{{Short description|Traditional Iraqi Jewish sandwich}} {{Use American English|date=March 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox food | name = Sabich | image = Sabich1.png | image_size = | course = Sandwich, street food | main_ingredient = Traditionally laffa, although pita is often used, eggplant, hard boiled eggs, salad, amba, parsley, tahini sauce, and hummus | minor_ingredient = Potato, onion, and zhug | associated_cuisine = Israeli cuisine }}
'''Sabich''' or '''sabih''' ({{langx|he|סביח}} {{IPA|he|saˈbiχ|}}; Judeo-Iraqi Arabic: {{lang|yhd|صبيح}}) is a sandwich of pita or laffa bread stuffed with fried eggplants, hard-boiled eggs, chopped salad, parsley, amba and tahini sauce. It is a staple of Israeli cuisine and was created by Iraqi Jews in Israel in the 1960s.
Its ingredients are based on a traditional quick breakfast of Iraqi Jews; while in Iraq, the ingredients were served separately, the modern sabich, where all of them are eaten together in a sandwich, was created in Israel, where it is sold in many businesses.
==Etymology== [[File:Sabich.jpg|thumb|right|Sabich as served in a pita]] There are several theories on the origin of the name Sabich. Many attribute the name to the sandwich's creator, Sabich Tzvi Halabi, who was born in Baghdad in 1938 and immigrated to Israel in the early 1950s.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=When Your Father Shares a Name with a National Dish |url=https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/posts/2018/5/2/when-your-father-shares-a-name-with-a-national-dish |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610045506/https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/posts/2018/5/2/when-your-father-shares-a-name-with-a-national-dish |archive-date=10 June 2021 |access-date=2021-02-01 |website=Jewish Food Society |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="ynet">{{Cite web |last=Gerti |first=Yael |date=12 November 2006 |title=There is nothing like Amba: the Sabih guide – from Dan to Eilat |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3327050,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228201115/https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3327050,00.html |archive-date=28 February 2021 |access-date=29 August 2012 |website=YNET}}</ref><ref name="Ungerleider 2011">{{cite web |last=Ungerleider |first=Neal |date=1 April 2011 |title=Hybrid Power: The Iraqi-Israeli Sabich |url=http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/Israel-Sabich-Sandwich |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007181927/https://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/Israel-Sabich-Sandwich |archive-date=7 October 2011 |website=Saveur}}</ref> The word sabah means "morning" in Arabic, which may be a reference to the fact the ingredients are those of a typical shabbat breakfast among Iraqi Jews.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Shemtov |first1=Michael |last2=Tracy |first2=Stewart |date=4 May 2023 |title=Sabich Sandwiches |url=https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/israeli-roast-eggplant-hummus-and-pickle-sandwiches |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=Food & Wine |language=en}}</ref>
Popular folk legend attributes the name to an acronym of the Hebrew words "Salat, Beitsa, yoter Ḥatsil" {{lang|he|סלט ביצה יותר חציל}}, meaning "salad, egg, more eggplant".<ref name="Ungerleider 2011" /><ref name=":3" /> This is a humorous interpretation and hence a backronym.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Ben Zion |first=Ilan |date=31 January 2018 |title=No 'Cultural Genocide' Here: An Israeli Sandwich Stays Out Of Hummus Wars |url=https://forward.com/food/393320/no-cultural-genocide-here-an-israeli-sandwich-stays-out-of-hummus-wars/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010160704/https://forward.com/food/393320/no-cultural-genocide-here-an-israeli-sandwich-stays-out-of-hummus-wars/ |archive-date=10 October 2020 |access-date=2020-10-09 |website=The Forward}}</ref>
