What's For Dinner? Food in Israel

ORDINARY TIME

There are many references to being lost in the Gospels:  lost coin, lost sheep, lost child, lost son.  These stories remind me of feeling lost and confused when it came to eating in Israel.

Seriously?  What IS that??  (looks like they are roasting the Tasmanian Devil!)

Meals.  This was, to me, one of the most frustrating things about the trip to Israel:  the lack of explanation of the foods, and how to eat them.

mystery food - my first meal in Israel

The photo above shows my very first meal in Israel and I couldn't identify very much of it.  


The foods were not what I was used to, which I was expecting & fine, but since I couldn't even put a name to them I had no idea how to eat them!  This was not what I was expecting!

The first night I sampled something they told me was "shish-ka-bob".  I saw right away that it didn't look like anything we had back home with that name.  But I wanted to experience everything so I tried two of them.

I believe one was beef and one was lamb.  At first I thought they had bones sticking out of them, like a chicken leg, but quickly figured out that those are cinnamon sticks!  (makes them look gross if you ask me, just the meatball would have a more appetizing appeal!)  I ate them just as they were, and I have found out that I probably was suppose to dip them in something, but no one explained anything so I probably didn't like them due to not eating them correctly.

Since returning home, I have looked all over the internet trying to figure out more about these "shish-ka-bobs".  Nothing looks like the ones above with the cinnamon sticks, although we saw them at multiple restaurants so clearly they were sort common.  

I discovered they are called "Kebabs".  My American mind must have added the "shish" to the name!  Funny how our minds work!  LOL!

I found this recipe at Allrecipes.com:   http://allrecipes.com/recipe/kofta-kebabs/    The guy that posted the recipe said  

 "These kebabs have 6 different kinds of spices; the first time I smelled them I knew immediately that I had to find the recipe. The most affordable way to purchase the spices is in bulk at either a health food store or an Asian or Middle-Eastern market. They are very good! Serve with yogurt, flat bread, lettuce, tomato and cucumber."  

 Another website suggested   

 "break off a piece of pita, dip it in the sauce, and wrap it around the kebab - a true delight."   

Several of the websites posted a specific dipping sauce called "Tzatziki Sauce" which appears to mainly consist of yogurt, cucumber and lemon juice.  Ah-ha!  So that's how to eat them! 

 Wait.  

Yogurt is milk-based, so since mixing dairy with meat is a big no-no (not kosher) I don't know how in the world these two items are ever served at the same meal.  ???

I'm going to assume that I was not offered tzatziki sauce with my kebabs when I had my first meal in Israel because it was dinner, and all the restaurants we went to, save one, were strictly kosher.  In fact, I'm going to guess that since we only had dairy at breakfast, I never experienced tzatziki sauce!  Ha!

Another thing I noticed right away was the absence of ice.  I don't think I saw an ice cube the entire time we were in Israel and nothing was served very cold, not even the milk.

Several times we were given either hummus or oil or both, and multiple little plates of veggies and pita bread.  It was like getting chips & salsa & queso at a Mexican restaurant.  

Hummus appetizer - or maybe it's the first course of the meal?

Yikes!  That's a lot of options!!!  Course, we had no idea what to do with it, but everyone was happy to experiment!

 I don't know what some of the options were, but carrots?  Beets? 

Onions?  Pickled corn?

So frustrating.  I guess I was expecting that on a group tour of a foreign country we would be guided...hence the name Tour Guide?

American Cheeseburger with traditional toppings

For instance:  I would not take someone completely naive about a hamburger and expect them to walk up to a salad bar and know what was usual or common to put on it.  Yes to lettuce, no to cucumbers, yes to onions, no to pineapples, yes to pickles, no to salami, yes to mayonnaise, no to whipped cream.  (no comments from all you people out there who are saying they eat cucumbers on their cheeseburger!  I'm trying to make a point here).

I would want a guest to my country to enjoy the different American foods and would guide them to embellish the meals in the usual American way.  Get what I mean?  I would not expect them to walk up to a breakfast bar and know that gravy doesn't go on the peaches.

Breakfast Bar in Nazareth

So when faced with giant buffets of foods I can't identify and have never eaten before, I just wish our tour guide would have given us a lesson in eating.  Just one, just a quick one.  Not only kosher (a whole experience and story in itself!!!) but come on, give us a clue what this stuff is and what to do with it!

I was so confused....like the first time I had Falafel.

A Falafel is a deep-fried ball made from ground chickpeas or fava beans, or both.

