The continuation of food in Israel – the good, the bad, and the ugly

As promised, here is Part II, with more of a focus on processed foods in Israel.

Juice Drink:

On the one hand the streets are jam-packed with vendors selling freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, grapefruit juice or carrot juice. But, walk into a supermarket or a makolet (milk bar) and it is rare to find a bottle of real fruit juice.

You may be familiar with some of the brand like, “Prigat”, “Spring” or “Jump” . Do not be fooled by their deceptive claims. They are not in any way, a fruit juice. Real fruit juice is never that clear. Real fruit juice is never that sweet. If you are craving a real orange juice, either buy one from the street, spend a wad of cash on an expensive brand, or make your own (or collect juice from the floor of the shuk and pour that into a bottle, no - please don't).

Israeli Cereals:

Breakfast for me = cereal. The cereals in this country just don’t do it. They’re not so much of a breakfast food, but more of a dessert. Filled with chocolate, nougat, vanilla, coated in sugar, packed with sugar-coated nuts and fruit, you end up just wanting more and more and more and more until the whole box somehow ends up empty. On one my trips to the supermarket the other week, I noticed that majority of the cereal shelves were packed with these sickly-sweet cereals, with the exception of Branflakes, which apparently makes up for all of it. Breakfast cereals are also triple the price of cereals in Australia, most likely because the usual Israeli breakfast consists of vegetables, bread, cheeses, eggs and dips. 

* Note - this is one of the recent versions of a box of cereal in Israel, only in this country would the advertising feature for a childrens cereal be "WTF". 

Maafot:

I really like this word. So simple, yet so useful. I know the literal translation is a pastry, but I’ve always thought of it as any baked good. Kind of like an umbrella term. Bakeries in Israel are always boasting about their “Maafot” – buy a cup of a coffee with a free Maafeh. Usually there is a selection of chocolate, apple, nuts, chalva and cinnamon. 

Bamba snack.

Bamba is an Israeli snack food, with a overwhelming peanut butter flavour.. Doesn’t work out very well for the school-kids of today, where peanut allergies are taking over the world.  Interestingly, studies have shown that kids in London have 11 times the rate of peanut allergies as kids in Israel. Is Bamba snack the solution?

It’s been around since 1963, and is still a prominent feature in the Israeli supermarket. Think Cheezles, without the cheese. More modern variations include strawberry-flavoured Bamba (not my favourite), and nougat filled Bamba (weirdly delicious). Bamba is promoted as a healthy children’s snack, but given its high fat content (544 calories in 100 grams, or 137 calories in a packet), I wouldn’t be overly encouraging it (despite it’s peanut-allergy-protective-powers).