Food, Manners and Unrequited Love: What Every Visitor to Israel Needs to Know
In previous installments of this series, I’ve suggested famous (and not so famous) must-sees on your trip to Israel. You won’t want to miss your chance to float in the Dead Sea, snorkel with exotic fish in Eilat and fire a gun or two at Caliber 3 in Gush Etzion.
Now, onto some helpful hints and observations about everyday cultural cornerstones like food, language and manners.
PLUS: a crash course on words — like “settlement,” “refugee camp” and “checkpoint” — that don’t mean what you think they mean, at least in Israel.
FOOD
The Jews wandered in the desert for 40 years because they couldn’t decide where to eat.
Food is a very big deal in Jewish culture, so it’s not surprising that you can eat well in Israel, and as cheaply or as expensively as you wish or can afford.
Contrary to what you may think, not all restaurants there are kosher.
Many people believe that kosher food, wherever it is served, is healthier and cleaner. I for one do get this sensation when I’m in Israel, that somehow the food is fresher and more carefully handled. When it comes to kosher food, a bug on your lettuce isn’t just a faux pas — it’s a serious violation of the law.
Every hotel offers a breakfast buffet. It’s an Israeli institution, and differs little from a similar spread in North America except for the addition of chilled fish like herring, and the absence of bacon and ham.
In fact, the presence of dairy at these buffets means that no meat — pork or otherwise — will be on the menu. Milk and meat are not combined because — to put it simplistically — milk represents life and meat represents death. (So while there are McDonald’s in Israel, they don’t serve cheeseburgers. Coffeemate was invented so that Jews could enjoy “cream” in their coffee while eating, say, a steak.)
One dish that’s standard fare in Israel, and that we fell in love with, is shakshuka. “Dr. Shakshuka’s” restaurant was closed the day we visited Jaffa, which is too bad because it is world famous:
We went to the charming Nelly’s Kitchen instead, and really enjoyed it.
In the evening, across Israel, a “switch” takes place in restaurants and dining rooms: meat is offered but dairy is not. The types of cutlery at your table setting will be different, too.
Expect your lunch or dinner order to come with bountiful plates of appetizers like humus and salad. THEN your main meal arrives. Keep this in mind when ordering (and eating.)
Since I’m from Toronto, I’m familiar with the cuisine of most cultures, and have long been a falafel fanatic. The falafel is the “hamburger” of Israel, so be sure to try one. If you’re a bland “meat and potatoes” person, this and other Israeli dishes may be an acquired taste.
Starbucks isn’t there yet, but the Israeli equivalent — Aroma — is arguably superior anyhow. You get a little piece of dark chocolate with your cup of coffee, and their sandwiches are exceptional.
In Jerusalem’s Old City, treat yourself to a poppy seed bun or other fresh pastry sold by the Muslim merchants who push their wares along on old wooden carts.
Israelis love their baked goods and hard candies, too — those are for sale everywhere, especially in “shuks” or markets:
LANGUAGE AND MANNERS
In my experience, most Israels “understand” English but their fluency is lopsided:
Either they understand you but struggle to reply, or can speak English well but have a hard time understanding you.
If you hail from a big North American city, you already know the drill: Be patient. Speak slowly and clearly. Don’t expect strangers to understand your cultural references or jokes.
Speaking of which: The Israeli sense of humor tends toward the dry and straightfaced, and will leave some travelers puzzled or even offended.
For instance, when I mentioned to a hotel front desk clerk that I couldn’t understand a recorded message on my room phone because I don’t speak Hebrew, he shot back, “Why not? How dare you?”
He was joking around, but not everybody will respond well to that kind of ribbing.
Israeli’s are also notoriously blunt to the point of rudeness. Customer service isn’t as cloying and obsequious as you may be used to, especially if you live in the Southern or Midwestern United States.
