About Jewishness

Jewish cooking combines the food of many cultures in which Jews have traveled, including Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Eastern European styles of cooking, all influenced by the need for food to be kosher. Thus, "Jewish" foods like hummus, stuffed cabbage, and blintzes all come from various other cultures. The amalgam of these foods, plus uniquely Jewish contributions like bagels, tzimmis, cholent, gefilte fish and matzah balls, make up Jewish cuisine.

In the Jewish communities of the Old Yishuv, bread was baked at home. People would buy flour in bulk or take their own wheat to be milled into the flour to bake bread in brick or mud ovens. Small commercial bakeries were set up in the mid-nineteenth century. Wheat flour was used to make challah and biscuits, ordinary bread and cooking. Because of its scarcity, bread that had dried was made into a pudding known as boyos de pan.
Milk was usually reserved for pregnant women or the sick. Almond milk was often used as a substitute. Labneh, or sour milk was sometimes purchased from Arab peasants. Sephardim kept soft cheeses in tins of salt water to preserve it.
In the 1870s, meat was rare and eaten on Sabbath and festivals, but became more available towards the end of the nineteenth century; however, chicken remained a luxury item. Meat was primarily beef, but goat and lamb were eaten, particularly in the spring. Almost every part of the animal was used.
Fresh fish was a rare and expensive food in Jerusalem, particularly in the winter. Salted cod was soaked and then prepared for both weekdays and Sabbath meals. Sephardim also had a preference for fish called gratto and for sardines. Another fish that was available was bouri (grey mullet).
The cooking style of the community was Sephardi cuisine, which developed among the before their expulsion in 1492, and in the areas to which they migrated thereafter, particularly the Balkans and Ottoman Empire. Sephardim also established communities in the Old Yishuv. Particularly in Jerusalem, they continued to develop their culinary style, influenced by Ottoman cuisine, creating a style that became known as Jerusalem Sephardi cuisine. This cuisine included pies like sambousak, and burekas, vegetable gratins and stuffed vegetables, and rice and bulgur pilafs, which are now considered to be Jerusalem classics.
Groups of Hasidic Jews from Eastern Europe began establishing communities in the late 1700s, and brought with them their traditional Ashkenazi cuisine, developing, however, distinct local variations, notably a caramelized noodle pudding known as kugel yerushalmi.

Even until the end of the nineteenth century, both Ashkenazim and Sephardim in Jerusalem stored large quantities of foodstuffs for the winter. In Sephardi households these included rice, flour, lentils, beans, olives and cheese. Ashkenazim stored wine, spirits, olives, sesame oil and wheat. At the end of the summer, large quantities of eggs were packed in for the winter. Most Sephardic and Ashkenazi families would also buy large quantities of grapes to make wine. Olives were also pickled and Sephardim pickled eggplants too.

Modern Israeli cuisine
Israeli cuisine has adopted, and continues to adapt, elements of various styles of Jewish cuisine, particularly the Mizrahi, Sephardic, and Ashkenazi styles of cooking, along with Ethiopian Jewish, Indian Jewish, Iranian Jewish and Yemeni Jewish influences. It incorporates many foods traditionally eaten in the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, and foods such as falafel, hummus, shakshouka, couscous, and za'atar have become synonymous with Israeli cuisine.
New dishes based on agricultural products such as oranges, avocados, dairy products and fish, and others based on world trends have been introduced over the years, and chefs trained abroad have brought in elements of other international cuisines.

Israeli eating customs also conform to the wider Mediterranean region, with lunch, rather than dinner, being the focal meal of a regular workday. “Kibbutz foods” have been adopted by many Israelis for their light evening meals as well as breakfasts, and now may consist of many types of cheeses, both soft and hard, yoghurt, leben and sour cream, olives, hard-boiled eggs or omelets, pickled and smoked herring, a variety of breads, and fresh orange juice and coffee.
In addition, Jewish holidays influence the cuisine, with the preparation of traditional foods at holiday times, such as various types of challah (Sabbath bread) for Sabbaths and Festivals, jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot) for Hanukah, the hamantaschen pastry (oznei haman) for Purim, charoset, a type of fruit paste, for Passover, and dairy foods for Shavuot. The Shabbat dinner, and to a lesser extent Shabbat lunch, is a significant meal in Israeli homes, together with holiday meals.
Although not all Jews in Israel keep , the tradition of kashrut strongly influences the availability of certain foods and their preparation in homes, public institutions and many restaurants, including the separation of milk and meat and avoiding the use of non-kosher foods, especially pork and shellfish. During Passover, bread and other leavened foods are prohibited and matza and leaven-free foods are substituted.

