A thin bowl of eggplant stewed in watery tomato juice is all that stands between Sally Muzhed’s family of six and hunger for the day. She calls it moussaka, though it is only a faint shadow of the rich, layered meat-and-vegetable dish that once perfumed Gaza’s kitchens.
War has cut families off from their fields and fishing boats, while the little food that trickles into the besieged enclave is often looted, hoarded and resold at punishing prices.
Mothers like Muzhed now survive on constant improvisation, reinventing Palestinian staples with whatever they can snatch from aid trucks, gather from airdrops or buy at the market.
Israel’s total blockade on aid trucks in early March choked supplies for weeks; though deliveries resumed in May, humanitarian groups say they remain far from adequate.
Some cooks have gotten inventive, but most say they are simply desperate to break the dull repetition of the same few ingredients – if they can get them at all.