“Civility is not a high priority,” as Barry Rubin delicately phrases it in his book Israel: An Introduction:
With no history of an oppressed peasantry or working class that “knew its place,” Israelis are notoriously obstinate, egalitarian, and insistent on their personal rights. The lack of a well-developed system of etiquette derives from the lack of a subservient or class conscious past. (…)
Israeli society’s pioneer ethos, familiar aspect, and contempt for snobbishness or class distinction is reflected in its high levels of informality. With the exception of the Haredim, most Israelis wear casual clothing. The ubiquitous Western suit and tie stay in the closet, even for weddings and funerals. (…) Punctuality is not a high priority. It is not unusual for events and even television programming to start later than scheduled.
Typical “Palestinian” “hovel” on the “West Bank.” (Credit: BlazingCatFur)
SETTLEMENTS, REFUGEE CAMPS AND CHECK POINTS
Jewish “settlers” live on “disputed” territory in varying levels of comfort. We drove through Ariel, which looks no different than a typical Western suburb; it even has its own university.
Since there are virtually no houses in Tel Aviv, just apartments, some Israelis live in “settlements” like Ariel and commute elsewhere to work. The cost of living in a “settlement” like Ariel is (according to our guide) about 75% less.
To get in and out of Ariel, we drove through one of those dreaded “checkpoints.” This consisted of an armed guy in a booth, waving us through. Wooo, scary!
In contrast, I have never crossed the U.S./Canadian border without being hassled by officious, ignorant, tyrannical border guards.
Other settlers insist on roughing it, like the couple we met near Hebron. The Federmans are raising their ten children in conditions reminiscent of the Appalachians before the Tennessee Valley Authority.
They figure it is pointless to build a more substantial house than the one they live in, because the Israeli government has destroyed their previous homes. They have also been charged with “child neglect” and other tricks the state uses to harass “troublemakers” — tricks not limited to Israel, of course.
If you think “Palestinian” “refugees” live in tents or shacks, think again.
They often don’t finish building the top floor because as long as the house is “unfinished,” they don’t have to pay taxes on it. Otherwise, some of their houses probably look bigger and nicer than yours — and you’re paying for theirs through foreign aid.
Our guide joked that some “Palestinians” are 140 years old. That is, UNRAW doles out money to individual “Palestinians,” which would naturally be cut off when that person dies. Just as naturally, their families don’t file death certificates, so the money keeps coming.
PHILOSEMITISM
To poorly paraphrase Lenin:
“You may be very interested in Israel, but Israel may not be very interested in you.”
Just as there are anti-American Americans, there are Israelis who don’t share your passion for their country, especially if you are a Christian Zionist.
Speaking of which:
Dear Evangelical Protestants (like the ones I met in Israel):
Would it kill you to read a book one day? No, the Catholic Church is not “planning to take over Jerusalem.” I thought I’d heard every anti-Catholic conspiracy theory — did you know the Jesuits killed Lincoln? — but that was a new one on me. The Catholic Church I know fairly intimately can barely run its own affairs.
For everyone who welcomed Glenn Beck on his recent visit to Israel, I suspect there were a dozen Israelis who considered him a naive goyim buffoon who secretly wants to convert Jews to Mormons or something.
Christians are certainly welcomed because they bring in mega-tourist bucks, but don’t be under any illusions: the Orthodox Jews shuffling past your church group while you’re reenacting the Stations of the Cross may not be thinking the most charitable, ecumenical thoughts.
Yes, there are t-shirts for sale in hotel gift shops that read “Don’t Worry America — Israel Has Your Back!” But you’ll never see an actual Israeli wearing one.
One thing that did work in our favor was being Canadian. Our staunchly pro-Israel Prime Minister is much more popular in Israel than he is in much of his home country.
I hope Americans no longer sew maple leafs on their backpacks to get better treatment in Europe. However, I’m tempted to advise you to do that when you visit Israel.
Whatever you decide to wear, however, be sure to go. You won’t regret it.
*****
Enjoy Kathy’s Israel travelogue? Check out more from her at PJ Lifestyle:
Gravity Doesn’t ‘Card’: Cyber Bullys and the Laws of the Universe
Ann Coulter’s Mugged: A (Mostly) Frank Monologue About Race — Part 1
Mugged and Ann Coulter Derangement Syndrome, Part 2
3 Weird Things About the U.S. This Pro-American Canadian Doesn’t Get
Old joke:
An Israeli, a Brit, a Russian, a Vietnamese, and an American are sitting in a restaurant. A reporter comes by and asks, “Excuse me, but can I get your opinion on the recent grain shortage in the third world?”