Foods
Israel does not have a universally recognized national dish; however, many consider it to be falafel, deep fried balls of seasoned, ground chickpeas. Street vendors throughout Israel sell falafel and it is a favorite street food.

Pastrami is a popular Jewish delicatessen meat usually made from beef, and, like corned beef, originally created as a way to preserve meat before modern refrigeration. For pastrami, the raw meat is brined, partly dried, seasoned with various herbs and spices, then smoked and steamed. Although beef navels are the traditional cut of meat for making pastrami, it is now common to see pastrami made from beef brisket, beef round and turkey.
Both the dish and the word pastrami were brought to the United States in a wave of Jewish immigration from Bessarabia and Romania in the second half of the 19th century.
Although Sussman Volk is generally credited with producing the first pastrami sandwich, in New York, in 1887, that claim could be disputed by the founders of Katz's Deli, in New York (205 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002), which was founded in 1888. Katz's is also the only place in town that still carves all its pastrami and corned beef by hand—and it makes a huge difference. One table in the middle of the dining room bears an inconspicuous paper sign taped to its surface: "You are sitting at the table where Harry met Sally." Recommended dish: Pastrami on rye, $14.45.

Salads and appetizers
Vegetable salad is eaten with every meal, including the traditional Israeli breakfast, which may include eggs, green olives, yoghurt and . For lunch and dinner, salad may be served a side dish. In restaurants, a light meal of salad, hummus and French fries served in a pita is referred to as chipsalat.
Israeli salad is made with finely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers dressed in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and minced parsley. Variations include the addition of diced red or green bell peppers, grated carrot, finely shredded cabbage, sliced radish, fennel, spring onions and chives, and other flavors such as mint, za'atar and sumac. Although popularized by the kibbutzim, versions of this mixed salad were brought to Israel from various places. For example, Jews from India prepare it with finely chopped ginger and green chili peppers, North African Jews may add preserved lemon peel and cayenne pepper, and Bukharan Jews chop the vegetables extremely finely and use vinegar, without oil, in the dressing.
A large variety of eggplant salads and dips are made with roasted eggplants. Baba ghanoush, called salat hatzilim in Israel, is made with tahina and other seasonings such as garlic, lemon juice, onions, herbs and spices. The eggplant is sometimes grilled over an open flame so that the pulp has a smoky taste. A particularly Israeli variation of the salad is made with mayonnaise. Eggplant salads are also made with yoghurt, or with feta cheese, chopped onion and tomato, or in the style of Romanian Jews, with roasted red pepper.
Tahina is used as a dressing for falafel, serves as a cooking sauce for meat and fish, and forms the basis of sweets such as halva.
Hummus in pita is a common lunch for schoolchildren, and appears on every dinner table as a dip. Supermarkets offer a variety of commercially prepared hummus, but people will go out of their way for fresh hummus prepared at a hummusia, an establishment devoted exclusively to selling hummus.
Israeli-style avocado salad, with lemon juice and chopped scallions, was introduced by farmers who planted avocado trees on the coastal plain in the 1920s. Avocados have since become a winter delicacy and are cut into salads as well as being spread on bread.
A meze of fresh and cooked vegetable salads, pickled cucumbers and other vegetables, hummus and tahina dips, labneh cheese with olive oil, and ikra is served at festive meals and in restaurants. Salads include Turkish salad (a piquant salad of finely chopped onions, tomatoes, herbs and spices), tabbouleh, spicy Moroccan carrot salad, marinated roasted red peppers, deep fried cauliflower florets, matboucha, and various eggplant salads.
Modern Israeli interpretations of the meze blend traditional and modern, pairing ordinary appetizers with unique combinations such as fennel and pistachio salad, beetroot and pomegranate salad, and celery and kashkaval cheese salad.
Stuffed vegetables, called memula’im, were originally designed to extend cheap ingredients into a meal. They are prepared by cooks in Israel from all ethnic backgrounds and are made with many varying flavors, such as spicy or sweet-and-sour, with ingredients such as peppers, eggplants and zucchini squash, and stuffing such as meat and rice in Balkan style, bulgur in Middle Eastern fashion, or with ptitim, a type of Israeli pasta. The Ottoman Turks introduced stuffed vine leaves in the sixteenth century and vine leaves are commonly stuffed with a combination of meat and rice, although other fillings, such as lentils, have evolved among the various communities. Artichoke bottoms stuffed with meat are famous as one the grand dishes of the Sephardi Jerusalem cuisine of the Old Yishuv. Moroccan "cigars" are soft meat filling wrapped in phyllo-dough, and deep fried in oil or oven baked. They are commonly served at weddings and other celebrations.

