The pasta was delicious. While savoring it, I wondered whether one could obtain such condiments in Palestine in the first half of the 20th century, under the British rule. Surely, the rabbinic noose was looser around people's necks then, before the State of Israel came to be, born in sin by not separating religion from state.
I could consult some history book, but I doubt it would contain this detail about food. Perhaps period Hebrew literature will reveal the answer, but I wouldn't know where to look, and can't afford a grand reading enterprise just to satisfy my curiosity on this one. So I'm putting the question up on my LJ, as a reminder to myself to keep looking for clues, and on the off-chance that some current or future reader will have the answer for me.