The Brit asks: “What’s a ‘shortage’?”
The Vietnamese asks: “What’s ‘grain’?”
The Russian asks: “What’s an ‘opinion’?”
The American asks: “What’s the third world?”
The Israeli asks: “What’s ‘excuse me’?”
….
Dont forget to end up at Abulafia bakery in Jaffa after a night of fun along the Tel Aviv boardwalk. The fresh Sabusac, a sort of pastery filled with fresh warm potatoes, eggs, onion and cheese is not to be missed. It is an Arab bakery run by an old Jaffa family and always seems to be open.
My mother’s family and my father hailed from the Jewish community of Aleppo, Syria. Sambousak is one of many baked goodies I grew up with. Good stuff.
I think you are correct, though your ratio may be a bit askew. It’s probably more than a dozen.
But I doubt the dozen or more are correct about Beck’s motives. Once they are done with their “mission”, Mormons are not particularly evangelistic. Since they believe that everyone gets to heaven at SOME level (albeit a lower level than they), there’s just not quite the same motivation.
Mr. Beck is held in high esteem here. You could not be less correct.
Glenn Beck is quite popular here. However, it’s also true that Christian supporters of Israel are viewed by many as conditional allies whose final goal is to convert us. It’s a result of a couple of millennia of experience where Christian attempts to convert us by a variety of methods were not uncommon. You can compare it to an immune response. We’ve had lots of problems with Christians and Muslims, but not with Hindus and Buddhists, therefore our instinctive response to the former is more suspicious than our response to the latter. Besides, some Christian Zionists do expect the Jews to convert in the end. Anyway you shouldn’t take it too seriously. While there might be some level of distrust it doesn’t translate into hostility. Friends of Israel are welcome and appreciated.
“Who is Richard Windsor?” is also very right to make a distinction between different segments of the Israeli population. If Kathy Shaidle met that many people who are anti-Israel and peopele who don’t like Glenn Beck my guess is that she spoke mainly with people from Tel Aviv and its neighborhood where most lefties and radical lefties reside, or with academics – mind you that she was also limited to people who speak English fluently enough. I doubt she could have more than a basic English conversation with, say, most of my neighbors, though they may be fluent in other languaues. Lefties are lefties anywhere, and the academia here is the same as in the rest of Western civilization – the Marxists dominate it. Christian suppoters of Israel can expect derision from them, not because they’re Christian, but because they’re pro-Israel. Of course, they will coat it with arguments about the irrationality of religion or the final goal of Christian Zionists, but if those same lefties meet a leftist Christian group suddenly religion becomes perfectly rational and their motivations pure beyond any doubt. But they are far from representing the Israeli population as a whole. Even in central Israel, right next to Tel Aviv, there are cities that are very different from Tel Aviv, such as Holon, Rishon Le’Tzion and Bat Yam. The majority of Israeli Jews vote for the right, are certainly not anti-Israel and would prefer Fox News to CNN.
Anyone know what the reception is like for Australian tourists? Sounds like we have a certain amount of common ground, at least sartorially speaking.
Came and be prepared for the most amazing experience of your life.
Actually, Starbuck’s came and went. Its model of buy coffee and proceed on your way (plus weak coffee) was not in sync with the Israeli coffee culture which is al fresco consumption of strong coffee or a latte with a pastry.
Couple of corrections- Meat and milk are separate because it is Torah Law to do so. You comment regarding life and death is incorrect. Restaurants are either meat or dairy. Hotels have separate kitchens for each. I have never seen a restaurant switch from one to the other. The ultra-Orthodox are not anti-Christian. They simply believe interaction with Christians could lead to violations that could occur casually, in speaking for instance. We have rules for speech that are as complex as rules for eating. And as pointed out Starbucks came and went.
