Let's Talk About Food: Israel!

Ok, so maybe not everyone knows it yet, but I LOVE TO EAT.  I’m not a foodie – I don’t believe in all that super-fancy, shooshy food and expensive ingredients because it feels exclusive and I don’t like that.  I do like eating foods that are in season and haven’t traveled a million miles to reach me.  But that doesn’t mean that I won’t buy Vietnamese fish sauce in NYC’s Chinatown and carry it in a suitcase to Burundi.  

I like to cook, and I read cookbooks to relax.  Although, as my husband recently pointed out after going through the margin notes in most of our cookbooks, I seem to be allergic to following a recipe exactly.  I mean, they’re really just recommendations, right? 

In brief my brain is very tuned into food pretty much all the time and especially whenever I travel.  I’ll try my best to limit my food ramblings to 1 – 2 entries per country.  For now.

So…let’s talk about food in Israel!

I thought Americans pretty much had the corner market on breakfast in a restaurant.  Uh, NO.  We have the Hungry Man Breakfast (basically 2 of everything on the menu), eggs about 1,700 different ways, and no qualms about eating potatoes under or next to everything, but you sure can’t get feta cheese marinated in pesto with fresh rolls before noon in America. 

Besides the fact that I was eating by myself and literally chugging my breakfast because a cab was coming to take me to Ramallah, here’s a photo of what may be my favorite restaurant breakfast every, eaten at the London restaurant, 111 Herbert Samuel Avenue, Tel Aviv (it barely all fits on the table - yeah, baby!):

• Yogurt with maple syrup, toasted oatmeal, grapes, apple, pear and some other exotic fruit I didn’t recognize;
•  4 warm, sesame seed-covered rolls;
•  A selection of spreads and finger foods: tuna salad, olives, feta marinated in pesto, fromage blanc mixed with olives, and roasted red pepper;
• Balkan Eggs Benedict: 3 slices of toast covered with roasted eggplant, 2 poached eggs, and shredded feta cheese with a side of fried potatoes;
•  A generous bowl of chopped cucumber, tomato and red onion in a lemon and olive oil dressing (known as “Israeli salad” in Israel);
•  Lemonade
•  Cappuccino

A little advice for anyone traveling with a friend – split the darn breakfast and then order an ice cream sundae at 10 am, like the smarties at the table next to me! 

Food shopping in Israel must be a learned art because I would have bought everything I came across, except that I was carrying a large camera bag and about 20 lbs of baby weight, which meant I wasn’t about to buy anything.  But had I wanted to, here’s a small selection of things on my shortlist from the Mehane Yehuda market in Jerusalem:

Gobs of dried fruits 

Hummus - as far as the eye can see

Baklava & cookies

Spices - can you smell them?

Halva

Chips - in Hebrew!

Big Belly, Will Travel - to Israel and Palestine!

Live from Ramallah:  So I've actually left my two darling boys and their father in Burundi for 2.5 weeks so I can travel to Israel and Palestine to collect more stories for One Globe Kids.  I knew it would be tough being gone for so long, but it really wasn't until now that I understand how hard it is for my sister and parents to Skype with the boys and not be able to actually kiss them through the computer screen.  Plus, I'm around all these darling children and their siblings for work, making it that much harder!  

I arrived in Tel Aviv after an overnight trip from Bujumbura with stops in Nairobi and Addis and am very pleased to report that it IS possible to eat Ethiopian tibs and injera at the airport in Addis Abbebe.  (My baby needs meat, don't you know?)  I picked up a free Time Out Israel at the airport, bringing back memories of my own Time Out New York subscription of a year ago, and rolled my bags through customs without stopping, looking like the tired, pregnant lady that I am. 

A mere 5 hours after laying down, I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed the first morning to go out in search of a SIM card so I can make local calls using my own cellphone.  (Gotta love that SIM system – my phone can call Zambia, Rwanda, the Netherlands and now Israel depending on what card I put in.  Only bummer?  It won’t work in Wisconsin.  Sheesh.)

And wow, Tel Aviv is great!  The weather feels truly Mediterranean, sunny and dry, the streets busy, filled with bikers, buses, cars, walkers, and tons of people pushing strollers and playing with kids.  It feels remarkably like lower Manhattan but with less humidity, shorter buildings and fewer people in suits.  Oh, and a lot more hummus, believe it or not!  I found the card, called my friend Kari in Ramallah to tell her I’d arrived, and reconfirmed my appointment with the first family and child that I’m photographing – a funny, sweet 5-year old boy named Asher.

Here I am, heading out to meet Asher:

Traveling and working internationally while pregnant is actually way better than you’d expect – that big ball is the biggest door opener ever.  It seems that besides the 15 – 22 year-old age group, everyone wants to talk about kids.  Little girls on the street point, smile and giggle, old women and men tell you about their grandchildren, and parents are more than happy to talk about their own munchkins.  Last night, Munir, the 33-yr old Palestinian taxi driver who brought me from Jerusalem to Ramallah (via the famed Qalandia checkpoint) told me all about how long he and his wife waited before having kids, what he hopes they’ll study, how their behavior changes over time.  A potentially, slightly intimidating car ride from Israel into the West Bank was made quite entertaining and insightful due to my growing belly - it may be one of the greatest travel assets I’ve ever had.