Get ready your traveling shoes and appetites – today and tomorrow we are visiting the city of Bethlehem in Palestine on Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living. Steeped in rich history and traditions, the Palestinian culture revolves around its cuisines. For a Palestinian, food is considered a way to express hospitality.

A(m): It’s our heritage, our culture, which says that falafal and hummus is Palestinian. It’s a Palestinian food.
So we have many traditional foods. The Palestinian have, they have a good history and good traditions.

HOST: Indeed, when we arrived at Afteem Restaurant, we were pleasantly greeted by:
A(m): My name is Ala’ Salama.  
A(m): This is my brother. This is Saliba.
A(m): And this guy also is my cousin.

HOST: These gentlemen herald from a family lineage that has owned and operated Afteen Restaurant since the mid 1900s. In fact, Afteem is the first traditional restaurant in Bethlehem with this length of history, and has become a part of the sacred city’s heritage.

A(m): My family is refugees. They came from Jaffa in the 1948. They came to Bethlehem and they don’t have, at that time they didn’t have any kind of business.

So my grandfather, he decided to make a small business for his sons. So he decided to make a restaurant for falafal. So, we are the only family which work in this kind of food, making, serving this kind of food. And we are the first people who make this traditional food, the Palestinian traditional food in Bethlehem since 1948 until now.

And you know, our food is vegetarian, we don’t use any kind of meat. Like we make falafal from parsley, from onion, from garlic, from chick peas, and from hot pepper, and some herbs.

And also the hummus we also use also the chick peas, the garlic, the lemon, the salt, and the sesame oil which contains no meat or dairy products. So our food is healthy, and we are well known here in Palestine.

HOST: The restaurant was named after the founder’s oldest son, Afteem. The founder, Mr. Saliba Salameh, taught his children that love and unity must be the base for their success and continuation.
For six decades straight, the business has stayed within the family. Ala’ Salama believes this is the reason why customers commend the service that comes along with the excellent food.