Soups and dumplings
A variety of soups are enjoyed, particularly in the winter. Chicken soup has been a mainstay of since medieval times and is popular in Israel too. Classic chicken soup is prepared as a simple broth with a few vegetables, such as onion, carrot and celery, and herbs such as dill and parsley. More elaborate versions are prepared by Sephardim with orzo or rice, or the addition of lemon juice or herbs such as mint or coriander, while Ashkenazim may add noodles. An Israeli adaption of the traditional Ashkenazi soup pasta known as mandlen, called "shkedei marak" ("soup nuts") in Israel, are commonly served with chicken soup.
Particularly on holidays, dumplings are served with the soup, such as the kneidlach (matzah balls) of the Ashkenazim or the gondi (chickpea dumplings) of Iranian Jews, or kubbeh, a family of dumplings brought to Israel by Middle Eastern Jews. Especially popular are kubbeh prepared from and stuffed with ground lamb and pine nuts, and the soft semolina kubbeh cooked in soup, which Jews of Kurdish or Iraqi heritage habitually enjoy as a Friday lunchtime meal.
Lentil soup is prepared in many ways, with additions such as cilantro or chunks of meat. Other soups include the harira of the Moroccan Jews, which is a spicy soup of lamb (or chicken), chickpeas, lentils and rice, and Yemenite marrow bone soup known as ftut, which is served on special occasions such as weddings, and is seasoned with the traditional hawaij spice mix.

Grains and pasta
Rice is prepared in numerous ways in Israel, from simple steamed white rice to festive casseroles. "Green" rice, prepared with a variety of fresh chopped herbs, is a rice dish favored by Persian Jews. Another rice dish is prepared with thin noodles that are first fried and then boiled with the rice. Mujadara is a popular rice and lentil dish, adopted from Arab cuisine, known in Israel as mejadra.
Couscous was brought to Israel by Jews from North Africa. It is still prepared in some restaurants or by traditional cooks by passing semolina through a sieve several times and then cooking it over an aromatic broth in a special steamer pot called a couscoussière. Generally, "instant" couscous is widely used for home cooking. Couscous is used in salads, main courses and even some deserts. As a main course, chicken or lamb, or the vegetables cooked in a soup flavored with saffron or turmeric are served on the steamed couscous.
Ptitim are an Israeli pasta which now come in many shapes, including pearls, loops, stars and hearts, but were originally shaped like grains of rice, as they originated in the early days of the State of Israel as a wheat-based substitute for rice, when rice, a staple of the Mizrahi Jews, was scarce. Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, is reputed to have asked the Osem company to devise this substitute, and it was thus nicknamed "Ben-Gurion's rice". Ptitim can be boiled like pasta, or prepared -style by sautéing and then boiling in water or stock, or baking them in a casserole. Like other pasta, they can be flavored in many ways with spices, herbs and sauces. Once considered primarily a food for children, ptitim are now prepared in restaurants both in Israel and internationally.

Fish
Fresh fish is readily available, caught off Israel's coast or raised in ponds in the wake of advances in fish farming in Israel.
Fresh fish is served whole, in the Mediterranean style, grilled or fried, dressed only with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Trout (called forel), gilthead seabream (called denisse), St. Peter's fish and other fresh fish are prepared this way.
Chraime is fish such as grouper or halibut prepared in a sauce with hot pepper and other spices for Rosh Hashanah, Passover and the Sabbath by North African Jews. Everyday versions are prepared with cheaper kinds of fish and are served in market eateries, public kitchens and at home for weekday meals.
Along with gefilte fish, Ashkenazi Jews also brought pickled herring from Eastern Europe. It is often served at the that follows synagogue services on Shabbat. In the Russian immigrant community it may be served as a light meal with boiled potatoes, sour cream, dark breads and schnapps or vodka.
Many people think Fish and Chips is a traditional English dish, but in fact it is a Sephardic Jewish delicacy. English chefs, including Nigella Lawson, the celebrity cooking show host, have pointed to Jewish refugees from 16th-century Portugal as the first to fry fish in batter.