Thank you for your input and clarifications! I doubt that I will ever be able to get to Israel, but I am one of those Christians who is fascinated by Israel and its people. Love hearing about the details of life there.
I doubt that I will ever be able to get to Israel…
Please, don’t do that to yourself! Make time, set aside the money, and go. If you use a minimum of common sense (e.g. if an Israeli armed guard says it’s not safe to go somewhere, don’t go there), you’ll be perfectly safe, and you’ll have a wonderful time you literally cannot have anywhere else.
Israel is a very concentrated country. In many ways it squeezes more variety than the United States has, from sea to shining sea, into a country the size of New Jersey. And tourists who go there with their eyes open almost always come back having been touched profoundly by something. For me it was realizing, for the first time in my life, that Jews were the majority… and were very matter-of-fact about it. For Christian tourists, it might be when you visit the Old City of Jerusalem, see a street sign reading “Via Dolorosa”, and realize that JESUS WALKED HERE (and then took a left). For you it might be something else entirely.
The world is a richer place for having Israel in it… and you’ll be a richer person (spiritually, at least) for having been there.
My experience in Israel was that the Jewish population can be roughly broken into three groups: the ultra-religious, the urbane lefties in Tel-Aviv and Haifa, and everybody else. It’s the “everybody else” group that Americans need to meet an get to know. The religious and the urbane mostly live in their own worlds, but the rest of the country really define the nation.
I spent a few days at a moshav near Tiberius, and it was probably the most revealing experience of the whole trip. The place was a B&B (B&Bs exist all over Israel, and the experience is highly recommended, even if the accommodations themselves may leave something to be desired), and having breakfast with a real Israeli clears up a lot of misconceptions. I can’t speak for the other groups, but the “real Israelis” don’t harbor much in the way of grudges, and are more than pleased to tell you all about every place to see.
Visitors should forget the guided tours, rent a car, and stay at B&Bs. Even some of the Israeli Arabs (as opposed to West Bank Palestinians) such as in Nazareth can be interesting and rewarding to meet, but caution should be used.
Israeli tour guides study for years and must pass rigorous tests in order to be licensed. Having a tour guide enhances your experience here a thousand-fold. And Jews in every community fall into the two basic groups that all humanity falls into- nice people and not so nice people. So do not be afraid to engage in conversation. Come and have a great time. And anyone with any particular questions can feel free to contact me.
Many years ago I worked for the Survey of Israel on Lincoln Street in Tel Aviv. The little restaurant we had in there made the best Shakshuka in the world. Another dish to enjoy is what I called tuna harif, a spicy hot tuna fish sandwich.
As for Israeli matters: Once a reporter was conducting man on the street interviews about the world food shortage. He asked an American, an Ethiopian, a North Korean and an Israeli this question: Excuse me, what is your opinion about the world food shortage?
The American answered that he had never experienced it.
The Ethiopian answered he had never experienced anything else.
The North Korean asked him what an “opinion” was.
The Israeli asked him what “excuse me” means.
rats, I just read the first comment in this thread with the same joke.
Enjoyed the article but let me offer one more tip: do not use Yiddish or Hebrew terms unless you know what they mean and how to use them.
I can catergorically say that not even one Israeli thought that Glenn Beck is a goyim buffoon. I can say this with confidence because they would have known that “goyim” is a plural noun, not a singular adjective.
Excuse me? (To use an old joke.)
What would you call him then?
Well, I would call him Mr. Beck unless he invited me to call him Glenn, but I realize that’s not what you were asking me.
The singular noun is goy; the “im” makes it plural. Technically goy is masculine singular but it’s rare (in the US, at least) to use the f.s. form ‘goya’, and even more rare to use ‘goyta’, which is a very disparaging form of the f.s.
Goy literally means nation. In this sense the People of Israel, the Hebrews, are a goy too. Then ‘goy’/'goyim’ (plural) came to refer to other nations and people of other nations, i.e. non-Jews. But the term ‘goyim’ isn’t in such widespread common use in Israel today as this article assumes, so Glenn Beck would be more often referred to as Christian and American (I doubt most people here know he’s a Mormon).
