Israeli Cuisine: What to Eat in a Land Flowing With Milk and Honey
Apr 02 '01 (Updated Feb 12 '03)
The Bottom Line This is a great place to be if you're a vegetarian. It's a great place to be even if you eat meat. Israeli food is just great.
The Bible says that the place now known as Israel is a land "flowing with milk and honey." Do you know what it's like in a land "flowing with milk and honey"? It's sticky!
Joking aside, despite the Biblical tie in to milk and honey, Israel does not have a unique or long- standing culinary heritage. Until a few years ago, most Israelis even questioned if they had their own cuisine, or if their cuisine was only a mish-mash of other Mediteranian cuisines.
It has become clear in the last several years, however, that Israel does have its own cuisine. Israel is a land populated largely by immigrants and Israeli cuisine is a mish-mash of the cuisines of those countries, the traditional foods of Jewish holidays and the foods that come from its Mediterranean heritage.
The Israeli breakfast is composed of salads, a variety of cheeses, olives, bread, juice and coffee. The salads can include salat Arabeet (Arab salad) which is a finely diced mix of agvaniot (tomatoes) and melaphephone (cucumbers) among others. The g'vee-note (cheeses) may include slices of mild yellow cheese, cottage cheese, or Bulgarian (a salty cheese similar to feta). The breads may include rolls, pita (pocket bread), or bagels. There are a few kinds of coffee common in Israel - most of them are not good. Nescafe is instant coffee, though not necessarily that brand. There is "Elite" coffee which is a finely powdered instant coffee. It is thin and watery and disgusting. If you make it with lots of milk and sugar, it can be drinkable. (It can make a reasonable version of ice coffee for those who like that in the summer.) Filter coffee tends to be the closest to what most Americans know of when drinking coffee. Turkish coffee is thick and has grounds in it. You must let it settle before you drink it.
The big meal in Israel is usually served in the afternoon. Dinner is often not served until 8 or 9 p.m. Very few families eat their large meal at night. Whatever the big meal, it usually begins with a first course of hummus (a dip made from chickpeas) and tehina (a sauce made of sesame seeds - or in Hebrew soom-soom). Pita (pocket) bread can be torn and dipped in these, or they can be put inside the pocket. The basic Israeli salad consists of finely diced cucumbers (melaphefon) and tomatoes (agvaniot) with onions (betzel) and perhaps herbs, oil, salt, pepper, or lemon juice. Other salads might include thinly sliced red cabbage with mayonnaise, an egg salad, hot-ze-leem (eggplant dip, called babaganoush in other parts of the world). Note that none of these items contain either fleishig (meat) or milchig (dairy) foods. They are all considered pareve (neutral) for purposes of Kosher. What follows this first course may be either a meat or milk meal. (More on what that might entail will follow.) The smaller of the two meals usually consists of dairy products, salads and eggs.
Kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws stemming from the Bible, have tremendous influence on the cuisine of Israel. According to these laws certain types of meat and fish may be eaten; others are verboten. Pork is not permitted in anyform. Shellfish is also not permitted. Also, dairy and meat dishes must be prepared separately and may not be consumed together. Many restaurants in Israel choose to "observe Kashrut" (keep the dietary laws) and so will serve only milchig (dairy) or fleishig (meat). Fish is pareve (neutral) and may be served at either. Eggs, fruits, vegetables and grains are also pareve and may be served with either meat or dairy. For a restaurant to be kosher, it may not be open on Shabbat (the Sabbath) from Friday night at sunset through Saturday night at sunset.
In homes where Kashrut is observed, the same rules apply. Households will also have two sets of dishes - one for milchig and one for fleishig. No cooking is permitted on Shabbat, so meals served in the home are either cold or are prepared in advance and can simmer for a LONG time under a low flame. Traditional is cholent - a stew made with beef, grains, potatoes, and eggs. The whole thing goes into a pot on Friday night and comes out Saturday for lunch. The eggs end up baked and a dark brown. This is usually served with bread and salads. Another possible Shabbat meal is kugel - a vegetable and noodle pudding.
When catching a bite on the street, hamburger joints are beginning to replace the once ubiquitous felafel stand. Felafel (ground chick peas seasoned, rolled into a ball and deep fried), however, is still there. Most felafel stands also include shwarma (processed meat, roasted on a spit and shaved off.) Both items are served in warm pitas with sauces and salads. In the countryside, there are sometimes stands where one can get freshly made flat bread with labeneh (a dairy product somewhere between sour cream and a soft cheese) and zatar (a delicious spice mix).
Israeli cuisine is still developing. The most recent changes have arisen from the influx of Russian Jews. It will be interesting to see what the next years bring.
Update:
A few days that have some special foods:
Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year): Apples and honey (for a sweet New Year.) Some people also include fish and a vegetable from each of the different types for which there are brachot (blessings) so that all the blessings are said for the first time on the New Year.
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): No food...this is a "fast" day (though it feels like it goes on forever.)
Hannukah: Sufganiyot (jelly donuts) or anything deep fried. It represents the miracle of the oil at the time of the Macabees.
Passover: No leavened bread. Traditions here will vary for Ashkenazi Jews (Eastern Europe) and Sephardic (Spanish Jews).
Memuna (The Day after Passover): This is a Moroccan tradition that many Israelis have adopted celebrating Maimonides. The food is all very sweet and oily.
Yom Ha'atz Ma'ut (Independence Day): Lots of picnics in the parks, but very little in the way of parking places by the parks. Fun to note that as in all cultures I have seen, women are expected to cook in the house, but when fire comes outside men resort to their caveman roots. "We are men! We cook with fire!"
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If you're interested in more details about life cycle in Israel, check out my review:
Israeli Time and Holiday Traditions
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