Shakshouka

Shakshouka is generally prepared in one pan by cooking eggs in a seasoned tomato-and-pepper base.[1] It is widely associated with breakfast and brunch in Israel, where North African Jewish immigrants helped establish it, and it later gained popularity in the United States and on international brunch menus.[1][2]

Shakshouka originates in the Maghreb, particularly Morocco and Tunisia, where it developed as a spiced vegetable-and-egg preparation.[1] An Israeli government recipe page traces the dish's earlier name to chakchouka, described as a Berber word meaning vegetable stew.[4] One meaning recorded for the name is "a mixture" in Arabic, while Hebrew and North African popular usage renders it as "all mixed up"—both meanings fitting a dish in which distinct ingredients are combined in a single pan.[4][3]

Evidence that the dish circulated among Jewish communities well before the establishment of the State of Israel appears in Dei Yiddishe Kuch (The Jewish Kitchen), a Yiddish-language cookbook by B. Shafran printed in Warsaw in 1930.[5] The cookbook placed recipes from Morocco and Tunisia—including shakshouka—alongside Eastern European staples such as gefilte fish and kugel, illustrating how North African culinary knowledge traveled within Jewish communities across continents.[5] Its shakshouka recipe instructs the cook to fry a clove of garlic in oil, add half a pound of chopped tomatoes, cook for approximately fifteen minutes, then crack four whole eggs into the tomatoes and mix until done.[5]

A common red preparation sautés onion, garlic, and peppers, then adds tomatoes and simmers the mixture before eggs are placed on top and cooked—or baked—until the whites set.[4] One recipe seasons the sauce with cumin, chili powder, and red chili flakes and uses tomato paste to deepen it.[6] The dish is traditionally served in its cooking pan and eaten with pita or white bread used to mop up the spiced tomato sauce.[7][4]

Variations on the classic are numerous. Additional ingredients can include black olives, feta cheese, or tuna mixed into the red sauce.[7] Green versions, made without tomatoes but with spinach and feta, offer a contrasting preparation.[7] Experimental versions documented in New York include a green shakshouka with spinach, asparagus, pickled onion, zucchini, goat cheese, and honey, and a white version based on charred eggplant, onion, blue cheese, cumin, za'atar, and fresh oregano.[8] Other adaptations incorporate mushrooms, eggplant, meatballs, jalapeño, labneh, or zhug.[3] One creative variation layers shakshouka's tomato sauce and eggs over pizza dough with feta, bakes it at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and finishes it with parsley and optional tahini.[6]

Shakshouka was introduced to Israel by Tunisian and other North African Jewish immigrants.[2] Tomatoes, peppers, and herbs were locally abundant, making the dish a frequent preparation for immigrant families.[2] Over time it was absorbed into the broader Israeli culinary identity and became ubiquitous in the country—a beloved Maghrebi dish thoroughly at home in Israeli kitchens.[9]

The dish holds a particularly prominent place at the Israeli breakfast table, which draws on a wide range of North African, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern foods.[10] Food writer and historian Gil Marks characterizes the classic version simply: "If you see tomato sauce with eggs in it, it's the classic one."[10] Jerusalem's Tmol Shilshom café was cited by Lonely Planet's Food Lover's Guide to the World as a top-ten destination for the world's best breakfast specifically for its shakshouka, with the guide advising diners to request extra crusty bread for mopping up the sauce.[10] During the coronavirus period, the Jewish Agency called shakshouka "the ultimate Israeli staple" and offered an online cooking activity devoted to the dish.[11]

As Israeli cuisine gained international visibility, shakshouka followed, rising to prominence on brunch menus and in online food culture around the world.[2] In the United States, Trader Joe's began selling a frozen shakshouka starter made from tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, and spices.[1]

The dish also inspired Israeli-founded culinary ventures abroad. Gabriel Israel developed the concept for a Manhattan food truck dedicated to shakshouka after regularly preparing it for weekend brunch service at Boulud Sud.[8] His colleagues there began calling him "Shuka," a nickname he incorporated into the business name, The Shuka Truck.[8] The founders said that falafel was then the only Israeli street food widely available in New York, and they saw shakshouka as an opportunity to expand that presence.[8] The venture offered traditional red shakshouka alongside experimental green and white preparations influenced in part by one founder's French-Algerian family background.[8]

Shakshouka's identification as an Israeli dish has at times been disputed. In 2017, television host Conan O'Brien described shakshouka as "Israeli," prompting anti-Israel activists to confront him on camera and claim the dish as Palestinian.[12] CAMERA presented the confrontation as one example of a wider dispute over the ownership and labeling of Israeli and Middle Eastern foods.[12]

Accounts also vary in geographic specificity: one identifies Morocco and Tunisia, while another emphasizes Tunisia and other North African communities.[1][2] An Israeli cultural page uses the wider designation of the Maghreb.[9] The first two accounts describe the dish's entry into Israeli cuisine through Jewish immigration from North Africa.[1][2] An Israeli government booklet describes shakshouka as an Israeli dish of Jewish Tunisian and Moroccan origin, combining acknowledgment of its immigrant roots with its place in contemporary Israeli cuisine.[13]