DEAR DAME EVELYN , If I want to order an item consisting of deep-fried, seasoned balls of ground-up legumes wrapped in a pita and covered with tahini and various vegetables – what do I order? A falafel sandwich or just falafel? My friend and I have been discussing this for quite some time, and we can't agree on anything. It seems the idea of falafel in Israel includes the falafel balls and all the fixins, when in other places, like Lebanon and Syria, it refers only to the little crunchy legume nuggets. Any thoughts? Thanks.

S.M.

Pitaphile,

Dame Evelyn's first and overwhelming thought is: Eat! For who among us can resist falafel (or felafel, or falafil), whether made entirely with chickpeas (as in Israel) or entirely with fava beans (as by Egypt's Coptic Christians, who claim the dish as their own) or a mix of the two, as is common practice elsewhere in the Arab Middle East? As to the substance of your discussion (a friendly one, I do hope!): The dictionary tells us that falafel (from an Arabic word meaning pepper) refers to the chickpea fritters themselves. But it is Dame Evelyn's understanding that, in common usage in both Arabic and Hebrew, falafel refers to the complete preparation: the chickpea fritters nested in fresh pita bread with some combination of shredded lettuce, tomatoes, olives, pickles, yogurt, and tahini sauce (tahini paste being a peanut butter-like goo derived from sesame seeds). If you pay a visit to one of the innumerable falafel stalls in Jerusalem's Old City and ask for falafel, the whole schmear is what you will be served. And you will eat it and be happy. On the other side of the ledger, Dame Evelyn has occasionally seen naked falafel balls, impaled on toothpicks, being served as finger food or hors d'oeuvres at parties – a sop to vegetarians? Even with a dipping sauce, they seem cold and forlorn, like orphans. The rightful place of a chickpea fritter is in a bed of warm pita.

Peppily, E. G.-S.