Poultry and meat
Chicken is the most widely eaten meat in Israel, followed by turkey. Chicken is prepared in a multitude of ways, from simple oven-roasted chicken to elaborate casseroles with rich sauces. Examples include chicken casserole with couscous, inspired by Moroccan Jewish cooking, chicken with olives, a Mediterranean classic, and chicken albondigas (dumplings) in tomato sauce, from Jerusalem Sephardi cuisine. Albondigas are also prepared from ground meat.
Grilled and barbecued meat is a leading feature of Israeli cuisine. The country has many small eateries specializing in beef and lamb kebab and shashlik. Outdoor barbecuing, known as mangal or al ha-esh (on the fire) is a beloved Israeli pastime. In modern times, is frequently celebrated with a picnic or barbecue in parks and forests around the country.
Turkey schnitzel is an Israeli adaptation of veal schnitzel, and is an example of the transformations common in Israeli cooking. The schnitzel was brought to Israel by Jews from Central Europe, but before and during the early years of the State of Israel veal was unobtainable and chicken or turkey was an inexpensive and tasty substitute. Furthermore, a Wiener schnitzel is cooked in both butter and oil, but in Israel only oil is used, because of kashrut. Today, most cooks buy schnitzel already breaded and serve it with hummus, tahina, and other salads for a quick main meal. Other immigrant groups have added variations from their own backgrounds; Yemenite Jews, for example, flavour it with hawaij. In addition, vegetarian versions have become popular and the Israeli food company, Tiv'ol, was the first to produce a vegetarian schnitzel from a soya meat-substitute.
Various types of sausage are part of Sephardi and Mizrahi cuisine in Israel. Jews from Tunesia make a sausage, called osban, with a filling of ground meat or liver, rice, chopped spinach, and a blend of herbs and spices. Jews from Syria make smaller sausages, called gheh, with a different spice blend while Jews from Iraq make the sausages, called mumbar, with chopped meat and liver, rice, and their traditional mix of spices.

Dairy products
Many fresh, high quality dairy products are available, such as cottage cheese, white cheeses including leben, eshel and yoghurts, yellow cheeses, and salt-brined cheeses typical of the Mediterranean region.
Dairy farming has been a major sector of Israeli agriculture since the founding of the state, and the yield of local milk cows is amongst the highest in the word. Initially, the moshavim (farming cooperatives) and kibbutzim produced mainly soft white cheese as it was inexpensive and nutritious. It became an important staple in the years of austerity and gained a popularity that it enjoys until today.
Soft white cheese, gvina levana, is often referred to by its fat content, such as 5% or 9%. It is eaten plain, or mixed with fruit or vegetables, spread on bread or crackers and used in a variety of pies and pastries.
Labneh is a yoghurt-based white cheese common throughout the Balkans and the Middle East. It is sold plain, with za'atar, or in olive oil. It is often eaten for breakfast with other cheeses and bread.
Safed cheese, gvina tsfatit, a white cheese in brine, similar to feta, was first produced by the Meiri in Safed in 1837 and is still produced there by descendants of the original cheese makers. The Meiri dairy also became famous for its production of the Balkan-style brinza cheese, which became known as Bulgarian cheese due to its popularity in the early 1950s among Jewish immigrants from Bulgaria. Other dairies now also produce many varieties of these cheeses. Bulgarian yoghurt, introduced to Israel by Bulgarian Jewish survivors of the the Holocaust, is used to make a traditional yoghurt and cucumber soup.
In the early 1980s, small privately owned dairies began to produce handmade cheeses from goat and sheep’s milk as well as cow’s milk, resembling traditional cheeses like those made in rural France, Spain and Italy. Many are made with organic milk. These are now also produced by kibbutzim and the national Tnuva dairy.

Fruit
Although Israel is one of the world's leading fresh citrus producers and exporters, more than forty types of fruit are grown in Israel besides oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and the pomelit, a hybrid of a grapefruit and a pomelo, developed in Israel. Fruits grown in Israel include avocados, bananas, apples, cherries, plums, nectarines, grapes, dates, strawberries, prickly pear (tzabbar), persimmon, loquat (shesek) and pomegranates, and are eaten on a regular basis: Israelis consume an average of nearly 160 kilograms (350 lb) of fruit per person a year.
Fruit is served as a snack or dessert. Fresh-squeezed fruit juices are prepared at street kiosks, and sold bottled in supermarkets. Various fruits are added to chicken or meat dishes and fresh fruit salad and compote are often served at the end of the meal.

