Skip to content
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
  • Features
  • Subscribe FREE to Ray Hanania’s Columns
  • Advertise
Suburban Chicagoland

Suburban Chicagoland

Original News, Features & Opinion

  • About
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Our Writers
      • Ray Hanania
      • Bill Lipinski
      • Aaron Hanania
      • Steve Metsch
      • Steve Neuhaus
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy
    • Reach Out
    • Submit a Press Release
  • Sections
    • Events
    • Opinion
    • News
    • Features
    • Seniors
    • Comic Strip
  • Library
    • “MIdnight Flight” Online Book
      • Midnight Flight Book Overview
      • Midnight Flight Introduction
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 1
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 2
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 3
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 4
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 5
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 6
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 7
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 8
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 9
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 10
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 11
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 12
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 13
    • Villages, Cities & Towns
    • Federal Office Holders
    • County Officials
    • Legislators
  • Seniors
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Comment
  • Podcast
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Toggle search form
  • State Rep. Cyril Nichols
    Arab Americans oppose “MENA” bill and urge “ARAB” be recognized as an MBE and in Census Census
  • Town President Larry Dominick and the Cicero Senior Center hosted the annual Hearts and Shamrocks luncheon. Cicero's senior services program is one of the most extensive in the Midwest offering an array of services including lawn cutting, snow shoveling, handiman assistance, transportation and a range of healthcare services. For more information visit www.TheTownofCicero.com
    The Town of Cicero Senior Center hosted the annual Hearts & Shamrocks dance Baby Boomers
  • Harlem Avenue closed from 86th and 87th pending investigation of pedestrian struck by vehicle News
  • Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights
    Court orders ex to provide transportation so Dad can see his daughter Civil Rights
  • Brandon Johnson leads a protest demanding to defund the Police. Phot courtesy of the Vallas for Mayor Campaign
    Johnson Refuses to Answer Whether He Would Pursue Stricter Penalties for Repeat Gun Offenders At WGN Debate  Chicago
  • Orland Fire Protection District extinguish fire in apartment building at 144th and Ravinia Sunday Jan. 30, 2022
    One fatality in Orland Hills Home fire Cook County
  • Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau continues to lie and slander people Blogger
  • Writing my very first news story that ran in the Messenger Press Baby Boomers
  • Illinois State Senator Michael Hastings. Photo courtesy of the Illinois State Senate
    Senator Michael Hastings supports bill to protect consumers from pesky auto-renewal charges Features
  • Major League Rugby 2023 Championship to take place at SeatGeek Stadium July 8
    Major League Rugby 2023 Championship to take place at SeatGeek Stadium July 8 Entertainment
  • Paul Vallas candidate for Chicago Mayor 2023. Photo courtesy of the Paul Vallas website
    Paul Vallas calls out Johnson’s lies walking back calls to defund and undermine police Chicago
  • Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights
    Psychological support for divorcing dads topic of CLE at Leving firm Chicago
  • Ronette McCarthy, a candidate for Mayor of Palos Park, addresses the Palos Park Village Board on the issue of expanding Wu's House parking into land adjacent to the huge restaurant on the east.
    Whoa is Wu’s House in Palos Park Blogger
  • Pekau campaign signs violate village ordinances News
  • Rotary Club of Orland Park Logo
    Orland Park Rotary offering scholarships to graduating seniors Education

Chicagoland stores battle for growing Middle Eastern market

Posted on May 13, 2015November 29, 2019 By Ray Hanania No Comments on Chicagoland stores battle for growing Middle Eastern market
SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  

Loading

This week, another major grocery retailer entered the battle for the growing Middle Eastern food market in Chicagoland offering a wide range of Arab food products. The past half century has seen Arab food migrate from the shelves of small ethnic neighborhood food stores to the premium shelves of the largest national chains. Chicagoland has been no exception, just a late entry to the market 

By Ray Hanania

When I was a kid, my mother would actually take an empty suitcase with her when she traveled back to visit her family and relatives in Bethlehem in Occupied Palestine.

