Israeli cuisine

Israeli cuisine (Hebrew: הַמִּטְבָּח הַיִּשְׂרָאֵלִי‎ HaMitbakh HaYisraeli) is a diverse cuisine consisting of local dishes and dishes brought to Israel by Jewish immigrants from around the world. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, a nascent Israeli fusion cuisine has developed.

Israeli cuisine has adopted and continues to adapt elements of various Jewish styles of cuisine including Mizrahi, Sephardic,^[1] Ethiopian Jewish, Indian Jewish, Iranian Jewish, Yemeni Jewish and Ashkenazi.

It has also incorporated other Middle Eastern foods, and many foods traditionally eaten in the Middle East, such as falafel, shakshouka, couscous, Israeli salad, hummus and za'atar, have become synonymous with Israeli cuisine.^[2]

New dishes based on world trends have been introduced over the years, and chefs trained abroad have brought in elements of other international cuisines.^[3][4]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Early years of the State of Israel 1.3 Impact of immigration 1.4 Modern trends 2 Characteristics 3 Israeli foods 3.1 Appetizers, vegetables and salads 3.2 Soups 3.3 Grains, pasta and dumplings 3.4 Fish 3.5 Poultry and meat 3.6 Dairy products 3.7 Baked dishes, cookies, pastries 3.8 Breads and sandwiches 3.9 Confections, sweets and snack foods 3.10 Sauces and condiments 3.11 Drinks 3.12 Wine 4 Holiday cuisine 4.1 Sabbath 4.2 Hannukah 4.3 Purim 4.4 Passover 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References

History

Origins

Israel’s culinary traditions comprise foods and cooking methods that span three thousand years of history.^[5] Over that time, it has been shaped by influences from Asia, Africa and Europe, and religious and ethnic influences have resulted in a culinary melting pot. Biblical and archaeological records provide insight into the culinary life of the region as far back as 968 BCE, in the days of the kings of ancient Israel.^[5]

During the Second Temple period (516 BCE to 70 CE), Hellenistic and Roman culture heavily influenced manners and cuisine, particularly of the priests and aristocracy of Jerusalem. Elaborate meals were served, beginning with piquant dishes and an alcoholic drink as an entrée, followed by pickled fish and smoked meat, and fried eggs accompanied by pickled vegetables, olives, radishes, celery, lettuce or cucumbers and tart or sweet fruits.^[5]

The food of the common people was based on several products that still play important roles in modern Israeli cuisine. These were known as the seven species: olives, figs, dates, pomegranates, wheat, barley and grapes. The diet, based on locally grown produce, was enhanced by imported spices and herbs, readily available due to the country’s position at the crossroads of east-west trade routes.^[5]

After the destruction of the Second Temple and the exile of the majority of Jews from the land of Israel, Jewish cuisine continued to develop in the many countries where Jewish communities have existed since Late Antiquity, influenced by the economics, agriculture, and culinary traditions of those countries.

Before the establishment of the State of Israel, the cuisine of the old Jewish communities, especially of Jerusalem, included pies like sambousak, pastels and burekas, vegetable gratins and stuffed vegetables, and rice and bulgur pilafs. These are characteristic dishes of Sephardic cuisine, and are now considered to be Jerusalem classics.^[3]

Groups of Hasidic Jews from Eastern Europe began establishing communities in the Holy Land in the late 1700s, and brought with them their traditional Ashkenazi cuisine, developing, however, distinct local variations, notably a caramelized noodle pudding (kugel Yerushalmi), a sweet and spicy version of the traditional Askenazi lokshen kugel (sweet cheese and noodle pudding).^[6]

From the 1880s, Jews began migrating to Palestine from Eastern Europe in larger numbers, particularly from Poland and Russia. These Zionist pioneers, called halutzim, were motivated both ideologically and by the Mediterranean climate to reject the Ashkenazi cooking styles they had grown up with, and use local produce, especially vegetables such as zucchini, peppers, eggplant and artichokes, and the hummus and falafel made from the local chickpea.^[3] The bread, olives, cheese and raw vegetables they adopted became the basis for the kibbutz breakfast, which in more abundant forms is served in Israeli hotels today,^[3] and in various forms, in most Israeli homes.

