Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
This is a whitewash of the real story, which I discussed in 2014 based on an article in Jordan's Ammon News:
According to the article, some historians say that the name of the dish comes from the root NSF which means "blowing up", "blasting", "destroying." A legend is told of an ancient "Arab" Moabite king from 885 BCE, Mesha, who asked that this dish be created as a way of expressing his animosity towards the Jews, whom he knew were planning to betray him. Mansaf is made of lamb cooked in a yogurt-based sauce and is not kosher because of the Jewish prohibition of eating meat cooked in milk. Therefore, the article claims, the dish was originally created to insult Jews.
The article says that the king of Moab created the dish as a "declaration of his people's hostility to the Jews since 885 BC. " His people enthusiastically responded, "knowing that this is nothing but a declaration of hostility against the treacherous Jews."
The article ends saying, "Jordanians enjoyed this food and continued to cook it to this day with optimism about victory, and everyone who inhabited the land of Jordan took Mansaf as their favorite food, in which they obligated their guests, feasted on them, acknowledged them and determined to do so, declaring their enmity towards the Jews until the Day of Judgment.
