The salad features a watermelon couscous base, complemented by a fried stuffed meatball, drizzled with a lemon tahini sauce, and topped with a geometric garnish of date molasses. Chefs Tze’ela Rubinstein, an Israeli, and Shady Hasbun, a Palestinian, both living in Tuscany, won the title of “world champions” with this dish at the 29th Cous Cous Fest in San Vito Lo Capo, Sicily. The two professionals competed together and developed a recipe that they had presented in Bologna at the recent European Day of Jewish Culture. Tze’ela and Shady have been a team for a couple of years. They debuted in December 2024 at the Nessiah Jewish festival in Pisa. They will perform again in a few days at the Book Festival organized by the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Holocaust in Ferrara. “We are an Israeli chef and a Palestinian chef who now live and cook in Tuscany,” they explained. “In a time of division, we have chosen to let our cuisine speak for itself. Our identities can stand alone, but together, they achieve an even deeper balance.”
Sicily: Israeli and Palestinian Chefs Win Couscous World Championship
