The Foods of Israel Today: More than 300 Recipes--and Memories--Reflecting Israel's Past and Present Through Its Many Cuisines

by Joan Nathan

"Joan Nathan has created a masterful blend of food and culture. She takes her reader on an extraordinary journey through the history of the land of Israel and the development of modern Israeli food. I was delighted to visit all the different ethnic communities that have contributed to Israeli cuisine, and my mouth watered just imagining the feast that Joan Nathan describes."
--Teddy Kollek, former mayor of Jerusalem

In this richly evocative book, Joan Nathan captures the spirit of Israel today by exploring its multifaceted cuisine. She delves into the histories of the people already settled in this nearly barren land, as well as those who immigrated and helped to quickly transform it into a country bursting with new produce. It is a dramatic and moving saga, interlarded with more than two hundred wonderful recipes that represent all the varied ethnic backgrounds. Every recipe has a story, and through these tales the story of Israel emerges.

Nathan shows how a typical Israeli menu today might include Middle Eastern hummus, a European schnitzel (made with native-raised turkey) accompanied by a Turkish eggplant salad and a Persian rice dish, with, perhaps, Jaffa Orange Delight for dessert. On Friday nights she visits with home cooks who may be preparing a traditional Libyan, Moroccan, Italian, or German meal for their families, the Sabbath being the focal point of the week throughout Israel (all her recipes are accordingly kosher). And she takes us to markets overflowing with vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices.

To gather the recipes and the stories, Nathan has been traveling the length and breadth of Israel for many years--to a Syrian Alawite village on the northern border for a vegetarian kubbeh and to Bet She'an for potato burekas; to the Red Sea for farmed sea bream and to the Sea of Galilee for St. Peter's fish; to Jerusalem's Bukharan Quarter for Iraqi pita bread baked in a wood-fired clay oven, to the Nahlaot neighborhood for Yemenite fried pancake-like bread, and to a Druse village for paper-thin lavash; to a tiny restaurant in Haifa for Turkish coconut cake and to a wedding at Kibbutz May'ayan Baruch in the upper Galilee for Moroccan sweet couscous; and to many, many other places. All the while, she seeks out biblical connections between ancient herbs and vegetables and their modern counterparts, between Esau's mess of pottage and today's popular taboulleh, and she delights us with tales of all she encounters.

Throughout, Joan Nathan shows us how food in this politically turbulent land can be a way of breaking down barriers between Jews, Moslems, and Christians. Generously illustrated with colorful photographs, this enormously engaging book is one to treasure, not only as a splendid cookbook but also as a unique record of life in Israel.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Israel, Judaica, Jewish

448 pages, Hardcover

First published March 6, 2001

Reviews

[Lindsey Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Foods of Israel today is more than just a cookbook: it is a series of flavorful vignettes about the land and people, several mini history lessons, and a love letter to food. The recipes within were brought to Israel by Jews, Christians and Muslims, from Russia, France, Germany and further afield. The contents are surprisingly varied ... if I have any complaint, I thought the recipes ran a bit too simple, but I tend to like a bit of challenge in the kitchen. I've already made two recipes from the book - a whole-wheat challah and a fruit soup (yes, fruit soup) - so I feel fairly confident stating that these are tried and true recipes ... as well they might be, for many of them come from professional kitchens and lifelong chefs. A handful of recipes may be inaccessible depending on your grocery store options, but there should be something to tempt your tastebuds even if all you have are the basics.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The many and various stories of immigrants to Israel are really interesting, often heartbreaking, equally often uplifting. Every recipe has a little story at the beginning, and several have extensive sidebars with poignant memoirs about the dishes.

Particularly fascinating was the section on how, during mid twentieth century severe food shortages, the Chief Rabbi of Israel had to compromise, by sending out "an edict that the cheddar cheese [made with rennet] sent over [by the USA with the Agency for International Development] would be kosher for children up to the age of fourteen".

