ln Honor of Israel’s Independence Day

If you can eat only one meal in Israel, choose breakfast. Preferably at a kibbutz.

If you can’t find a kibbutz, the morning spread at an Israeli hotel should do the trick. This lavish dairy buffet, an event everyone remembers even if the rest of their trip to the Holy Land is a blur, originates from the kibbutz.

Ravenous from waking up at dawn and working in the fields at daybreak, kibbutz workers gathered mid-morning in the communal dinning room where a table was unceremoniously laden with seasonal produce, dairy products, cooked eggs and fresh bread.

When Israel’s first luxury hotels opened in the 1950s and chefs were faced with the dilemma of serving breakfast to non-Jewish tourists accustomed to bacon and sausage, they compensated by turning kibbutz-style breakfasts into bountiful buffets showcasing the best local produce and dairy products.

So, when Yom Ha’atzmaut rolls around, I skip hummus and falafel altogether and concentrate my efforts on serving a glorious Israeli-style breakfast.  Herbed omelets, chopped Israeli salad, an array of hard and soft cheeses, yogurt and fruit, marinated fish, cracked olives, vegetable dips, orange juice, and hot pita and rugelach grace my table.

The beauty of this meal is that it’s so simple to prepare.  Besides chopping a quick salad and making omelets, everything else can be made (or purchased) in advance.  Whether you buy prepared Israeli dips, spreads or cheeses, the secret is not to skimp on the quality.

And always warm your pita before you eat it.

Enjoy this video from last year. Israel’s 60th Birthday:

Felisa Billet writes on Jewish food from her home in Hollywood, Florida. Participate in her interactive culinary dialogue at kosher.com by sending her questions to editor@kosher.com

Click here to make Israeli Salad, a must for Israeli breakfasts. When coupled with omelets and soft cheese, this triumvirate is the most typical fare on the Israeli breakfast table.

8 Ways To Enjoy 8 Passover Days

1: Just a reminder…

2: A Few Of My Favorite Passover Things
(Sung to the tune of “These are a few of my favorite things”)

Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes
Out with the hametz, no pasta, no knishes
Fish that’s gefillted, horseradish that stings
These are a few of our passover things.

Matzoh and karpas and chopped up haroset
Shankbones and kiddish and yiddish neuroses
Tante who kvetches and uncle who sings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Motzi and maror and trouble with Pharoahs
Famines and locusts and slaves with wheelbarrows
Matzah balls floating and eggshell that cling
These are a few of our Passover things.

When the plagues strike
When the lice bite
When we’re feeling sad
We simply remember our Passover things
And then we don’t feel so bad.

3: And if you wanted a different song in your head for all of Passover, here you go!

5: Time to get your Passover groove on!

4: Just watch and learn!

6: It’s all about your point of view
A little boy once returned home from Hebrew school and his father asked, “what did you learn today?” He answered, “The Rabbi told us how Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt.”
“How?”
The boy said “Moses was a big strong man and he beat Pharaoh up. Then while he was down, he got all the people together and ran towards the sea. When he got there, he has the Corps of Engineers build a huge pontoon bridge. Once they got on the other side, they blew up the bridge while the Egyptians were trying to cross.”
The father was shocked. “Is that what the Rabbi taught you?”
The boy replied, “No. But you’d never believe the story he DID tell us!”

7: “A brush with the law and a burning bush”

8: Cleaning for Passover means you go ALL OUT!!

Kosher in Annapolis? We hope so

Annapolis may be known, at some future date, as the City of Peace - if the international conference currently under way there results in any significant progress in the Israeli-Palestinian problem. But it is never going to be known as the City of Kosher. In fact, a recent article by the Associated Press makes the point that Annapolis is better known as the City of Crab Cakes and Oysters than any kind of a source of kosher food.

“I have no idea what they’re going to eat,” Rabbi Ari J. Goldstein of Temple Beth Shalom, a Reform synagogue in Arnold, Md., told the AP. “They can either buy their stuff at Trader Joe’s and borrow someone’s kitchen … or they can just go vegetarian, which is what they’re probably going to do.” The proprietors of Chick and Ruth’s Delly (they can’t even seem to spell it correctly) concede they are “kosher-style” only (We note, of course, that “kosher style” is not a term generally permitted in advertising or promotional material, as it can be misleading.).

