Falafel in health-food stores. While often used to make veggie burgers, it has become more widely used as a source of protein. In the United States, falafel's versatility has allowed for the reformulating of recipes for meatloaf, sloppy joes and spaghetti and meatballs into vegetarian dishes. Falafel is made from fava beans or chickpeas. The use of chickpeas is predominant in most Middle Eastern countries, such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. This version is the most popular in the West. In Egypt, fava beans, chickpeas, or often a combination of the two may be used. When chickpeas are used,
Parsley stems resembling celery. Another type of parsley is grown as a root vegetable, the Hamburg root parsley ("P. crispum radicosum" group, syn. "P. crispum" var. "tuberosum"). This type of parsley produces much thicker roots than types cultivated for their leaves. Although seldom used in Britain and the United States, root parsley is common in central and eastern European cuisine, where it is used in soups and stews, or simply eaten raw, as a snack (similar to carrots). Although root parsley looks similar to the parsnip, which is among its closest relatives in the family Apiaceae, its taste is quite different.