==History== thumb|The original Sabich Buffet in its current location thumb|Sabich Square in Ramat Gan Halabi bought a kiosk across the street from the last stop of the Number 63 bus on Uziel Street in Ramat Gan in the early 1960s. Local workers wanted something more substantial than the bourekas the kiosk was currently selling, and Halabi and his wife created a sandwich based on an Iraqi traditional shabbat breakfast of eggs, tebit, chamin, fried eggplant, and salad.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Vered |first=Ronit |date=22 December 2017 |title=The Story Behind an Iconic Israeli Street Food: The Sabich |url=https://www.haaretz.com/food/2017-12-21/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-story-behind-the-one-real-israeli-sandwich-the-sabich/0000017f-f508-d044-adff-f7f9f49a0000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628064114/https://www.haaretz.com/food/2017-12-21/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-story-behind-the-one-real-israeli-sandwich-the-sabich/0000017f-f508-d044-adff-f7f9f49a0000 |archive-date=28 June 2024 |access-date=12 November 2024 |website=Haaretz}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Tales of a wandering chickpea |url=http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Food/1022LEDE-Hummus |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630131811/http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Food/1022LEDE-Hummus |archive-date=2012-06-30 |access-date=2008-10-21 |publisher=The Santa Fe New Mexican}}</ref> Eggplant is a year-round crop in Israel, and eggs were available during the period of austerity in Israel, so both ingredients had long been in common use in the early 1960s.<ref name=":3" />
In Israel, the sandwich became a popular street food. Halabi took on a partner, Yaakov Sasson, and in the early 1980s moved the operation to Negba street, where as of 2017 it was still in operation.<ref name="Ungerleider 2011" /><ref name=":0" /> The dish is served throughout Israel.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Ungerleider 2011" /> It is not well-known outside of Israel.<ref name=":3" />
In 2020 the mayor of Ramat Gan announced the Negba St.-Uziel St. intersection would be named Sabich Square.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sahar |first=Reut |date=25 July 2020 |title=Ramat Gan pays homage to Sabich |url=https://food.walla.co.il/item/3375450 |website=Food Walla}}</ref>
==Ingredients and description== Sabich typically includes fried eggplant slices, a cucumber-and-tomato salad, amba, and haminados eggs, which are slow-cooked in hamin until they turn brown.<ref name=":0" /> Some versions include potatoes, pickles, a tahini sauce, hummus, or other condiments.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Ungerleider 2011" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Gritzer |first=Daniel |date=13 March 2024 |title=This Sabich Recipe Is Equal Parts Crispy, Creamy, Saucy, and Tangy |url=https://www.seriouseats.com/sabich-sandwich-eggplant-egg-hummus-pita-recipe |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=Serious Eats |language=en}}</ref> It is commonly served in pita bread or wrapped in laffa, an Iraqi flatbread.<ref name=":2" />
Daniel Gritzer, writing for ''Serious Eats'', describes the sandwich as "it's drippy, it's messy, it's shamelessly moist and flavorful. There are creamy swaths, and squishy bits, and crunchy chunks, and tart bursts".<ref name=":4" />
A version without the bread or pita is called Sabich salad ("סלט סביח" – "Salat Sabich" in Hebrew).
== Importance in Israeli cuisine == According to {{ill|Ronit Vered|he|רונית ורד}}, writing in Haaretz, the sandwich became "an integral part of the limited canon of Israeli cuisine". Tami Shem-Tov wrote ''Saba Sabich'' (Grandpa Sabich), a children's picture book published in 2017 by Kinneret Zmora-Bitan in Hebrew, which according to Yahil Zaban of Tel Aviv University details how the sandwich became "a symbol of the new Israeli culture".<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=סַבָּא סַבִּיח = Sabba Sabich {{!}} WorldCat.org |oclc=1035353995 |language=en}}</ref>
According to Janna Gur, the sandwich is "the first street snack that sprang from a Jewish culinary tradition" in Israeli cuisine and was more popular in Israel than falafel.<ref name=":1" />
== Gallery == <gallery mode="packed"> File:Sabich1.jpg File:ClyHell6943.JPG File:Clyhell6948.JPG </gallery>
==See also== *Culture of Israel *Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews *Jewish cuisine *Middle Eastern cuisine
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Shabbat}} {{Israeli cuisine}} {{Jewish baked goods}} {{Sandwiches}} {{Street food}}
Category:Israeli cuisine Category:Mizrahi Jewish cuisine Category:Eggplant dishes Category:Street food Category:Egg sandwiches Category:Vegetarian sandwiches Category:Shabbat food–