Early years of the State of Israel

The State of Israel faced enormous military and economic challenges in its early years, and the period from 1948 to about 1958 was a time of food rationing and austerity, known as tzena. Substitutes, such as the wheat-based rice substitute, ptitim, were introduced, and vegetables, like eggplant, were used as alternatives to meat. Additional flavor and nutrition was provided from inexpensive canned tomato paste and puree, hummus, tahina, and mayonnaise in tubes. Meat was scarce, and it was not until the late 1950s that herds of beef cattle were introduced into the agricultural economy.^[7] A legacy of that time is a range of mock or simulated foods, such as chopped “liver” from eggplant, and turkey as a substitute for veal schnitzel or for lamb in kebabs and shwarma.^[3]

Impact of immigration

Israel has incorporated elements of the cuisines of many immigrant populations.^[1] During the approximately fifty years before 1948, there were successive waves of Jewish immigration, known as aliyot, which brought with them a whole range of foods and cooking styles. Immigrants arriving from central Europe brought foods such as schnitzel and strudels, and coffee drinking accompanied by delicate pastries, while Russian Jews brought borsht and tea-drinking and other Ashkenazi favorites.^[3]

Ashkenazi dishes include chicken soup, schnitzel and chopped liver, gefilte fish and kugel. "Jerusalem Kugel" made with caramelized sugar and spiced with black pepper is a speciality of Ashkenazi Jews in Jerusalem. The first Israeli patisseries were opened by Ashkenazi Jews, who popularized cakes and pastries from central and eastern Europe, such as yeast cakes (babka), nut spirals (schnecken), chocolate roll and layered pastries.

After 1948, the greatest impact came from the large migration of Jews from Turkey, Iraq, Kurdistan and Yemen, and Mizrahi Jews from North Africa, particularly Morocco. Typically, the staff of army, schools, hospitals, hotels and restaurant kitchens has been Mizrahi, Kurdish and Yemenite Jews, and Israeli Arabs,^[3] and this has had an influence on the cooking fashions and ingredients of the country.

Mizrahi cuisine, the cuisine of Jews from North Africa, features grilled meats, sweet and savory puff pastries, rice dishes, stuffed vegetables, pita breads and salads, and shares many similarities with Arab cuisine. North African dishes popular in Israel include couscous, mafrum, shakshouka, matbucha, Moroccan cooked carrot salad and chraime (slices of fish cooked in a spicy tomato sauce). Sephardic dishes, with Balkan and Turkish influences incorporated in Israeli cuisine include burekas, yoghurt and taramosalata. Yemenite foods include jachnun, malawach, skhug, saluf and kubane. Iraqi dishes popular in Israel include amba, various types of kubbeh, sambusac, sabich and pickled vegetables (hamutzim).

Modern trends

As Israeli agriculture developed, new kinds of fruits and vegetables appeared in the local markets, and cooks and chefs began to use them. For example, from the late 1960s, the Israeli chef Uri Guttman developed a hot avocado soup, St. Peter's fish with mango and pomegranate, and crepes stuffed with pears, nuts, dates, and figs. Schooled in French cuisine, Guttman traveled around the world representing Israel in cooking competitions and adapted unusual recipes to what was available in the country. He also developed menus for army bases and restaurants, using local products.^[7]

Chefs also began using so-called "Biblical" ingredients such as honey, figs, and pomegranates; indigenous foods like prickly pears (tzabar) and chickpeas, and new Israeli produce such as avocado, citrus, mango and dairy products. Since the late 1970s there has been an increased interest in food, including international cuisine, cooking with wine and herbs, healthy eating and vegetarianism. Eating out in restaurants has become a popular recreation.^[3]

There has also been a revival of interest in ethnic heritage-cooking, both Sephardic and Ashkenazi, and an increased interest in “Mediterranean” styles. People still generally eat at home according to their ethnic background, but a wide variety of foods are available in street markets, supermarkets and restaurants, and people increasingly partake of foods from ethnic backgrounds other than their own at Sabbath dinners, and celebrations such as weddings and bar mitzvahs.^[3]

Lastly, the influences from American/Western cuisine are increasingly prevalent.

Characteristics

Geography has a large influence on Israel cuisine, and foods common in the Mediterranean region, such as olives, wheat, chickpeas, dairy products, fish, and vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, and zucchini are prominent in Israeli cuisine. Fresh fruits and vegetables are plentiful in Israel and are cooked and served in many ways.^[8]

There are various climatic areas in Israel that allow a variety of products to be grown. Citrus trees such as orange, lemon and grapefruit thrive on the coastal plain. Figs, pomegranates and olives also grow in the cooler hill areas.^[5] The subtropical climate near the Sea of Galilee and in the Jordan River Valley is suitable for mangoes, kiwis and bananas, while the temperate climate of the mountains of the Galilee and the Golan is suitable for grapes, apples and cherries.^[9]