Baked dishes, cookies, pastries
There is a strong tradition of home baking in Israel arising from the years when there were very few bakeries to meet demand. Many professional bakers came to Israel from Central Europe and founded local pastry shops and bakeries, often called konditoria, thus shaping local tastes and preferences. There is now a local style with a wide selection of cakes and pastries that includes influences from other cuisines and combines traditional European ingredients with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern ingredients, such as halva, phyllo dough, dates, and rose water.
Examples include citrus-flavored , moistened with syrup and called basbousa, tishpishti or revani in Sephardic bakeries. The Ashkenazi babka has been adapted to include halva or chocolate spread, in addition to the old-fashioned cinnamon. There are also many varieties of apple cake. Cookies made with crushed dates (ma'amoul) are served with coffee or tea, as throughout the Middle East.
Jerusalem kugel (kugel yerushalmi) is an Israeli version of the traditional noodle pudding, kugel, made with caramelized sugar and spiced with black pepper. It was originally a specialty of the Ashkenazi Jews of the Old Yishuv. It is typically baked in a very low oven overnight and eaten after synagogue services on Sabbath morning.
Burekas are savory pastries brought to Israel by Jews from Turkey, the Balkans and Salonika. They are made of a flaky dough in a variety of shapes, frequently topped with sesame seeds, and are filled with cheese, spinach, potatoes or mushrooms. Burekas are sold at kiosks, supermarkets and cafes, and are served at functions and celebrations, as well as being prepared by home cooks. They are often served as a light meal with hardboiled eggs and chopped vegetable salad.
Ashkenazi Jews from Vienna and Budapest brought sophisticated pastry making traditions to Israel. Sacher torte and Linzer torte are sold at professional bakeries, but cheesecake and strudel are also baked at home.
Jelly donuts (sufganiyot), traditionally filled with red jelly (jam), but also custard or dulce de leche, are eaten as Hanukkah treats.

Breads and sandwiches
In the Jewish communities of the Old Yishuv, bread was baked at home. Small commercial bakeries were set up in the mid-nineteenth century. One of the earliest, Berman’s in Jerusalem, was established in 1875, and evolved from a cottage industry making home-baked bread and cakes for Christian pilgrims.
Expert bakers who arrived among the immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe in the 1920s and 30s introduced handmade sourdough breads. From the 1950s, mass-produced bread replaced these loaves and standard, government subsidized loaves known as le?em a?id became mostly available until the 1980s, when specialized bakeries again began producing rich sourdough breads in the European tradition, and breads in a Mediterranean style with accents such as olives, cheese, herbs or sun-dried tomatoes. A large variety of breads is now available from bakeries and cafes.
Challah bread is widely purchased or prepared for the Sabbath. Challah is typically an egg-enriched bread, often braided in the Ashkenazi tradition, or round for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.
The Sabbath and festival breads of the Yemenite Jews have become popular in Israel and can be bought frozen in supermarkets. Jachnun is very thinly rolled dough, brushed with oil or fat and cooked overnight at a very low heat. It is traditionally served with a crushed or grated tomato dip, hard boiled eggs and skhug. Malawach is made similarly, but is cooked flat in a frying pan. It is often served with honey. Kubaneh are made from yeast dough like , and are also cooked overnight in melted fat. Lahoh is a spongy, pancake-like bread made of fermented flour and water, and fried in a pan. Jews from Ethiopia make a similar bread called injera from millet flour.
Pita bread is a double-layered flat or pocket bread traditional in many Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. It is baked plain, or with a topping of sesame or nigella seeds or za'atar. Pita is used in multiple ways, such as stuffed with falafel, salads or various meats as a snack or fast food meal; packed with schnitzel, salad and French fries for lunch; filled with chocolate spread as a snack for schoolchildren; or broken into pieces for scooping up hummus, eggplant and other dips. A lafa is larger, soft flatbread that is rolled up with a falafel or shawarma filling. Various ethnic groups continue to bake traditional flat breads. Jews from the former Soviet republic of Georgia make the flatbread, lavash.

