We are always interested in trying new foods when we travel, and so in the interest of learning more about a country I’ve never visited, I checked out this cookbook from the library.
The book is full of recipes as you would expect, but it also gives recommendations for markets, restaurants and street food to try while in Israel. There is quite a bit of culture and contemporary context to go with the recipes, which makes for a book that is somewhere between a cookbook and a travel guide.
And of course, that makes me want to go visit Israel soon.
As for the recipes, they use many of the spices that we already keep around for our Indian and SE Asian dishes. It was nice to try out some recipes without having to go out and buy some unusual spice or ingredients. The dishes we’ve tried so far from this book are not subtle when it comes to flavor, and I think that fits our weekend style. Israel sits at the crossroads of many different cuisines in the Mediterranean and Middle East, so the recipes here really hit the spot for warm weather eating. Last week I made a batch of harissa from the recipe in the book and we’ve been using it (with a dollop of yogurt) as a dressing for our weeknight cabbage salads.
This weekend I’ll try a couple more recipes and see how they turn out, but so far I’m really impressed with this book. I can’t really find any points to criticize here. The politics of the area seem like it would make it difficult to write a book about “Israeli food”, seeing as it is a product of assimilation from other food cultures, but the writers deftly provide a glimpse into a vibrant and delicious place that I’d like to visit someday soon.
This was one of the few cookbooks I went ahead and bought after returning it to the library. I think I’ll be referring back to it often.
Next is a short novel by Stephen King, called “Later”.