Israeli eating customs also conform to the wider Mediterranean region, with lunch, rather than dinner, being the focal meal of a regular workday. “Kibbutz foods” have been adopted by many Israelis for their light evening meals as well as breakfasts, and now typically consist of many types of cheeses, both soft and hard, yoghurt, leben and sour cream, olives, hard-boiled eggs or omelets, pickled and smoked herring, a variety of breads, and fresh orange juice and coffee.^[3]

In addition, Jewish holidays influence the cuisine, with the preparation of traditional foods at holiday times, such as various types of challah (Sabbath bread) for Sabbaths and Festivals, jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot) for Hanukah, the hamantaschen pastry (oznei haman) for Purim, charoset, a type of fruit paste, for Passover, and dairy foods for Shavuot. The Shabbat dinner, and to a lesser extent Shabbat lunch, is a significant meal in Israeli homes, together with holiday meals.^[8]

Although only a minority of Jews in Israel strictly observe the Jewish dietary laws (kashrut or “keeping kosher”), the tradition of kashrut strongly influences the availability of certain foods and their preparation in homes, public institutions and many restaurants, including the separation of milk and meat and avoiding the use of non-kosher foods, especially pork and shellfish. During Passover, bread and other leavened foods are proscribed and matza and leaven-free foods are substituted.^[10]

Israeli foods

Israel does not have a universally recognized national dish; however, many consider it to be falafel, deep fried balls of seasoned, ground chickpeas.^[11][12] Falafel is most commonly served in a pita, with pickles, tahina, hummus, cut vegetable salad and often, harif, a hot sauce, the type used depending on the origin of the falafel maker. Street vendors throughout Israel sell falafel and it is a favorite fast-food.^[7] Tahini (known in Israel as tehina) is used widely as as a dressing for felafel.^[13]

Appetizers, vegetables and salads

A wide variety of salads, or meze, is often set out on the table before the main course. Hummus, adopted from Arab cuisine, matbucha red pepper salad, Moroccan carrot salad, Israeli salad which is a finely diced tomato and cucumber salad and adopted from Arab cuisine, coleslaw and various eggplant salads are common. A liver-flavored eggplant salad invented during the Austerity period is still a popular dish.

Fried snacks, such as felafel, kibbeh, Moroccan stuffed pastry "cigars" and pastelim (spicy fried pastries) originate from various Middle Eastern countries.

Hummus, chips and salad are the most common accompaniments to food served in a pita. The addition of french fries seems to be an Israeli innovation.

Shakshouka is a spicy egg and tomato dish, often served as a light meal.

Baba ghannouj, often called salat ḥatzilim in Israel, is a salad or dip made of mashed baked or broiled eggplant mixed with tahini and other seasonings such as salt, pepper, olive oil, garlic or lemon juice. The eggplant is sometimes grilled over an open flame so that the pulp has a smoky taste. A particularly Israeli variation of the salad is made with mayonnaise.^[14]

Soups

Bean soup and lentil soup are Mizrahi favorites.

Grains, pasta and dumplings

A unique Israeli food is ptitim, which is often referred to as "Israeli couscous". Ptitim originated in the early days of the State of Israel when rice was scarce. Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, asked the Osem company to devise a wheat-based substitute.^[15] It was thus nicknamed "Ben-Gurion's rice".

Mujadara is a popular rice and lentil dish adopted from Arab cuisine, known in Israel as mejadra.

Shkedei marak, known as "soup nuts" in English, are an Israeli adaption of the traditional Ashkenazi soup pasta known as mandlen and are used commonly with chicken soup.

Fish

Fried, grilled and baked fish is often served whole, with the head intact. Hraime fish, cooked in hot pepper sauce, is served in many Mizrahi households in honor of Shabbat.

Poultry and meat

Turkey schnitzel is an adaptation of veal schnitzel, and is an example of the transformations common in Israeli cooking: Because of the shortage of veal before the 1960s, Jews from Central Europe adapted one of their native dishes to use turkey or chicken. Most cooks buy it breaded and serve it with hummus, tahina, and other salads for a quick main meal. Other immigrant groups have added variations from their own backgrounds; Yemenite Jews, for example, add garlic, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, and hawayij. A classic schnitzel is cooked in both butter and oil, but in Israel, only oil is used because of kashrut.^[7] In addition, vegetarian versions have become popular and the Israeli food company, Tiv′ol, was the first to produce a vegetarian schnitzel from a soya meat substitute. Wiener schnitzel or steak in pita are said to be an Israeli invention.

Grilled meat such as kebab and shashlik are popular, as is shwarma, which originated in Turkey and was traditionally made from lamb, but is also made with turkey in Israel.

