Defining Israeli Cuisine ... "The Schnitzel" ... and all the rest is usurpation!

Link

In the Atlantic/ here

I recently spent two months working as a kitchen apprentice in Tel Aviv, a city that doesn't generally rank high on gastronomic capitals of the world lists. Most Israelis looked perplexed when I told them I was there to learn more about their cuisine. "Why would you come to Israel?" my friend Natan asked shortly after I arrived. "Israel has no food culture. Hummus, falafel, we stole those from the Arabs. The only truly Israeli food is chicken schnitzel."....

In more upscale cafes or restaurants, the fried cutlets are served alongside pureed potatoes and maybe a simple chopped salad. And while chicken schnitzel represents everyday fare more than haute cuisine, it illustrates why I wanted to experience Israel. ...

Many people identify Israeli cuisine as Jewish cuisine, which certainly it embraces. However, when people think of Jewish cuisine, they almost always think of the Ashkenazi culinary tradition with its matzoh ball soup, brisket and gefilte fish, and not the Sephardic Jewish culinary heritage, which is steeped in the rich flavors and spices of the Mediterranean and Middle East....
Sabich, one of my favorite foods from my time in Israel, is a great example. Sabich is an Iraqi Jewish food, made by stuffing cold, fried eggplant slices into a pita along with preserved hard boiled eggs, tehina, hummus, chopped salad, and amba, which is a mango pickle, and is said to have been brought to the Middle East by spice traders in India.....
Similarly, for breakfast in Tel Aviv, two favorite dishes are jachnun, a traditional Yemenite dish of rolled dough served with grated tomatoes and harissa, and shakshuka, a dish of poached eggs in tomato sauce originally eaten in North Africa and brought to Israel by Tunisian Jews. And the ubiquitous chopped cucumber and tomatoes tossed with oil and lemon? It may be known as an Israeli salad, but it comes from the Arab culinary tradition, along with other "Israeli" favorites as hummus and pita.......
More sophisticated restaurants in Israel, like the one where I was working, still exhibit a clear French influence. Lacking a distinct Israeli food culture in the early years, upscale chefs embraced generic continental cuisine. ........... By the end of my two months in Israel, I realized that I still couldn't define modern Israeli cuisine because it was still evolving. (Read 'building-culinary-settlments-and-pots&pands-disappropriation) ..............."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 8:55 PM