Confections, sweets and snack foods
Baklava is a nut-filled Turkish phyllo pastry sweetened with syrup served at celebrations in Jewish communities who originated in the Middle East. It is also often served in restaurants as dessert, along with small cups of Turkish coffee.
Halva is a Turkish sweet, made from tehina and sugar, and is popular in Israel. It is used to make original desserts like halva parfait.
Sunflower seeds, called garinim, are eaten everywhere, on outings, at stadiums and at home. They are usually purchased unshelled and are cracked open with the teeth. They can be bought freshly roasted from shops and market stalls that specialize in nuts and seeds as well as packaged in supermarkets, along with the also well-liked pumpkin and watermelon seeds, pistachios, and sugar-coated peanuts.
Bamba is a soft, peanut-flavored snack food that is a favorite of children, and Bissli is a crunchy snack in various flavors, including BBQ, pizza, falafel and onion.
Krembo is a chocolate-coated marshmallow treat that is also very popular in Israel. It is sold only in the winter, and is very popular as an alternative to ice cream. It comes wrapped in colorful aluminum foil, and consists of a round biscuit base covered with a dollop of cream coated in chocolate.
Milky is a popular dairy pudding that comes in chocolate, vanilla and mocha flavors with a layer of cream on top.

Sauces and condiments
Skhug is a spicy chili pepper sauce brought to Israel by Yemenite Jews, and has become one of Israel's most popular condiments. It is added to falafel and hummus and is also spread over fish, and to white cheese, eggs, salami or avocado sandwiches for extra heat and spice.
Other hot sauces made from chili peppers and garlic are the harissa of the Tunisian Jewish community, and the filfel chuma of the Libyan Jewish community in Israel.
Amba is a pickled mango sauce, introduced by Indian and Iraqi Jews, and commonly used a condiment with shawarma and falafel and vegetable salads.

Street foods
In Israel, as in many other Middle Eastern cities, “street food” is a kind of fast food that is sometimes literally eaten while standing in the street, while in some cases there are places to sit down. The following are some foods that are usually eaten in this way:
Falafel are fried balls or patties of spiced, mashed chickpeas or fava beans and are a common Middle Eastern street food that have become identified with Israeli cuisine. Falafel is most often served in a pita, with pickles, tahina, hummus, cut vegetable salad and often, harif, a hot sauce, the type used depending on the origin of the falafel maker. Variations include green falafel, which include parsley and coriander, red falafel made with filfel chuma, yellow falafel made with , and falafel coated with sesame seeds.
Shawarma, (from çevirme, meaning “rotating” in Turkish) is usually made in Israel with turkey, with lamb fat added. The shawarma meat is sliced and marinated and then roasted on a huge rotating skewer. The cooked meat is shaved off and stuffed into a pita, plainly with hummus and tahina, or with additional trimmings such as fresh or fried onion rings, French fries, salads and pickles. More upscale restaurant versions are served on an open flat bread, a lafa, with steak strips, flame roasted eggplant and salads.
Shakshouka, originally a workman’s breakfast popularized by North African Jews in Israel, is made simply of fried eggs in spicy tomato sauce, with other vegetable ingredients or sausage optional. Shakshouka is typically served in the same frying pan in which it is cooked, with thick slices of white bread to mop up the sauce, and a side of salad. Modern variations include a milder version made with spinach and feta without tomato sauce, and hot chili shakshouka, a version that includes both sweet and hot peppers and coriander.
Jerusalem mixed grill, or me'urav Yerushalmi, consists of mixed grill of chicken giblets and lamb with onion, garlic and spices. It is one of Jerusalem’s most popular and profitable street foods.
Jerusalem bagels, unlike the round, boiled and baked bagels popularized by Ashkenazi Jews, are long and oblong-shaped, made from bread dough, covered in za’atar or sesame seeds, and are soft, chewy and sweet. They have become a favorite snack for football match crowds, and are also served in hotels as well as at home.
Malabi is a creamy pudding originating from Turkey prepared with milk or cream and cornstarch. It is sold as a street food from carts or stalls, in disposable cups with thick sweet syrup and various crunchy toppings such as chopped pistachios or coconut. Its popularity has resulted in supermarkets selling it in plastic packages and restaurants serving richer and more sophisticated versions using various toppings and garnishes such as berries and fruit. Sahlab is a similar desert made from the powdered tubers of orchids and milk.
Sabih is a traditional sandwich that Iraqi immigrants introduced to Israel and is sold at kiosks throughout the country, but especially in Ramat-Gan, where it was first introduced. Sabih is a pita filled with fried eggplant, hardboiled egg, salad, tehina and pickles.
Tunisian sandwich is usually made from a baguette with various fillings that may include tuna, egg, pickled lemon, salad, and fried hot green pepper.