See, back in the small town in Poland where my father was born all the Goyim were Christian and all of them were Polish too. They had many common characteristics – they had common custumes and habits, the same faith, a limited range of opinions within one common worldview, they spoke the same language and relatively resembled each other physically too (the Jews on average looked different than native Poles). So if a Jew there and then used the word ‘goy’ in a conversation the Jew he was talking to would have a clear and distinct image in his head.
Today in Israel the word ‘goy’ just isn’t as useful anymore in conveying clear and meaningful information in conversation because the goyim are too diverse. We’re surrounded by Muslims who wish to exterminate us, our former greatest ally for decades was the US, which is majority Christian, Europe who doesn’t like us is majority post-Christian and secular, our favorite tourist destination is India, which is majority Hindu. And then there’s popular culture: our movie and TV culture is dominated by American and Israeli Western- (mostly American-) influenced products, our music is mostly a mix of Western and Middle-Eastern styles, Latin-American telenovelas have gained popularity in recent decades, South-Korean TV dramas are gradually gaining popularity now on TV and the Internet – you can get fan-made Hebrew translation to almost every TV series released in South Korea in the last couple of years, – though it’s still not widespread all over the place, it’s likely to grow; and of course, there’s some interest in Buddhism, Asian healing arts, yoga etc. like in the West. In addition Israelis like to travel abroad more than most, if not all, other nations, and many prefer the more “exotic” and even dangerous destinations. And of course, you and I and many others from all over the world can talk on the Internet on a daily basis even if living in different and far away continents.
As a result of all these factors ‘goyim’ just doesn’t have that distinct and clear meaning it used to have in the small town in Poland or Algeria a hundred years ago. If my grandpa said to another Jew: “Look what the goyim are teaching their children”, the other Jew would immediately grasp the meaning of this sentence with all its anticipated implications. But if I’d tell my neighbor: “Look what the goyim are teaching their children”, I may as well talk gibberish because the Muslims are teaching their children one thing, American Christians a very different thing, American secular leftists a third very different thing, and Zen Buddhists yet a fourth very different thing. So to convey any meaningful information you don’t use the word ‘goyim’, but words such as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, or Americans, Arabs, French, Chinese, or Europeans, Africans, South-Asians.
However, the word ‘goyim’ could rise sharply in popularity if or when all the nations would turn against us in unison. Then the goyim as a whole will live up to the only expectation the goyim always live up to: you can’t be trusted. Then it will be the Goyim vs. the Jews and all distinctions would be lost. And that point is drawing closer by the day.
Starbucks was here and it FAILED because the native coffee is just that good! And NO,The falafel is not the “hamburger” of Israel. It’s Pizza! Terrible, horrible Pizza, but still pizza. Kathy: you only got the tourist food…..
I’d say pizza is Israel’s pizza, which is indeed very popular, like pizza is popular in the US. Israel’s hamburger could be shawarma, or it could still be falafel, which is still very popular. Falafel used to be THE Israeli (originally Egyptian) national fast food for decades. Especially back when our main export was agriculture. Now that it’s hitech we can afford meat in our fast food
. So shawarma is one of the standards. Shishlik is also very popular, though Israelis usually call it ‘shipoodim’ (literally meat skewers or whatever you call them pins with meat hanging on them in English). Kabab (pronounced ‘kabab’ in Israel, not ‘kebab’) is also popular. And of course, humus and tehinah are basic foods, sprinkled with olive oil, decorated with parsley and zaatar (a Yemeni spice), and spiced with hot stuff like paprika, Yemeni s’hoog, North African matbooha or arisa, or what we call here Turkish Salad. Malawakh is also a pretty popular fast food – originally Yemeni, it’s made of flaky pastry and usually eaten with tomato paste, to which you can add tehinah, an egg (preferebly one boiled brown) and various sauces and spices. Of course, there are non fast-food Mediterranean dishes, like majadra and kubbeh.
