What is Kosher?
One of my favorite aspects of Israeli and Palestinian culture is the food. Food is an intricate part of daily life here in Israel, and continuing to explore that on my fourth journey here has been wonderful. Structures of meals are not all that unusual here, but there are some distinct differences. In Israel, but specifically in Jerusalem, one of the biggest differences is that almost everything is kosher. What is this kosher, you ask? I’ll tell you. Kosher, in simplest form, denotes that the food complies with the regulations of kashrut. I’m not going to go into the intricacies of kosher law, but in the simplest forms, it means that meat and milk are not mixed or consumed together at the same meal. This means there are no cheeseburgers, pizza doesn’t have meat toppings, and you won’t find any bacon—ham isn’t kosher. That’s probably the biggest contrast to food in America, where we eat everything with cheese, and bacon can be an ice-cream topping. But, there are other differences too. For instance, breakfast in Israel is a very small, light meal. It is usually a dairy meal, meaning there is no meat. Common breakfast spreads in Israel include a variety of white cheeses, hummus, tehina, eggs, bread, and some raw vegetables—usually peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
The routine of our meals on this Dialogue varies day-to-day, depending on the itinerary—although breakfast is always served at the hostel. Lunch depends on what we are doing for the day. On class days, we generally eat on our own, choosing from a variety of street food options such as falafel, shawarma, burgers, or pizza (How American, right? Burgers and Pizza?). On travel days, where we eat depends on where we are. We have gotten the opportunity throughout the past week and a half to try a number of new dishes of different origins. For example, last week we were hosted for dinner at the home of a Palestinian family. We were served an Arabic dish called makloubeh, which translates to unpside-down. This dish is traditionally made of rice, cauliflower, fried vegetables, chicken, and eggplant. It is cooked upside-down in a pot with the chicken at the bottom, and then is served by flipping the pot over onto a large serving plate. This delicious dish is usually eaten together with yogurt and a simple salad (usually just tomatoes and cucumbers), and it is absolutely amazing.
Though the makloubeh was fantastic, my favorite food in Israel, hands down, is Sabich. Sabich is a delicious Iraqi-Jewish-born sandwich consisting of fried eggplant, boiled eggs, spices, and salads. The vessel for this sandwich is pita bread, and watching the shopkeeper make the sandwich is like watching an artist create a work of art. Whoever is making the Sabich is carefully layering each ingredient, working quickly and with ease to create a mouth-watering specimen for the hungry customer. I like to try Sabich at as many different local joints as I can to compare them. As of right now, my favorite Sabich joint is in Tel Aviv—Sabich Tchernikovsky—and I look forward to heading back next week where we will spend that last week and a half of the Dialogue and I will eat some more Sabich.