Jerusalem mixed grill, meurav Yerushalmi, consists of chicken giblets and lamb grilled with onion, garlic and an array of Middle Eastern spices.^[16] It is one of Jerusalem’s most popular and profitable street foods. ^[17]

Dairy products

Labneh is a sour white cheese common throughout the Balkans and the Middle East. It is sold plain, or in balls in olive oil, or with zaatar and olive oil. It is often eaten for breakfast with olive oil, other cheeses, and bread. Another white cheese is Safed cheese, stored in brine, similar to Bulgarian cheese and feta. Bulgarian yoghurt, introduced to Israel by Bulgarian Jewish survivors of the the Holocaust, is used to make a traditional yoghurt and cucmber soup.^[18] Leben and eshel are other yoghurt products sold in Israel.

Baked dishes, cookies, pastries

An Israeli version of the traditional noodle pudding, known as Jerusalem kugel, is made with sugar and spiced with black pepper.^[19] It was originally a specialty of the Ashkenazi Jews of the Old Yishuv.^[6]

Bourekas brought to Israel by Jews from Turkey and the Balkans are very popular.

Balls of dough deep-fried and then filled with jam, custard or dulce de leche , called sufganiyot, are available all year round and have been adopted in Israel especially to eat on Hanukah.^[20]

Ashkenazi Jews from Vienna and Budapest brought sophisticated pastry making traditions to Israel. Sacher torte and Linzer torte are still mostly available only from professional bakeries, but cheesecake and strudel are also baked at home.^[21]

Cookies or kichels are very popular and are commonly found in bakeries throughout Israel.

Breads and sandwiches

Pita, adopted from Arab cuisine, is a soft, round bread that can be halved and stuffed with felafel, salads or various meats. Bits of pita can be torn off and used to scoop up creamy spreads like hummus or eggplant salad. Lafa, an Arabic word meaning "roll" is a flat pita that is rolled up with a felafel or shwarma filling.

The Sabbath and festival breads of the Yemenite Jews have become popular in Israel and can be bought frozen in supermarkets. Jachnun is a very thinly rolled dough, brushed with oil or fat and cooked overnight at a very low heat. It is traditionally served with a crushed or grated tomato dip, hard boiled eggs and skhug. Malawach is made similarly, but is not rolled and is cooked in a frying pan, and often served with honey. Kubaneh are made from yeast dough, and also cooked overnight in melted fat like jachnun. Lahun is a spongy bread-like pancake, made of fermented flour and water, and fried in hot oil.^[22].

Similarly, Jews from Ethiopia make a pancake-like, spongy bread, called injera, from a fermented millet flour dough.^[22].

Sandwiches such as Sabich, an Iraqi pita sandwich stuffed with eggplant, hard boiled eggs and tahini are eaten. Fricassee is a fried roll stuffed with tuna, cooked potatoes and matbucha brought from Tunisia.

Confections, sweets and snack foods

Baklava is a sweet Turkish pastry often served in restaurants as dessert, along with small cups of Turkish coffee. Halva is a Turkish sweet, made from techina and sugar, and is popular in Israel. It is used to make original desserts like halva parfait.

Two Israeli snack foods are Bamba and Bissli. Bamba is a soft, peanut-flavored snack food and Bissli is crunchy and comes in various flavors, including BBQ, pizza, falafel and onion.

Krembo (Hebrew: קרמבו‎) is a chocolate-coated marshmallow treat that is also very popular in Israel. It is sold only in the winter, and is very popular as an alternative to ice-cream.^[23] It comes wrapped in colorful aluminum foil, and consists of a round biscuit base covered with a dollop of marshmallow cream coated in chocolate.

Milky is a dairy pudding, usually chocolate or mocha flavored, with cream on top, and one of the most popular foods in Israel.^[24]

Sauces and condiments

Skhug is a spicy dip brought to Israel by Yemenite Jews, as is harissa, brought by Tunisian and North African Jews, and pilpelchuma, brought by Libyan Jews. All are varieties of hot sauces made from chili peppers and garlic. Amba is a pickled mango sauce, introduced by Indian and Iraqi Jews, that is often spooned over shwarma and felafel.

Drinks

Black or "Turkish" coffee, sometimes served with hel (cardamom) is a popular beverage. Tea with mint (nana) is also popular.

Wine

With the immigration of Jews in the late 1800s, vineyards were planted at Rishon LeZion and Zichron Yaakov, and the Carmel Winery, established in 1882,^[25] was the foundation of the modern Israeli wine industry. Most of the wine produced was sweet, kosher wine.^[26]

The Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967, provided a better climate for grapes and the Golan Heights Winery, jointly owned by the nearby kibbutzim that supplied the grapes, introduced its first vintage in 1983, from grapes planted ten years earlier. The winery was also the first to focus on planting and making wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, white Riesling and Gewürztraminer. These kosher wines have won silver and gold medals in international competitions^[27] and are exported world-wide.

