What to Eat in Israel: Typical Israeli Food and Specialties | Page 2 of 3
Jaffa Oranges: The Shamouti Variety from Jaffa's Orchards and an Export Brand
Jaffa oranges are the Shamouti variety: a sweet orange with a thick, easy-to-peel rind and almost no seeds, which appeared in the orchards near the port of Jaffa in the mid-19th century and, thanks to its sturdy skin, sailed to Europe before Israel even existed. Today Jaffa is mainly a brand also carried by oranges from Spain, while the famous Shamouti mostly stays at home.
The Lowest Bar in the World: Refreshments on Kalia Beach by the Dead Sea
A bar on Kalia Beach on the northern shore of the Dead Sea claims a title nobody awarded it and nobody can take away: nowhere on land can you buy coffee any lower. One sign says minus 420 meters, the one next to it minus 430 - and reality lies even deeper, because the water level drops a little more every year. Here's how to get to the bottom of the world from Jerusalem, and what an espresso costs when you get there.
Halva: The Crumbly Sesame Sweet of the Eastern Mediterranean
Halva is a sweet that breaks into threads: sesame tahini boiled with sugar sets into blocks that market vendors carve up piece by piece. It belongs to the whole eastern Mediterranean, from Nablus through Turkey to Greece, and Israel has been making it on a large scale since 1929. I tasted mine at the Machaneh Yehudah market in Jerusalem, where it is sold by the kilo but eaten by the slice.
Machaneh Yehudah Market: The Jerusalem Souk That Transforms Before Shabbat
The Machaneh Yehudah market is the main marketplace of West Jerusalem: more than 270 stalls selling olives, spices and halva, with bistros and bars tucked in between them. It borrowed its name from a neighborhood it doesn't belong to, and its whole week builds toward Friday afternoon - the sell-off before Shabbat, after which the packed lanes empty out in a matter of minutes. I was there to see it.
Shawarma: Middle Eastern Meat from a Vertical Spit
A vertical column of meat turning slowly in a window belongs to the Middle East the way loose change belongs in a market. Shawarma - meat marinated in spices and shaved off the spit in thin slices - is the shared heritage of the whole region. The Israeli version added turkey, fries tipped straight into the pita and mango amba, which traveled from India via Baghdad.
Falafel: Fried Chickpea Ball
Half the Middle East claims falafel; Israelis made it their national dish and tucked it into a pita. It's a ball of raw ground chickpeas with cumin, parsley and cilantro, fried crisp - the greener the inside, the fresher the herbs. It's best straight out of the fryer - for example at the Ben-Sira hummusia in Jerusalem.
Arab Markets by Damascus Gate: Shopping in Jerusalem Even on Shabbat
While western Jerusalem falls silent for Shabbat, past Damascus Gate vendors keep weighing vegetables on hand scales and cardamom coffee still fills the air. The Arab markets in the Old City's Muslim Quarter run on their own calendar. I walked through them on a Saturday morning - from empty alleys to a cup of coffee, where the cafe owner remembered Czechoslovakia.
Pita: The Flatbread With a Pocket to Fill
The most important ingredient in a pita is air: the steam that puffs up a disc of flour, water, yeast and salt in a blazing oven and leaves a pocket in it for falafel, shawarma or hummus. The name reached Hebrew by a detour through the Balkans, the bread itself is older than farming, and it took Israel to shrink it into the little "hundred-gram pita". I ate one every day in Israel without ever ordering one.
Jerusalem Bagel: The Sesame Bread from the Gates of the Old City
A sesame oval as long as your forearm that, unlike its New York namesake, is never boiled, only baked. Beigele yerushalmi in Hebrew, ka'ak al-Quds in Arabic - why it's named after Jerusalem, not even the Hebrew Wikipedia knows. Where it came from, who bakes it in the Old City, and why it pays to buy it a few alleys away from the gate.
Za'atar: The Levantine Spice Blend with Sumac and Sesame
Za'atar is a spice blend of dried Syrian oregano, tart sumac, toasted sesame, and salt - all across the Levant, you mix it with olive oil and dip bread in it. The same word means both the herb and the finished blend. It is eaten mostly in the morning, on manakish flatbread or on labneh, and in Jerusalem you even get it in a little bag with your kaak al-Quds bagel.