Of course, in the 1950s, no one cared what you brought on an airplane. Mom used the empty suitcase to fill up with Middle East and Arabian food products that she couldn’t find in local grocery stores in Chicago, where she settled when she married my father.

The alternative was to drive to Dearborn and buy food items there, but oftentimes the stores didn’t have the food ingredients that were needed and that would be quite a disappointment after sitting five hours in a car on the old expressway driving through Indiana and then into Michigan. Flying to the Middle East was more expensive, but rewarding.

Today, though, you only have to go outside your home to the nearest major food retailer to find Arab recipe ingredients. And it’s not just Arabs buying those products. With the rise in popularity of the health-driven Mediterranean Diet, and the increased number of American soldiers who served in the middle East over the past two decades, Middle Eastern food has become very popular with mainstream Americans.

But it wasn’t always so.

When my mom would fly us to Palestine, we’d not only get to visit relatives, but we’d also get to eat great food. It was not easy to find the ingredients to make a Tabouli salad. You needed Tahini, a sesame seed paste, and cracked wheat (burghul). Back then, the only place you could find those products was in the Middle East.

There were a few ingredients we could get right here in America, like grape leaves to make the stuffed lamb and rice dish of the same name. Mom, or dad, would pull the car over whenever they saw wild grapevines growing on the side of the road. We’d pick the leaves and stuff them in plastic bags that my mom would then store in the big “freezer” that was in addition to the new refrigerator that replaced the old “ice box.”

The difficulty in getting all of the needed ingredients to make a good Arabian food dish probably explains why Arab moms made so much Arabian food. When they did get the ingredients, they would go overboard making enough food to last a week. Or, to feed 20 people.

If there is one thing about Arabs. They love emotion. They love to argue about politics. And, they love to eat great Middle East foods.

In the middle of the 1960s, the trips to Palestine were replaced by trips to rare grocery stores that started to cater to the Middle East shoppers. Many American Arabs at first opened grocery stores in White communities, but Whites often viewed the dark, Olive-skinned immigrants as being Black. And in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, race relations were at their worst. So the Arab grocers relocated and opened stores in African American communities where they were accepted.

The inner-city Arab stores carried mostly mainstream food products. But a small group of Arab grocers opened stores on the borders of the African American community and the White community, usually in the buffer zones inhabited by Hispanics. American Arabs often easily blended in as “Hispanics,” not only because they looked so much alike, but because much of the Arab immigration and refugee flight from Israeli oppression in Palestine pushed them to South America where life was even more comfortable and Middle East immigrants faced less discrimination and racist hate than they faced in America.

By the 1980s, you could easily find the basic ingredients like Tahini for salads and even hummus, spices and specialty food ingredients like za’atar and even lamb. Lamb is the meat food base of the Middle East. A Middle East meal just doesn’t taste the same with beef, although for many Arabs in the early years, that’s what they used.

Over the past few years, several grocery chains started to add Middle East food products to their inventories including in the Southwest suburban area where most of Chicagoland’s 450,000 American Arabs live. The two big stores were Tonys Finer Foods and Shop & Save, both in Bridgeview which is often erroneously viewed as the heart of the American Arab community because the region’s first mosque was built there just west of Harlem and 90th Street. Ironically, the majority of Arabs in Chicagoland are actually Christians, although Muslims stand out more in American society because of the preference of some Muslim women to wear Hijabs (head coverings).

When you drive through Bridgeview, you think you are in the heart of the Arab community, but the bigger populations of Arabs are actually in Oak Lawn, Palos Heights and Orland Park with lesser populations in the communities around them like Bridgeview.

Tonys Finer Foods and Shop & Save both began offering Arab and Middle Eastern food products in their stores in the 1990s. And, being larger retail establishments, they offered lower pricing than the smaller Arab owned stores because the larger stores could buy products in bulk and benefit from a significant cost savings.

Last week, another store entered the regional battle for Middle East consumers and the growing Ethnic American food market that includes many that have been around for years like Italian foods, Greek Foods, Hispanic Foods and Asian foods.

Pete’s Fresh Market opened at 102nd and Harlem Avenue, just south of where Shop & Save is located (88th and Harlem) and Tony’s Finer Foods is located (87th and Harlem).