As for the “bountiful plates of appetizers” mentioned in the post, this is relevant only to Mediterranean restaurants. Of course, Mediterranean food is the most common in Israel, but I’m just saying so people wouldn’t expect it if they go out for pasta or sushi or whatever. Mediterranean diet is rich in vegetables, so there’s a large variety of salads. However, since Mediterranean restaurants are the standard here, and there are so many of them, they differ greatly in the variety, quality and quantity of the salads they serve. In good restaurants (not necessarily the most expensive) you may get 6, 8, even a dozen small salad plates and pita (Arab bread). This practice is called “opening a table”. You should beware of how much you eat since the salads with the pita may satisfy your hunger before you even get the dish you’ve ordered.
There are two kinds of popular pita – regular pita and Iraqi pita. Regular pita is hollowed, so you can make a cut in it and put humus, tehinah, sauces, and then the meat and salads inside, and the pickles on top. Iraqi pita is much bigger, made differently and tastes differently, and it isn’t hollowed, so it’s used in a way called a ‘lafa’ – you roll it into a cone and then put the meat and salads inside. But you can just use the pita to wipe the humus and salads off your plate and put them in your mouth. Another alternative is to use a fork, a spoon and a knife
.
There are many ways to prepare an eggplant – there’s eggplant salad with tomato sauce, another with mayonnaise, eggplant in tehinah, eggplant in vinegar sauce, Romanian eggplant salad, fried eggplant cubes. What’s most important is WHO makes the salad. In a good reataurant each salad can taste heavenly; sold cheaply in the street corner stand it might taste like vomit. Oh, and don’t buy them in the supermarkets or grocery stores with all the preservatives. They must be fresh and recently made to taste good.
Note that the only way what we call Greek Salad differs from regular green salad is that it comes with what we call Bulgarian Cheeze, so things don’t always have to make sense.
You can get here also Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Mexican, Argentinian, Indian and American food, but while you’re here you may like to try a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish restaurant, though they’re not very common, possibly because most people don’t like their fish with sugar. Yet it may have some dishes you’ve never tatsed before, alongside the dishes you’d never want to taste again. The truth is “Never Again” was first uttered by a Moroccan Jew after being invited to his Ashkenazi girlfriend’s house for dinner. But as the Ashkenazim gradually stopped eating Ashkenazi food themselves the phrase was adopted for the Holocaust. The only tip I can give you here is that if you insist on trying the sweet type of Gefilteh Fish (there’s also a piquant type) order one for the entire table, so that everyone can taste it, but no single person has to eat it all, because most people only last the first bite, if they’re brave.
“…….(So while there are McDonald’s in Israel, they don’t serve cheeseburgers……”
Although I have never had one, I am pretty sure they sell a Royale w/Cheese here (the equivelent of the Quarter Pounder just like in the Pulp Fiction movie). I have asked about it on the McD’s menu the one rare time I went in a McDonalds here.
I was there on a tour.
Everyone I met spoke excellent English and seemed to be able to communicate with me just fine.
Everywhere we went they took shekels, dollars or euros. They did not seem to care what we gave them. I even noticed one cash register that allowed the clerk to enter dollars and euros for the same purchase. Very convenient. All of the road signs are in English, Hebrew and Arabic. They drive on the right side of the road. I think that it would be a very easy country to visit even without a tour guide.
Larry, I have only been there 3 times, but each time I found that English is prevalent but not universal. The more you get away from the tourist track (or towns and neighborhoods with lots of Anglo olim), the more likely you are to meet people who speak little or no English. You should have seen me trying to use pantomime and broken Hebrew to buy surface mount wiring at a hardware store in a lower income Sephardi/Hareidi/Ethopian neighborhood in Jerusalem. But I managed to get what I need.
Tour guides are government licensed and have to pass a tough exam on history, geography and archaelogy. They also need to demonstrate fluency in languages besides Hebrew; I forget how many. Even if you don’t need them to translate for you, they can be well worth the cost — if not for your whole trip, then at least for sites of interest. And there are a lot of sites of interest.
We’ve had especially good luck with guides from Artseinu, who will give you a Jewish religious perspective as part of the history. There are other agencies that specialize in Christian, secular, Muslim and I have no idea what other perspectives.