Why can't you get cream in your coffee in Israel?

Answer 1

err... i don't know. just came back from Israel. this is not the first visit, in fact i used

to live there, and i still don't know. you also can't get good drip coffee or good

americano there, either. cappuccino, espresso, turkish --- no problem. you can get

very good arab coffee with cardamon, too -- it needs neither sugar no cream. but

then again, who said that every place should be the same? it's hard to get real

cream for your coffee in Japan, too.

====================================

And now, to follow that introduction by the Mutual Admiration Society,

here's an attempt to actually answer the question:

Admit it. Nobody ever told you that you can't get cream in your coffee in Israel,

and you didn't try it in every restaurant in Israel. You're simply generalizing

from an experience you had in one or two or ten restaurants there.

One aspect of the laws of Kashrut (Jewish dietary or "kosher" laws) is the complete

separation of foods containing meat and those containing dairy products. In order

to be certified as Kosher ... a feature sought by a good share of the market in

Israel ... a restaurant must dependably maintain that separation.

It's not enough to say "well, we'll just be real careful about it". If you've ever seen

the level of hustle Behind the Scenes in a restaurant at rush hour, you know that

it wouldn't last very long that way.

In kosher restaurants, there is a complete, literal, physical separation between

meat and milk. EITHER the restaurant maintains separate seating, in separate

rooms, with service from separate kitchens, OR the restaurant offers only one

of the two styles.

If you had a meat meal in the meat section of a kosher restaurant that has both,

then you couldn't be served cream in the same section. And if you had a meal in

a kosher restaurant that serves meat meals only, then there was literally no cream

anywhere in the establishment.

If you ate in a non-kosher restaurant, or in the dairy section of a kosher restaurant

that offers both, or in a kosher restaurant that serves dairy only, then there should

be no problem whatsoever with cream in your coffee.

You see ? It's quite simple, really.

Of one thing we can be sure . . . you never asked the question while you were there.