Pete’s Fresh Market offers nearly 70,000 square feet of high tech food displays and salad bars and meat buffets that offer not only the traditional ethnic selections like tamales, Italian pastas and Greek selections, but now also freshly made Arab food items like tabouli and lamb stuffed meat pies. Pete’s has also taken the Arab food items and made them equal to the food displays offering Italian, Greek, Asian and Hispanic food items.

Jewel was one of the first to offer an ethnic section, but it never really grew to compete with the growing market demand.

Grocery stores are a natural part of our life experiences. When my wife asks me to go pick up a gallon on milk, I often come home with 15 other food products. Grocery shopping is fun, and for most ethnic immigrants, its really an experience that symbolizes the freedom that we didn’t have living in oppressive homelands in the Middle East. Grocery stores symbolize our new freedom as Americans. We don’t have to struggle to get the foods we want. Now, finding a job is a different story, of course, and lately in today’s deteriorating economy, it’s not easy.

But when I go to the ethnic sections of a grocery store, I always go there for a specific food. For me, my “milk” is now “tabouli.” Pete’s Fresh Grocery offers Tabouli in the deli buffet section and it taste great. Unfortunately, they don’t have it available all the time. When I don’t find “Milk” at one store, I’ll drive somewhere else to find it, and then buy the other 15 products I bring home.

It’s the same with tabouli for me. So I don’t mind the competition at all. It’s good to have Tony’s, Pete’s and Shop & Save all near each other. It’s good for the market. It’s good for the consumer. And, it’s even good for the three competing stores.

Why do you think Burger King, McDonalds and Wendy’s all open stores right across from each other? Because they know that together they create a huge market traffic and that demands sometimes vary. It’s good business to have variety. In increase revenues for everyone.

What keeps customers coming is not only the availability of the food items you want, but also the quality of the food. The better stores with the better quality food (tabouli in my case) will see me more often than the other stores. I’ll always stop at both because I appreciate the effort and concern that all of the stores show, whether it’s Jewel, Pet’es Fresh Market, Tony’s Finer Foods or Shop & Save. They deserve and will get my support.

That’s just the way the falafel bounces.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.

Follow RayHanania on Gettr.com, the uncensored Twitter Ray Hanania on Gettr, the new Twitter
Ray Hanania
Latest posts by Ray Hanania (see all)
  • The Town of Cicero Senior Center hosted the annual Hearts & Shamrocks dance - March 25, 2023
  • Harlem Avenue closed from 86th and 87th pending investigation of pedestrian struck by vehicle - March 24, 2023
  • Court orders ex to provide transportation so Dad can see his daughter - March 23, 2023
  • Tweet

SHARE THIS STORY
            
 
  
 
 
 
           
Features, food, Opinion, rayhanania, Suburban Chicagoland Tags:Middle East food market, suburbs

Post navigation

Previous Post: Gorman gives Rauner some added ‘Big Mo’
Next Post: Have a Halal of a time at Pete’s Market, and meet women too

Related Posts

  • Chicago Wolves courtesy of the Chicago Wolves
    Wolves create six new Project Thrive Zoom sessions Chicago
  • Former Mayor Dan McLaughlinchallenges beleaguered Mayor Keith Pekau int he April 2021 election. Photo courtesy of th eOne Orland Party website.
    McLaughlin slams bill that undermines police elections
  • Radio Host Amy Jacobson. Photo courtesy of @AmyJacobson Twitter
    Radio host files lawsuit against Governor Pritzker Chicago
  • New trash hauler in Bridgeview News
  • Gov. JB Pritzker signs legislation that caps the out-of-pocket cost of prescription insulin for many people in Illinois during a ceremony Jan. 24, 2020, at the Central Counties Health Centers in Springfield. The law is one of only three that go into effect Jan. 1. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Peter Hancock. Courtesy Des Plaines Valley News)
    Another pandemic victim News
  • Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
    Christmas holidays shoved down our throats Blogger

