July 24. After that, we’ll be welcoming our Fall Palbox.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering, this is your sign.

🔗 Link in bio. by @almondandfig

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3 months ago

Thank you Mai @almondandfig for welcoming Palestine into your home. ❤️

The Summer Palbox is available only until July 24, before we welcome our Autumn Palbox.

Get yours now from the link in bio 🫶🏻 by @almondandfig

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3 months ago

The Eternal Sunshine of Palestinian sisterhood.
When ChiTown Mai @almondandfig & Heifa @fufuinthekitchen let you know they're in your city, you've got to shower them with true NYC Palestinian hospitality, that includes being fed by amazing @qanoonnyc & topped with a welcoming customized Zughretta 🎉 Ahlan w sahlan Sahtein w shukran 🤍🍃 by @almondandfig

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4 months ago

As I enjoy these tart spring fruits, I’m taken back to Palestine …
to trees we climbed before the fruit was ready,
to fuzzy green almonds, sour plums, and tiny green apricots sour enough to make your eyes close with the first bite.

They are more than just a snack.
They are a ritual. A feeling. Half craving, half comfort each bite a small cure for homesickness,
carrying the joy and the unmistakable taste of spring.
They are a connection to the land, to the season, to something rooted deep inside us.

Today is Earth Day
a reminder that land is not just soil;
it’s memory, identity, and survival.

Despite the continued genocide, Israeli violence and occupation, Palestinians continue to plant and harvest.
From gardens our families are planting in makeshift tents in Gaza to olive, almond, and citrus groves in the West Bank, there is a powerful bond between our people and the land.

And sometimes…
it tastes like something sour, dipped in salt,
under a spring sky that calls you home. In Palestine, a tart spring fruit plate like this is always served with strawberries—often from Gaza. by @almondandfig

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6 months ago

Some of my earliest Ramadan memories aren’t just of the call to prayer — they’re of jars.

My childhood best friend Rania would often invite me to her home, where her mother made some of the best pickles. Jars of salted vegetables lined the back wall of Khalto katbeh's kitchen counter — cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower — glowing in brine.

Pickles are just one of the many things that can be made from fresh produce an imp part of mouneh — the ancient tradition of preserving the harvest. To pickle is to plan, to prepare, to honor the seasons so that what the land gives today nourishes us tomorrow.

In times of war and scarcity, mouneh has always meant resilience.

Today, rooftop gardens supported by @aneraorg across Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan help families grow their own food, stay nourished, and supplement their income. What grows on a rooftop can become a meal, a jar, a memory — a way to sustain both body and dignity.

This Ramadan, as we gather around our tables — even under the echo of warplanes — I think about those jars again. And the quiet power of what the land still gives.
Recipe & Tips in caption

Your donation to Anera will help support programs like this and feed families this Ramadan throughout Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan.
https://give.anera.org/campaign/766902/donate by @almondandfig

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7 months ago

Palestinian dates are more than a seasonal treat — they are grown by farmers resisting land confiscation, restricted access to their water supplies, and violence that targets life and agriculture itself.

When flour and food supplies are weaponized to starve an entire population in Gaza, bread is no longer just food.
It is survival.
It is resistance.
It is dignity.

As I’m making a simple date bread —
soft, slightly sweet, studded with chewy, plump Palestinian dates,
warmed with crushed cardamom and cinnamon —
I want to remind you that dates are political.

Israel supplies roughly half of the Medjool dates around the world, and a significant portion are grown in illegal agricultural settlements in the Jordan Valley near Jericho, in the occupied West Bank.

So sourcing matters.

Each ethically sourced Palestinian date represents years of care, heritage, resistance, and resilience in the face of occupation.

So when we break bread, when we consume the date — especially in seasons like Ramadan and Lent —
we choose what we nourish.

@palboxorg is offering Ramadan boxes with ethically sourced dates from the Bent El Reef cooperative in Jericho. They are grown, harvested, and packed by Palestinian farmers on their own land. That means fair wages, no settlements, and no rebranding behind the scenes. Every box directly supports Palestinian agriculture and families in Jericho. by @almondandfig

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8 months ago

This year, Lent and Ramadan begin side by side.
Across Palestine — in churches and mosques — prayers rise with heavy hearts.

And yet, traditions and hope remain.

In our kitchens, the seasons still guide us.

This is khoubezeh — common mallow — a wild winter green that grows freely across the hills and valleys of Palestine. It isn’t sold in markets. It’s gathered by hand from the land itself.

In our homes, it’s cooked many ways.
But the simplest is my favorite — onions softened in golden olive oil, khoubezeh folded in until tender, finished with a bright squeeze of lemon. Eaten with warm, charred khoubez.

At the start of Ramadan, many families prepare something green or white — a symbol of renewal and blessing as the fasting month begins.
During Lent, Christian communities fast for forty days before Easter, refraining from animal products in devotion and reflection.
Even in the heaviest seasons, the land still gives.
And we will gather. by @almondandfig

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8 months ago

A Winter Palbox memory ❄️
By our favorite @almondandfig

🌿 Spring Palbox has arrived
New season, new items!
Link in bio by @almondandfig

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8 months ago

In the heart of a snowy January, I became a mother For the first time —young, scared, and far from my home, learning how to recover and care for a newborn in the quiet of winter.

My mother flew from Palestine. In those tender days after birth, her love showed up in the everyday acts—in warm meals, comforting hands that knew exactly what to do. She fed me with intention and care, not just to restore my body, but to heal me. A mother’s nourishment is medicine—it reminds a new mother that she is held.

We grew up cooking with the seasons—simple food from the land.
Sautéed greens in good olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, pine nuts if we had them. Eaten with warm bread—sometimes a side, sometimes the whole meal.

One dish she made for me almost daily was sautéed greens, stewed in Palestinian olive oil she carried with her, finished with a generous snowfall of Parmesan.

Today, I’m making it again with Swiss chard, on my daughter’s 25th birthday.
A reminder that we become the mothers who loved us—and we give our children the kind of love that once held us together.
Happy Birthday Neda and شكراً ماما 🤍 by @almondandfig

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9 months ago