We drove up the sabra-lined road to Nelli'im, an Arab village on the way to Jerusalem [...] Ghada Kawaija, the mother of three young children, had just finished setting tiny okra to dry on a straw mat in the hot sun on her terrace overlooking the Judean Hills. [...] As we spoke, she offered us a cold drink, a slice of whole-grain flatbread, a plate of sabras, and the most flavorful figs I have ever eaten. [...] When we asked to see the oven in which she baked the bread, she led us to a vaulted stone room with a hole in the ceiling; on the floor beneath the flue, a fire had been built using charcoal, avocado wood, olive pits, and animal dung for kindling. The dough is baked on stones, which rest on the heated coals. [A Day in Nelli'im, p.100]
~ ~ ~ ~
When [Beth Elon's] Big Book of Pasta came out in Hebrew in 1996, it was a best seller. [...] "When I began writing about Italian food and pasta, not many people here even used olive oil. i knew that everyone loved pasta, but most Israelis simply ate it smeared with ketchup. So I began there." [Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomato Lasagne, p.250]
~ ~ ~ ~
My grandmother made pickles in the Russian way, from cucumbers, salt, dill, and water. she never used vinegar. She placed the cucumbers in boiling water with 1 teaspoon salt so they would stay very crisp. Then she would take an egg from a henhouse. If the egg floated, there was too much salt. If it sank there was too little. he lined the pickles up on the window. - Meir Salev
...........
Pickling is very much part of life today in Israel [...] But the Sephardic way of pickling vegetables in vinegar is rapidly replacing the more time-consuming classic method that people like Israeli author Meir Shalev's gradmother used to use. [Hamutzim—Pickled Vegetables, p.250]

Sadly, many of the recipes themselves are lacking - Joan Nathan seems to have focussed very heavily on "Today", by omitting the traditional ways of making various dishes. Instead she gives shortcuts - to use tins, food processor, plastic bags, commercial yeast, bouillon cubes, etc. etc. Additionally, many of the instructions are decided confusing.

No doubt it is wrong, but judging from the arguably rather dull ingredients lists for many of the dishes - particularly the soups, it seems that the Foods of Israel Today are simply for fuel than for dining.

+ + + +
If rating this book as a history of Israeli food and immigration, the rating would be raised to 4 stars. However, if rating this book as a recipe book alone, the rating would be lowered to 2 stars.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A window into the food from a cultural crossroads. People from all over the world have combined their love of food into a feast.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some interesting recipes I am going to try from this book. It shows the Jewish diaspora through the many different styles that make up isreali food. 🙂

[Petra X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Israel has a more interesting cuisine than most countries as its mostly made up of immigrants who have all brought their own cuisines with them. The food has not become at all homogenous and meals are unlikely to be purist - you might start off with a couple of Arab salads like hummus and tehina, maybe move on to some Sephardi escovitche fish with a nice, familiar potato salad and petit pois a la lyonaisse, and finish with a selection of Austrian pastries accompanied by a glass of Russian tea. Most ingredients are home-grown and of a high quality so its not difficult to produce good food. Interesting, but I have to say it, without lots of pictures I find cookbooks, no matter their other virtues, tedious.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with old pictures, brief histories of Israel's pioneers, Old Testament food references, and straightforward recipes for pita, bagels, challah, spanikopita and more, this book is fun to browse through and useful in the kitchen.

[Niki Ganong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great primer for the cuisine of the region. The recipies alone are worth the hefty price of the book. Throw in great photography and snippets of stories and you have what I like to call the ultimate resource for the region.

[Linda Rogde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Find some tasty new recipes and then read about the people whose tradition and customs brought this food to the Israeli cuisine. Lots of photos and family memories make this book much more than a standard cookbook.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another superb, well-researched cookbook from the inimitable Joan Nathan. This is a keeper!

[V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this cook book. Having been to Israel a few times, I fell in love with the food I ate everyday. Now I get to make the meals I thoroughly enjoyed!

[Linda Kirshstein]

Haven't used it much

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way things are, the way things were -- stories and recipes of the kind of food that ties us to the past and bonds families in the present. Delightful!