More Related Articles

Muhammad Ali Center United Way Muhammad Ali Center, Metro United Way partner for Greatest Give Back Events
Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar Aguilar accuses opponent of faking endorsements Cook County
Congressman Sean Casten Sean Casten launches new TV Ad slamming extremists in 6th District race Civil Rights
Gov. JB Pritzker campaigns in Hodgkins, Illinois. Nov. 3, 2022. Photo courtesy of the Desplaines Valley News No town too small, Pritzker visits Southwest suburbs elections
Hastings files lawsuit against Frankfort police after politicized domestic violence report released breaking news
Township of Lyons approves grants Government

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Login with your Social ID
  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau continues to lie and slander people
    March 21, 2023
  • Writing my very first news story that ran in the Messenger Press
    March 19, 2023
  • Ronette McCarthy, a candidate for Mayor of Palos Park, addresses the Palos Park Village Board on the issue of expanding Wu's House parking into land adjacent to the huge restaurant on the east.
    Whoa is Wu’s House in Palos Park
    March 14, 2023
  • Foxx policies punish police rather than the criminals
    March 8, 2023
  • Pekau silences accountability to expand his political power
    February 27, 2023
  • Terrorist Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin who is guilty of massacring civilians in his war against Ukraine. Photo credit Wikipedia
    America should stand with Ukraine and set aside internal politics
    February 24, 2023

Subscribe

  • Ray-Hanania-Newsletter-300-wide-Banner.jpg

Trending

  • Ronette McCarthy, a candidate for Mayor of Palos Park, addresses the Palos Park Village Board on the issue of expanding Wu's House parking into land adjacent to the huge restaurant on the east. Whoa is Wu’s House... Whoa is Wu's House in Palos Park Residents in Palos Park thought they had t... posted on March 14, 2023
  • Harlem Avenue closed from... Harlem Avenue closed from 86th and 87th pending investigation of pedestrian... posted on March 24, 2023
  • Orland Park Mayor Keith P... Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau continues to lie and slander people By Ray Ha... posted on March 21, 2023
  • Brandon Johnson leads a protest demanding to defund the Police. Phot courtesy of the Vallas for Mayor Campaign Johnson Refuses to Answer... Johnson Refuses to Answer Whether He Would Pursue Stricter Penalties for Re... posted on March 22, 2023
  • Pekau campaign signs viol... Pekau campaign signs violate village ordinances Pekau and his endorsed cand... posted on March 13, 2023
  • NEWS
  • State Rep. Cyril Nichols
    Arab Americans oppose “MENA” bill and urge “ARAB” be recognized as an MBE and in Census
    March 25, 2023
  • Town President Larry Dominick and the Cicero Senior Center hosted the annual Hearts and Shamrocks luncheon. Cicero's senior services program is one of the most extensive in the Midwest offering an array of services including lawn cutting, snow shoveling, handiman assistance, transportation and a range of healthcare services. For more information visit www.TheTownofCicero.com
    The Town of Cicero Senior Center hosted the annual Hearts & Shamrocks dance
    March 25, 2023
  • Harlem Avenue closed from 86th and 87th pending investigation of pedestrian struck by vehicle
    March 24, 2023
  • Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights
    Court orders ex to provide transportation so Dad can see his daughter
    March 23, 2023
  • Brandon Johnson leads a protest demanding to defund the Police. Phot courtesy of the Vallas for Mayor Campaign
    Johnson Refuses to Answer Whether He Would Pursue Stricter Penalties for Repeat Gun Offenders At WGN Debate 
    March 22, 2023
  • Orland Fire Protection District extinguish fire in apartment building at 144th and Ravinia Sunday Jan. 30, 2022
    One fatality in Orland Hills Home fire
    March 22, 2023
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png

