Culinary Cuisine: Tasting the Culture When Studying in Israel
A unique perspective on studying abroad in Israel enjoy the local cuisine as a culture experience.
Like every country, Israel has many unique ways that its people expresses their culture. From Hebrew as the national language, to a combination of international and more traditional fashion, even the music is a melting pot of local and foreign tunes. More than these expressions of culture, Israeli food is an expression of the kaleidoscope of the immigrants that influence local cuisine.
Israel is home to diverse flavors that help define its distinct Middle East location. As as student in Israel, tasting the local food can be extremely exciting and allows you to learn a lot about Israel by ‘eating’ your way through your semester abroad and live like the locals.
Since the best way to understand local flavor is to eat it, we’re inviting you to Israel and taste your way through it! There are some foods that are considered typical Israeli.
A warning while eating at local food joints, expect to experience, rich, authentic flavors otherwise masked by the touristy area of a city. Also, keep an eye out for food sold on the street. In Israel this is not very prevalent but in some of the local shuks, you can find some great vendors. Digging in to these push carts is a nice, inexpensive way to sample unique flavors of a city.
Here’s our list of Israeli foods that you need to indulge in while studying here. To make it easier, we categorized them.
Breakfast
Borekas – these pastries can be filled with cheese, potatoes, or vegetables. For a variety of reasons, you can identify the various fillings by the shapes of the boureka.
Wide triangle and half moon: Cheese (salty or savory)
Square: potato
Equilateral triangle: mushroom or spinach
Israeli breakfast – a common feature at many restaurants, this menu item features fresh vegetables, eggs, and some of the best Israeli cheeses.
Israeli salad – a popular way to enjoy the fresh Israeli veggies is by finely chopping them and adding a dash of fresh lemon juice.
Jachnun – almost every culture has some version of this dish. The Israeli version is influenced by the Morracon migration. Basically, Jachnun is made from a dough that’s been cooked overnight. Throughout Israel, you can find Jachnun Bars that offer a variety of version of this dish. Be careful as this dish is very filling and often served on shabbat.
Labane – this yogurt is a bit tangy usually topped with another Israeli spice, zaatar. Don’t be surprised to see this at other meals besides breakfast.
Shakshooka – Now this is food is 100% uniquely Israeli. In short, this dish combines eggs and tomato sauce. Be careful, some places add a bit of schug (local spicy sauce) in. If you want shakshooka go early, because it’s best served fresh and hot. Some restaurants or small eateries make it all day. If you see it sitting untouched in the afternoon, clearly the shakshooka is not meant to be eaten.
Lunch / Dinner Foods:
Israeli food is typically simple. Like many European and Middle Eastern cultures, the big meal is dinner, which is eaten late. A typical Israeli lunch is falafel or shwarma snagged at the local corner shop and overstuffed into a pita or laffa (large gyro-like bread) with fries and salads.
Falafel – this dish is the epitome of Israeli cuisine. Deep fried chickpea balls are eaten throughout the day. The really great places offer the customers waiting in line a fresh sample. June 12th is International Falafel Day (#falafelday), make sure to be Israel then.
Hummus – This creamy mashed chickpea spread is the source of a major debate between Israel and Lebanon. The two countries battle it out for the title of best hummus. If you spend any time in Israel without going to a chummusia like Pinati then you have missed an entire chunk of Israeli culture. These chummus joints can serve your entire meal within 15 minutes! Waiters in these places typically scream out the order without writing it down.
Malawach – Like jachnun (see above) this flaky round pastry is deep fried and should be enjoyed with a hard boiled egg and crushed tomatoes. Some people eat malawach with spreading other sweet or savory toppings but why stray from tradition?
Sabih – this word is actually a acrostic of the Hebrew words for eggplant, hard boiled egg, and salad. If the person serving hasn’t squashed the pita with the sabich inside then run. This dish was designed as an alternative to falafel during the days when Israel’s produce was limited to the basics. It’s extremely filling. Bet you can’t eat just one.
Shwarma – While many Middle Eastern cultures boast this absolutely delicious meat dish, Israel is famous for it. The meat is slow roasted on a standing skewer and comes in a variety of meats. Most common are lamb, turkey, beef. The meat is shaved off of the skewer and enjoyed in a pita or laffa. It’s rare but some people ask for the layer of fat that sits at top of skewer. It’s not meant to be eaten but sucked on as a treat
Dessert
Since there’s always room for dessert, here are some of the most common Israeli treats. Disclaimer- they are not for people on a diet.
Baklava – a sweet sticky layered pastry goes really well with sahlab (see below) but is often enjoyed over some Turkish coffee.
Knafeh – this dessert is made of shredded pastry, soft cheese and sweet syrup
Crêpes – Not at all Israeli. For some reason, this French pastry can be found in malls and on the street corners folded and served in a triangle.water and topped with nuts
Malabi – a pudding flavored with rose water.
Sahlab – a rich, creamy, sweet hot drink or pudding
Israeli Drinks:
While fruit shakes and lemonades are especially refreshing in Israel because the produce is so fresh, a local Israeli is often found sitting at a cafe drinking one of these two drinks.
Café Hafuch – an “upside-down” cappuccino
Cafe Turkey- turkish coffee should only be served in a glass cup in Israel. Ironically, in Turkey, it’s offensive to serve in anything but a coffee cup.
As you can see from this list, most of the popular food in Israel is also “everyday food” – this gastrointestinal approach to your semester abroad will make you stay here for a while and appreciate the diverse culinary choices that Israel has to offer. It will also ensure that you’ll be walking off all of these delicious foods.
P.S. Please use some common sense about the freshness of the food. Israel is in the Middle East, so food can go off pretty quickly if it’s been sitting out. Just try to go where the line is filled with Israelis.