The story, surprisingly, offers no answer as to how the various delegations - both Israeli and Arab - are going to satisfy culinary and dietary needs. It quotes a White House chef talking about kashrut at the White House, but that famous residence is more than an hour from Annapolis.

The US Naval Academy has a lovely Jewish chapel for its small cadre of Jewish midshipmen (about 120 out of more than 4,000), faculty members, and community members who attend services at the Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel. The Academy’s Jewish chaplain, Cmdr. Irv Elson, once told me that the Jewish middies who want to keep kosher at the Academy’s dining rooms, usually eat vegetarian food .

So, other than calling Kosher.com, what will the delegates do?

Taste ‘The Honey’ - Enjoy Israel

The Honey is a new Jerusalem-based email newsletter and website focusing on the best of things available in Israel (and sometimes in the U.S.). For The Honey, that means hotels, restaurants, sights, sounds, clothes and, of course, food and wine. In just a few months the site - modeled on the U.S. website and email network Daily Candy - has begun drawing thousands of readers. Kosher.com caught up with one of the Honey’s founders, Jessica Steinberg, between cooking and sampling some of the new gourmet goodies available in Israel.

Kosher.com - What is the idea behind The Honey?

JS - To talk about what’s fun to see, do and consume in Israel.

Kosher.com - Who is The Honey aimed at?

JS - English speakers in Israel, tourists and Israelis, from a wide range of ages, from somewhere around 25 to 85, although we would happily accept any older readers as well.

Kosher.com - How do you select the items, locations and tips you write up?
JS - It’s a fairly organic process, partially because all four of us are people who keep a regular lookout for what’s new and different in Israel. We find our finds mostly from our own treks around the cities in which we live and travel. In fact, we started The Honey because friends and family were always asking each of us where to find certain products, where to go to eat, drink and be merry. We love being in the know, and sharing what we know with others, in a sharp, hip and pithy format.

Kosher.com - Do you think a site like The Honey can improve Israel’s image by showing that “gourmet” products are being produced in Israel?

JS - We certainly see ourselves as a kind of hasbara for Israel, partially because we write about fun, lighthearted subjects that have nothing to do with politics, but also because Israel is such a destination for all things creative. There are many talented people here creating all kinds of things, whether they’re designing clothing, developing wines or inventing skins for the cell phone whose parts were designed in Israel. And if the worldwide search for everything that is gourmet and off-the-beaten path brings tourists to Israel, or, even better, reminds those of us who live here what there is to discover about this place, then we’ll be satisfied.

Kosher.com - Do you want to say anything else about The Honey?

JS - We’re always happy to hear from our readers, whether they have tips to share or comments to make about something we’ve featured or missed. Please keep in contact at thehoney.israel@gmail.com

Trading Shellfish for Shabbat

Eldad Vezehu, the Jerusalem restaurant famous for French dishes including non-kosher seafood like clams and mussels and meat-and-cheese specialties has decided to change direction and open its doors to the kosher crowd.

Owners say they simply got tired of working on Shabbat, after 14 years of operating seven days a week. Once they decided to close for the Israeli weekend, the logical next step was to change the menu and apply for a kashrut certificate in order to appeal to kosher-keeping Jerusalemites.

The restaurant is located in Jerusalem`s Feingold Courtyard, just off Jaffa Road near Ben Yehuda Street walking mall and Zion Square. The courtyard is home to several of the city’s non-kosher restaurants and trendy bars.

New menu items include thigh and leg of goose hip in rosemary and garlic sauce, lamb with Jerusalem artichoke, Swiss chard salad with sweet potato, and much much more. The desserts will also remain, including homemade souffles and tarts prepared on order by the restaurant’s pastry chef.

Tel: (02) 625-4007

Hours: Sun-Thurs noon- late

Friday noon – One hour before Shabbat

Saturday – One hour after Shabbat - late