The Political Pundit

Political Pundit Aug. 24, 2021. Taliban thanks president for boxes of MAGA hats
  • WORD PRESS REVIEWS
  • MyCloud by Western Digital, a hard drive that doesn't last. Don't purchase Western Digital.
    Western Digital tubes its loyal customers for profit
    October 17, 2021
  • Macho Themes website front page. Don't buy their themes. They don't work
    Difficulties with Macho Themes for WordPress
    August 21, 2021
  • TECHNOLOGY REVIEWS
  • Illinois State Senator Michael Hastings. Photo courtesy of the Illinois State Senate
    Senator Michael Hastings supports bill to protect consumers from pesky auto-renewal charges
    March 18, 2023
  • Wreaths Across America Radio logo
    Wreaths Across America Radio Announces New Strategic Partnerships with Veteran Radio Programs
    February 6, 2023
  • Dr. Helen Edwards Fermilab particle physicist
    Foster, Durbin, Duckworth introduce resolution to name Fermilab Research Center after renowned physicist Dr. Helen Edwards
    February 3, 2023

Follow Ray Hanania at
Gab.com, MeWe.com
IDobbinate.com,
Twitter, Facebook

Creative Commons License
All works on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

First Installment of the Property Tax

What We’re Reading

Arab News Newspaper Leading English Language Publication in the GulfArab News Newspaper

Ray Hanania on Politics
SW News Newspaper Group

  • SPORTS
  • Major League Rugby 2023 Championship to take place at SeatGeek Stadium July 8
    Major League Rugby 2023 Championship to take place at SeatGeek Stadium July 8
    March 17, 2023
  • Chicago Wolves 2022-2023 season
    Chicago Wolves top Stars for second win in a row
    October 25, 2022
  • Stagg Marching Band Pit Crew as efficient as a NASCAR pit stop! The team that does a lot of the work to help the Stagg High school band perform works behind the scenes like a NASCAR pit stop. The students are profiled in this feature
    Stagg Marching Band Pit Crew as efficient as a NASCAR pit stop!
    August 31, 2022
  • Soccer. Photo by Md Mahdi on Unsplash
    International soccer returns to SeatGeek Stadium
    August 7, 2022
  • NEWS RELEASES
  • State Rep. Cyril Nichols
    Arab Americans oppose “MENA” bill and urge “ARAB” be recognized as an MBE and in Census
    March 25, 2023
  • Town President Larry Dominick and the Cicero Senior Center hosted the annual Hearts and Shamrocks luncheon. Cicero's senior services program is one of the most extensive in the Midwest offering an array of services including lawn cutting, snow shoveling, handiman assistance, transportation and a range of healthcare services. For more information visit www.TheTownofCicero.com
    The Town of Cicero Senior Center hosted the annual Hearts & Shamrocks dance
    March 25, 2023
  • Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights
    Psychological support for divorcing dads topic of CLE at Leving firm
    March 14, 2023
  • Tony Award Winner Robert Falls returns to Goodman Theatre to direct his adaptation of "The Cherry Orchard" Photo courtesy Goodman Theatre
    Tony Award Winner Robert Falls returns to Goodman Theatre to direct his adaptation of “The Cherry Orchard”
    March 6, 2023
  • Popular Ziyad Brand Green Za'ater. Photo courtesy of Ziyad Brothers
    Ziyad Brothers reports that the appeal of Mediterranean foods continues to rise among consumers
    February 16, 2023
John Kass Columns

Order the book PoweR PR; Ethnic Activists Guide to Strategic Communications

  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • Ronette McCarthy, a candidate for Mayor of Palos Park, addresses the Palos Park Village Board on the issue of expanding Wu's House parking into land adjacent to the huge restaurant on the east.
    Whoa is Wu’s House in Palos Park
    March 14, 2023
  • Popular Ziyad Brand Green Za'ater. Photo courtesy of Ziyad Brothers
    Ziyad Brothers reports that the appeal of Mediterranean foods continues to rise among consumers
    February 16, 2023
  • Cook County Commissioner Frank Aguilar
    Cook County Announces Call for Transportation and Community Grant Program Applications
    January 23, 2023
  • money $20 dollar bill, dollars, cash
    Buckner unveils plan to help businesses and strengthen job
    January 19, 2023

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Click this link to watch or use the widget below:

Click here to view the video on YouTube or use the widget below.
Email Ray Hanania for more information about performing at your event at rghanania@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2022 Suburban Chicagoland & Urban Strategies Group

Powered by PressBook Premium theme