By Lior Ashkenazi ~
Golden afternoon sun shines through Tel Aviv’s rainbow-colored Carmel Market, intense with scents—pungent za’atar overpowers, wood spit broils hissing over shish-like lamb chunks browning, and damp foresty flushes from freshly baked pita coming out of the ovens on the street. Past the chant of vendors calling today’s offering, expectation of what is being cooked, naturally, and for what Israeli cuisine has become: a dynamic, exciting blend of flavors now overwhelming the world’s senses.
Over the last decade or so, Israel has come from gastronomic underground buzz to gastronomic world phenomenon. Israeli chefs are winning awards and cover features in London and New York to Tokyo and Melbourne, and the deep culinary heritage of Israeli cuisine is the world’s hottest ticket. But what, exactly, is so interesting about Israeli food?—and why, now?
A Melting Pot of Heritage
In reality, Israeli cuisine is a tale of immigration. Our last century has seen Jewish immigrants arriving en masse from Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and further afield and introducing with them an exhilarating array of cuisines—each one re-made and re-invented in a country where ancient and modern meet.
Shakshuka (North African fried tomato and egg pan), sabich (Iraqi-Jewish fried eggplant and egg sandwich), and kubbeh (Syrian-Iraqi semolina dumpling soup) are some of the Israeli on the menu. How they are made and look is highly diverse, characteristic of national food melting and improvisation.
As Israeli-British restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi, the genius behind this cuisine’s global popularity, describes it, the cuisine is hearty because it is “non-purist.” “The Israeli kitchen is not afraid to be inventive, to innovate, always glancing back to its multicultural roots.”
From Humble Markets to Michelin Mentions
In Tel Aviv, where Bauhaus apartment buildings and high-tech firms line streets, food is culture—and imagination pays. There are restaurants such as OCD by chef Raz Rahav, or Taizu, whose “Asia meets Israel” theme is a sign of where food culture has evolved here. Even OCD was mentioned in the Michelin guide when Michelin guides started featuring Israeli restaurants a few years back—a sign of culinary clout Israel has been gaining.
BESIDES ITS HIGH CUISINE, Israeli street food is the globe’s culinary sweetheart. Israeli falafel shops, hummus shops, and bakeries like Los Angeles’ Breads Bakery (famous for its chocolate babka) in Berlin and Paris are winning hearts—and accolades.
Produce-Powered Palates
What sets Israeli cuisine apart from the rest of food is also the amount of food that is blessed. With the agricultural technology in the country, its home cooks have access to some of the finest produce from within the country. There are sun-basking ripe tomatoes with aromatic herbs and more grains and legumes.
Israeli shelves are stacked and crowned with heirloom carrots and 15 varieties of olives. That profusion is the fulcrum of the Israeli plate, where freekeh pilaf, mujaddara, and Israeli salad don’t seem to make an appearance because they’re saucy-tasting, but because they’re fresh flavor and restraint.
Plant-Based, with a Purpose
Far before the rest of the globe went “plant-based” hip, Israeli food was already started with vegetables. For cultural, climatic, or kosher reasons, the Israeli kitchen from day one has skanted toward meat-free and dairy-free meals.
It’s a culture that made Israel a vegan tech hub. Tel Aviv, always one of the globe’s most vegan cities, would not be surprised to learn that food-tech startups such as Redefine Meat and InnovoPro are splashing on international media with their novel plant-based proteins. Domino’s Israel has even introduced a second vegan pizzas menu because demand for it increased.
Chefs across the country are jumping on the bandwagon, showcasing stunning vegetables with panache and imagination—tahini-finished fennel grilled to perfection, date syrup and za’atar oil-glazed eggplant carpaccio.
A Taste That Travels
What started in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv kitchens echoed through open ears overseas. Israeli cuisine, like Philadelphia’s Dizengoff and New Orleans’ Shaya, is a national favorite and chefs like Meir Adoni and Assaf Granit receive lots of attention from London to Paris.
Granit’s Balagan and Shabour in Paris alone, much less two, offer not only sustenance, but a flavor—a whole flavor, music, and greeting that Israel’s warmth of culture offers.
And dessert lovers: malabi (rosewater milk pudding) and knafeh (Levantine dessert pastry soaked in syrup and topped with pistachios) have been popping up on menus from Brooklyn to Bangkok.
More Than a Meal
There is something beyond the mixture of its spices or the density of its vegetables in the Israeli cuisine. It’s a dialogue about culture—a tool with which people of truly diverse origins are able to gather, share their stories, and honor survival, imagination, and pleasure.
In a corner of the world too often seen through the filter of war, food has emerged as a beautiful unifier. A spoonful of hummus passed around a table of friends, challah on a Friday night shared in passing from the dinner table, bourekas received from the open palm of a stall vendor—each a reminder that food, at its best, is one of stories of where we may be bound and who we are.