Holiday cuisine
Sabbath
Friday night (eve of Sabbath) dinners are usually family and socially oriented meals. Along with family favorites, and varying to some extent according to ethnic background, traditional dishes are served, such as challah bread, chicken soup, salads, chicken or meat dishes, and cakes or fruits for desert.
Shabbat lunch is also an important social meal. Since antiquity, Jewish communities all over the world devised meat casseroles that begin cooking before the lighting of candles that marks the commencement of the Sabbath on Friday night, so as to comply with the religious regulations for observing the Sabbath. In modern Israel, this filling dish, in many variations, is still eaten on the Sabbath day, not only in religiously observant households, and is also served in some restaurants during the week.
The basic ingredients are meat and beans or rice simmered overnight on a hotplate or blech, or placed in a slow oven. Ashkenazi cholent usually contains meat, potatoes, barley and beans, and sometimes kishke, and seasonings such as pepper and paprika. Sephardi hamin contains chicken or meat, rice, beans, garlic, sweet or regular potatoes, seasonings such as turmeric and cinnamon, and whole eggs in the shell known as haminados. Moroccan Jews prepare variations known as dafina or skhina (or s'hina) with meat, onion, marrow bones, potatoes, chickpeas, eggs and spices such as turmeric, cumin, paprika and pepper. Iraqi Jews prepare tebit, using chicken and rice.
For deserts or informal gatherings on Shabbat, home bakers still bake a wide variety of cakes on Fridays to be enjoyed on the Sabbath, or purchase from bakeries or stores, cakes such as sponge cake, citrus semolina cake, cinnamon or chocolate babkas, and fruit and nut cakes.

Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is widely celebrated with festive family meals and symbolic foods. Sweetness is the main theme and the Rosh Hashana dinners typically begin with apples dipped in honey, and end with honey cake. The challah is usually round, often studded with raisins and drizzled with honey, and other symbolic fruits and vegetables are eaten as an entree, such as pomegranates, carrots, leeks and beets.
Fish dishes, symbolizing abundance, are served; for example, gefilte fish is traditional for Ashkenazim, while Moroccan Jews prepare the spicy fish dish, chraime.
As a main course, a traditional Sephardi meat dish is lamb and quince casserole, while Ashkenazim prepare a tzimmes of stewed meat and carrots.
Honey cake (lekach) is often served after a meal as desert or with tea or coffee.

Hanukkah
The holiday of Hanukkah is marked by the consumption of traditional Hanukkah foods fried in oil in commemoration of the miracle in which a small quantity of oil sufficient for one day lasted eight days.
The two most popular Hannukah foods are potato pancakes, levivot, also known by the Yiddish latkes; and jelly doughnuts, known as sufganiyot in Hebrew, pontshkes (in Yiddish) or bimuelos (in Ladino), as these are in oil. Hannukah pancakes are made from a variety of ingredients, from the traditional potato or cheese, to more modern innovations, among them corn, spinach, zucchini and sweet potato.
Bakeries in Israel have popularized many new types of fillings for sufganiyot besides the standard strawberry jelly filling, and these include chocolate, vanilla or cappuccino cream, and others. In recent years downsized, "mini" sufganiyot have also appeared due to concerns about calories.

Tu Bishvat
Tu Bishvat is a minor Jewish holiday, usually sometime in late January or early February, that marks the "New Year of the Trees". Customs include planting trees and eating dried fruits and nuts, especially figs, dates, raisins, carob, and almonds.
Many Israelis, both religious and secular, celebrate with a kabbalistic-inspired Tu Bishvat seder that includes a feast of fruits and four cups of wine according to the ceremony presented in special haggadot modeled on the Haggadah of Passover for this purpose.

Purim
The festival of Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from the plot of Haman to annihilate them in the ancient Persian Empire, as described in the Book of Esther. It is a day of rejoicing and merriment, on which children, and many adults, wear costumes.
It is a custom to eat a festive meal, called a seudat Purim, in the late afternoon, often with wine as the prominent beverage, in keeping with the atmosphere of merry-making.
Many people prepare packages of food that they give to neighbors, friends, family, and colleagues on Purim. These are called mishloach manot ("sending of portions"), and often include wine and baked goods, fruit and nuts, and sweets.
The food most associated with Purim is called oznay Haman ("Haman's ears"). These are three-cornered pastries filled most often with poppy seed, but also other fruit fillings. The triangular shape may have been influenced by old illustrations of Haman, in which he wore a three-cornered hat.

