In the old city of Nazareth, Torfanda and Munir Hasan’s small family bakery is busy with locals and visitors everyday who come to stock up on pita made with white or whole wheat flour, wide flatbreads made in a taboon, thin and crunchy karakeesh cookies adorned with sesame and anise seeds, crisp grissini sticks, ma’amul cookies, and rare “stamp bread,” which is made using an ancient technique that involves a specially carved stone. Others make a pitstop on their way to school or work to grab a fatayer, a pastry filled with wild spinach or cheese and fresh hyssop leaves, or a pita rolled with a vegetable omelet or a chicory stew bolstered with hot sauce, a slather of labneh, and olives. All of it is homemade.

El-Meshhdawi bakery. photographer: Noam Preisman

“Nazareth is the city where you can find the best Palestinian cuisine, primarily because many refugees who arrived in 1948 brought the Palestinian sub-cuisines from Majdal, Safed, and other, now-vanished Arab villages with them, transforming Nazareth into a cultural and culinary hub. As a traditional bakery, El-Meshhdawi is the perfect starting point for a tasting journey in the city,” remarks Muzna Bishara.
“There are many bakeries in the Arab sector,” adds Erez Komarovski, “but at El-Meshhdawi, there is immense respect for tradition. The bakery stands as a temple of this tradition, offering unique and delicious pastries that are increasingly hard to find elsewhere.”