Israel: bringing Jewish cuisine to life

This blog has been slightly on the quiet side over the past few months. This is due to the fact that I have (temporarily?) migrated overseas to the place where Jewish cuisine is at its best. That’s right folks - I am currently residing in Israel. So to deviate from nutrition for a little bit, I thought I’d focus purely on culinary delights, food, eateries and whatnot. I know, I know, living in Israel and talking about food? Does it get any less original? Apologies, but as they say on this side of town: "בטאבון - Bete-avon!"

 

Coming from Australia, where majority of food joints are off limits, living in Jerusalem has been pretty overwhelming in terms of the range of food it offers. So far I have noticed a few themes:

1. Chummus. Or hummus, take your pick. Are you surprised? I wasn’t. It becomes expected that whatever you eat is served with a side of chummus. Chummus to Israelies is what Ketchup is to Americans, and what Vegemite is to Aussies. To make things interesting, there are different versions of this chickpea dip. Spicy chummus, chummus with tachina, zataar sprinkled on top, chummus with matbucha, and apparently there is such thing as peanut-butter flavoured chummus, which I have yet to discover.

2. An overwhelming amount of Italian restaurants. For every chummus eatery don’t be surprised to find some form of Italian food place around the corner. Israel has proven to be quite the expert when it comes to pasta, pizza and ice cream. This becomes a problem for any lactose-intolerant individuals out there, but for those who adore cheese and milk - it wasn't dubbed the "land of milk and honey" for no reason (mm..corny, I know).

3. On the same dairy flavoured token, yoghurt is another art form in this country. Not only will you find flavoured yoghurt sold with a variety of toppings including sugared pecans, muesli and chalva, there is also the well known “Fro-yo” (frozen yoghurt) machines that magically combine your favourite ingredients into one smooth scoop of yoghurt. My favourite Fro-Yo combo goes something like this: Banana-date-chalva-sugared pecans-white chocolate-coconut-muesli. Yum.

4. Shuk-flavour. The shuk has become my second home. Also known as the “Machaneh Yehuda Market”, the shuk is comprised of 2 main streets (undercover and open) with little winding alleyways sneaking up on you as you try to push yourself through the hubbub of the market. The shuk is like a concentrated version of Israels cuisine. It boasts fresh fruit and vegetables (albeit coated with cigarette smoke from the vendors and lots of hungry, happy bugs), sweet, chocolatey cakes and pastries, freshly baked breads, spicy salads and dips, kubeh, an abundance of cheeses, nuts and dried fruit, gummies, iced beverages and spices. You’ll also find tiny little cafes, bars and restaurants that are havens within the shuk and great little spots to people-watch as the market does tend to attract the interesting people of Jerusalem.

So there’s just a few of my observations…more to come…