Passover
The week-long holiday of Passover in the spring commemorates the Exodus from Egypt, and in Israel is usually a time for visiting friends and relatives, travelling, and on the first night of Passover, the traditional ritual dinner, known as the Seder. Foods containing hametz – leaven or yeast – may not be eaten during Passover. This means bread, pastries and certain fermented beverages, such as beer, cannot be consumed. Ashkenazim also do not eat legumes, known as kitniyot. Over the centuries, Jewish cooks have developed dishes using alternative ingredients and this characterizes Passover food in Israel today.
Chicken soup with matza dumplings (kneidlach) is often a starter for the Seder meal and one of a few Ashkenazi dishes to be adopted widely by Israelis of all the ethnic backgrounds. Main course for Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews usually includes lamb, roasted, or stewed with vegetables and spices, while Ashkenazi Jews are more likely to prepare baked or stewed meat dishes. Spring vegetables, such as asparagus, also often accompany this meal.
Restaurants in Israel have come up with creative alternatives to hametz ingredients to create pasta, hamburger buns, pizza, and other fast foods in kosher-for-Passover versions by using potato starch and other non-standard ingredients.
After Passover, the celebration of Mimouna takes place, a tradition brought to Israel by the Jewish communities of North Africa. In the evening, a feast of fruit, confectionery and pastries is set out for neighbors and visitors to enjoy. Most notably, the first leaven after Passover, a thin crepe called a mofletta, eaten with honey, syrup or jam, is served. The occasion is celebrated the following day by outdoor picnics at which salads and barbecued meat feature prominently.

Shavuot
In the early summer, the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot is celebrated. Shavuot marks the peak of the new grain harvest and the ripening of the first fruits, and is a time when milk was historically most abundant. To celebrate this holiday, many types of dairy foods are eaten. These include cheeses and yogurts, cheese-based pies and quiches called pashtidot, cheese blintzes, and cheesecake prepared with soft white cheese (gvina levana) or cream cheese.

Drinks
There is a strong coffee drinking culture in Israel. Coffee is prepared as instant (nes), iced, latte (hafuh), Italian-style espresso, or Turkish coffee, which is sometimes flavored with cardamom. Jewish writers, artists and musicians who immigrated to Israel before the Second World War introduced the model of the Viennese coffeehouse with its traditional décor, relaxed atmosphere, coffee and pastries.
Tea is also served at cafés and drunk at home. Tea is prepared in many ways, from plain brewed Russian-style with sugar, to tea with lemon or milk, and Middle Eastern-style with mint (nana).
Sahlab is a thick, milky drink made of the powdered bulb of the orchid plant and is usually sold in markets or by street vendors, especially in the winter. It is topped with cinnamon and chopped pistachios. A cheaper variation is made with cornstarch.
Malt beer, known as bira shehora, is a non-alcoholic beverage produced in Israel since pre-state times. Goldstar and Maccabi are Israeli beers.

Wine
The modern Israeli wine industry was founded by Baron Edmond James de Rothschild, owner of the estate Château Lafite-Rothschild, who imported French grapes and technical know-how to Israel. In 1882, he helped to establish Carmel Winery with vineyards and wine production facilities in Rishon LeZion and Zikhron Ya'akov near Haifa. Still in operation today, Carmel is the largest producer of Israeli wine and has been at the forefront of many technical and historical advances in both winemaking and Israeli history.
The vast majority of Israelis drink wine in moderation, and almost always at meals or social occasions. Israelis drink about 6.5 liters of wine per person per year, which is low compared to other wine-drinking Mediterranean countries, but the per capita amount has been increasing since the 1980s as Israeli production of high quality wine grows to meet demand, especially of semi-dry and dry wines. In addition to Israeli wines, an increasing number of wines are imported from France, Italy, Australia, the US, Chile and Argentina.
Most of the wine produced and consumed from the 1880s was sweet, kosher wine when the Carmel Winery was established, until the 1980s, when more dry or semi-dry wines began to be produced and consumed after the introduction of the Golan Heights Winery’s first vintage. The winery was the first to focus on planting and making wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, white Riesling and Gewürztraminer. These wines are kosher and have won silver and gold medals in international competitions. Israeli wine is now produced by hundreds of wineries, ranging in size from small boutique wineries to large companies producing over ten million bottles per year, which are also exported worldwide.
There are two methods for making kosher wine. One is to bring the wine, however briefly, to near-boiling point, so that it can be considered 'cooked', and the other is to ensure the grapes are harvested by Jewish workers and handled only by a kashrut supervisor. When the first method is used, the wine will typically be flash-pasteurized while flowing through steel pipes, and then immediately cooled. With the second method, only the supervisor can extract the fermenting drink from the barrel to allow the wine maker to taste for readiness.