Characteristic Features Of Israeli Cuisine

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Israeli cuisine is extremely interesting and cannot be placed within any limits. To get acquainted with it, we must study every aspect of it - from its origin to modern and traditional habits.

Israel is a Mediterranean country created in an area surrounded only by Arabs. Its inhabitants are Jews who came here from over 80 countries around the world - mostly from Europe, but there are also Jews from neighboring Arab countries, and even black Jews from Ethiopia. What unites them are the Jewish traditions, strictly observed for millennia.

20 percent of Arabs also live in Israel. And these are not those living in the Palestinian Authority, but Arabs are Israeli citizens. They are both Muslims and Christians. In relation to these factors, the concept of Israeli cuisine takes on a new look. It combines cuisines from around the world, gathered in one place.

There are two groups of migrants in Israel - Sephardim, who came from the Mediterranean, the Middle and Far East, and Ashkenazi, who came from France, Germany, Russia and Eastern Europe. Coming here, each group of them brings with them the culinary traditions to which they are accustomed.

Therefore, Israeli cuisine is an interesting combination of typical Mediterranean vegetables and fruits, olives, olive oil, wheat and dairy products with the usual Nordic pickles, stews, pancakes, roast meats and Middle Eastern flatbreads, chickpeas and lamb.

The main requirement for food in Israel is to be "kosher". The main prohibition in the Torah, the Hebrew holy book, which includes the first five books of the Bible, reads:

"Don't boil a lamb in his mother's milk." This literally means never mixing meat and dairy products. Kashrut is the law that determines which food is kosher and which is not. The Jews who observe them have never tried pizza with ham sprinkled with yellow cheese, for example.

Everywhere in the country you will see food certified as kosher. The food is divided on the principle of dairy products (and fish), meat (but without pork, which is also prohibited by kashrut).

One of the typical spices or sauces in Israel is hummus. It is prepared from chickpea paste mixed with sesame seed paste and a little olive oil sprinkled with finely chopped parsley. Used in almost everything.

Another characteristic feature is the abundance of fresh fruits that are present in the daily menu. There are also vegetables, but they are in the form of pickles such as pickled beets.

This is normal, as canning root vegetables is another of the legacies that the northern Jews brought with them. The large amount of fish consumed is typical, even at breakfast.