Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on January 30, 2015

Chirshi, a well-seasoned Libyan pumpkin paste, is traditionally served as an appetizer. (Courtesy of Gil Hovav)

From Givatayims renowned Sabich Shel Oved a simple eggplant-sandwich shop with lines snaking around the corner to lesser-known places like Chachaporia Georgian cuisine in Jerusalem, the new e-book Israels Top 100 Ethnic Restaurantsprovides the English-speaking tourist a window into the delectable, folksy Israeli foods that locals have raved about for years.

Israel has been on the culinary ascent of late, with dozens of food blogs, new high-end restaurants, cooking shows and celebrity chefs, and a fascination with everything foodie. But theres no need for catchphrases like local and fresh in a place famed for its bountiful produce piled high in open-air markets, from Tel Avivs Carmel Market to Mahane Yehuda in Jerusalem.

As noted in the book, which was published by The World Jewish Heritage, a nonprofit that promotes tourism to heritage sites, both markets also house restaurants and after-hour bars in addition to the daily fruit, vegetables and tchochkes they cacophonously hawk.

Many of the tastiest morsels arent served up in white-cloth establishments or by rising stars. Rather they are offered at nondescript holes in the wall and unadorned booths by old-school traditionalists, like Savta Eva on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, serving classic Ashkenazi fare such as chicken soup with matzah balls and farfel, or Rita Romano of the Libyan buffet at Ritas Kitchen in Herzliya.

That raises the question, what exactlyisIsraeli ethnic food?

Its Moroccan, Russian, Polish, Bukharian, Ethiopian, Syrian, Lebanese you name it, says famed Israeli food critic, TV personality and chef Gil Hovav, who served as a consultant on the book. In the foreword, he writes, While terroir may be too big a word to apply to Israeli street food, we are definitely loyal to whatever grows in our sun-drenched part of the world, where everything seems to be in season all year round.

At a book launch event this month at Israeli chef Einat Admonys Lower East Side restaurant Balaboosta, Hovav told a story of coming to New York after 9/11 to film his show, but instead being recruited to cook breakfast for 500 Ground Zero workers at5:30 a.m.in conditions he said were more rustic than his days in the Israeli army. After feedingshakshuka to the hungry hordes, the sated workers marveled, How interesting that in Israel you eat Mexican food for breakfast!

Its Moroccan! Hovav wanted to tell them.

The chef, who came to New York for two days for the event, will return in March for three days to host a Yemenite Pop-Up dinner with food writer and Israeli cuisine expert Adeena Sussman on the Upper West Side in collaboration with the websiteEatWith.

Read more:

Exploring Israels ethnic cuisine

Category: Ashkenazi
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