Falafel

On the first day, we stopped at a cute little roadside place between Haifa and Mt. Tabor that was just picture-perfect with a fountain and olive trees in the courtyard!  It was like a postcard!  I was in Mediterranean-tourist heaven!

The main food, the falafel, was put into a pita pocket, put on a plate and handed to me.  Then I was directed into the next room, which was completely dedicated to embellishing options!!

Where to begin?

I didn't know where to start...did they go on the falafel?  Were they side dishes?  Desserts?  Heck, I didn't know!  And, I can tell you that I must have done a really bad job, because my meal was nothing I cared to duplicate, that's for sure.

Yuck.

To me, it was like a 1/2 cooked hush puppy anyway.  I think that the most common "topping" is a sort of vinegary-coleslaw (no mayo since that would be mixing meat & dairy - not allowed when eating kosher!).

I avoided falafel the rest of the trip.

Now, Shawerma on the other hand, I fell in love with!

The first time we had shawerma, we had stopped at this crappy little hole-in-the-wall on the side of the road between Nazareth & Capernaum.  (the owners were super duper nice though, despite the dilapidated, junky look of the place)

There were only two choices on the menu:

Falafel & soda 

OR
Shawerma & soda

Well, I didn't have a clue what shawerma was, but I sure as heck wasn't having another falafel!  LOL!

Mom and I were leery of whatever this was (the price: NIS 28 (shekels) = $9.00 each!) and since we didn't like the falafel, we decided not to gamble this time and split one. 

Shawerma!  Yum!

It was YUMMY!!!

Turns out, shawerma is grilled turkey (or lamb or chicken or don't tell me) with cabbage & other veggies and some kind of tart-tasting sauce.  And it was good!  I wished I had gotten my own!  (But then Mom popped up and bought us both ice cream bars, so I was a happy camper!  LOL!)

Well I liked them very much and ate shawerma all over Israel, but the best one I had was in Bethlehem.  It was our only "Christian" meal of the trip and so there was no observation of the kosher laws.  Which meant this shawerma featured a creamy-dreamy milk-based sauce on it which just "made" the meal for me.  Ahhhh.  It was really, really good. 

The folks who ran the restaurant were super nice (as were the other patrons!).  When I told them how much I enjoyed the shawerma, they insisted I come see it cooking!  How cool!

And, I never would have imagined how they did it!  But I'm sure you've guessed:  it's the grilled Tasmanian Devil!  LOL!

Shawerma cooking on it's odd-looking vertical spit/grill

They pile up all the sliced meat (usually turkey or lamb) on the huge, rotating skewer first thing in the morning.  As the outside cooks, the slice it off and sell it.  When it's gone, it's gone for the day, because they start fresh every single day.  No wonder it's so yummy!

When we were in Old Jerusalem, we had stopped for lunch in a cute little courtyard and I again had shawerma.  It was back to kosher, so not as good at the lunch in Bethlehem, but still good.  Each time I had shawerma was a unique experience due to the different veggies that came on it, how large or shredded they were, the oils or vinegars or whatever sauce they used - I would imagine like going around my town and eating cheeseburgers in various cafes and restaurants.  Anyway, I went to the bathroom and could see into the kitchen from the stairway so I snapped this quick, slightly out-of-focus, picture.

Clearly it was later in the day or a more popular restaurant, but I was lucky to get my shawerma before it ran out for the day!  LOL!!

I was happy to figure out some things on my own, or by comparing thoughts with my fellow travelers and thoroughly enjoyed my last meal in Israel which was a feast!

It was dark so I have no idea where we were, somewhere between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  But the restaurant was really neat, with a beautiful little garden surrounded by tropical flowers and plants and a little stream.  I couldn't get any pictures worth a darn because it was so dark, but I'd sure like to eat there again!

Besides the normal appetizer of the hummus/oil/unidentifiable veggies, we were given unlimited chicken skewers which were a big hit with our group and we enjoyed a fun sword-fight along with eating them!

Sword fighting with skewers of chicken

J. & Jule get into the act

K and Mom having a silly sword fight

Another fun aspect to this meal was because we were headed to the airport, and because most of us were over-weight on our luggage, we were all "getting rid of" wine we had purchased in Cana!  LOL!  It was a fun meal to say the least!

Just one more word about being confused about eating in Israel.  Guess what this is below?  I thought it was salads & cheese!  LOL!!

Ice Cream Bar in Israel

2012 Pilgrimage to Israel