Holiday cuisine

Sabbath

Hamin, also called cholent, is a traditional Sabbath dish prepared by Jews in Israel. The basic ingredients are meat and beans or rice simmered overnight on a hotplate or placed in a slow oven before the Sabbath commences on Friday night. It is prepared with many variations: The Ashkenzi Sabbath stew, cholent, usually contains meat, potatoes, barley and beans, and the Sephardi Sabbath stew, hamin, typically contains meat, rice, beans, vegetables and slow cooked eggs or haminados.^[28] The Sabbath stew of the Moroccan Jews is known as skhina (or s′hina), and that of Iraqi Jews, known as tebit, contains chicken and rice.

Hannukah

The holiday of Hanukkah is marked by the consumption of foods cooked in oil to commemorate the miracle of a small quantity of oil lasting eight days. Sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) are traditionally eaten and are widely sold at this time of year.^[29] Levivot (potato pancakes, also known by the Yiddish latkes) are also eaten.

Purim

Hamantashen are the most common holiday pastries eaten on Purim in Israel.

Passover

The laws of the holiday of Passover add further dietary restrictions. Restaurants in Israel have come up with creative alternatives using potato starch and other non-standard ingredients to create pasta, hamburger buns, pizza, and other fast foods in kosher-for-Passover versions. After Passover, the celebration of Mimouna takes place, a tradition brought to Israel from the Jewish communities of North Africa, during which the Mofletta is eaten.

See also

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Cuisine of Israel

• Jewish cuisine
• Cuisine of the Sephardic Jews
• Cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews

Notes

References

• Ansky, Sherry, and Sheffer, Nelli, The Food of Israel: Authentic Recipes from the Land of Milk and Honey, Hong Kong, Periplus Editions (2000) ISBN 9625932682
• Cooper, John, Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food, New Jersey, Jason Aronson Inc., 1993, ISBN 0876683162
• Gur, Jana, The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey, Schocken (2008) ISBN 0805212248
• Marks, Gil, The World of Jewish Cooking: More than 500 Traditional Recipes from Alsace to Yemen, New York, Simon & Schuster (1996) ISBN 0684835592
• Nathan, Joan, The Foods of Israel Today, Knopf (2001) ISBN 0679451072
• Roden, Claudia, The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York, New York, Knopf (1997) ISBN 0394532589

v • d • e Asian cuisine Sovereign states Afghanistan · Armenia1 · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma2 · Cambodia · People's Republic of China · Cyprus1 · East Timor3 · Egypt4 · Georgia4 · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan4 · North Korea · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia4 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Republic of China5 · Thailand · Turkey4 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen Dependencies, autonomies, other territories Aceh · Adjara1 · Abkhazia1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Altai · British Indian Ocean Territory · Buryatia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Guangxi · Hong Kong · Inner Mongolia · Iraqi Kurdistan · Jakarta · Khakassia · Macau · Nagorno-Karabakh · Nakhchivan · Ningxia · Northern Cyprus · Palestine · Papua · Sakha · South Ossetia1 · Tibet · Tuva · West Papua · Xinjiang · Yogyakarta Italics indicates an unrecognised or partially recognised country.  1 Sometimes included in Europe, depending on the border definitions.  2 Officially known as Myanmar.  3 Sometimes included in Oceania, and also known as Timor-Leste.  4 Transcontinental country.  5 Commonly known as Taiwan.

v • d • e Cuisine of the Mediterranean Northern Africa Algeria · Egypt · Libya · Morocco · Tunisia Southern Europe Albania · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Croatia · France · Gibraltar · Greece · Italy · Malta · Montenegro · Portugual · Slovenia · Spain European regions Andalusia · Balearics · Catalonia · Corsica · Occitania · Sicily · Valencia Caucasus and Middle East Armenia · Cyprus · Israel · Lebanon · Palestine · Syria · Turkey

v • d • e Cuisine Regional Africa · Asia · Caribbean · Europe · Latin America · Mediterranean · Western Asia · North America · Oceania · South Asia Styles Fast food · Fusion · Immigrant Food Bread · Cheese · Confectionery · Dessert · Dip · Fruit · Ground provisions · Herbs / Spices · Meat · Noodle · Pasta · Pizza · Rice · Salad · Sandwich · Sauce · Soup · Stew · Vegetable Technical Techniques · Utensils · Weights and measures See also Kitchen · Meal (Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner) · Wikibooks:Cookbook · List of cuisines