[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img] Dateline Jerusalem – Salads play a major role in Israeli cuisine. A staple of the Israeli diet, it is not unusual to have salad or vegetable “dip” with every meal, even breakfast. This week I came in first place in a salad contest held by a religious women's charitable organization in my town. Considering I test-tasted it just after I made it, and it was sooooooooooo bad, I decided I had to submit an additional salad. I cannot figure out how I came in first place with the bad one. I will admit, however, it tasted better during the contest than when I made it the night before. My bad but winning entry in the contest was a peanut sesame pasta salad. My second entry was a fruit and vegetable sweet chili pasta salad. Neither is exactly an Israeli salad, but the women in my organization are all Anglos, from the U.S., England, Australia, Canada and South Africa. So the salad submissions were regular salads, pasta salads, tuna salads, bean salads, vegetable salads, and fruit salads.
Last week I was invited for Shabbat dinner by a friend whose table had 19 salads and dips as the appetizers. After that came the baked salmon and matzo ball soup. By the time the main entrees of chicken and turkey and beef, and potato kugel and rice and vegetables hit the table, most diners were too full to partake in all the taste treats. Everyone did leave a little room, though, for the desserts and assorted nuts that followed.
The above meal is not unusual at Israeli tables, except for the number of salads and dips. However, no Israeli table goes without humus, at least two or three eggplant salad concoctions and a cabbage slaw. It is said that a woman cannot call herself Israeli unless she knows at least 100 ways in which to make eggplant. Israeli restaurants include salads and dips and delicious baked breads as part of all meals served. Usually there are not large bowls of salads, but small dishes of colorful, exotic tastes to tease the appetite.
A Smattering of Background
Hardly any meal does not focus on “Israeli salad,” finely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers in a little lemon juice. Variations include the addition of onions, bell peppers, parsley and mint. What makes it Israeli is how perfectly diced the tomatoes and cucumbers must be. Israeli salad not only is served as a salad by itself, but often it becomes part of the filling of a pita filled with falafel (deep fried balls of ground chickpeas made with scallions, parsley, garlic, cumin and coriander) or shawarma (lamb, chicken or turkey roasted on a vertical spit and shaved off the spit into small pieces of meat).
It might be a Jewish phenomenon, but so much of our lives center around the dining room table. Jewish food not only adapts to the particular area in which Jews have been exiled, it is symbolic of the plight of Jews throughout the centuries, commemorating the major holidays and events surrounding the Exodus. There is a joke about food and the Jewish people: “We were persecuted, we won, let's eat!” In one sentence, that says it all. In Israel, the melting pot for Jews from all over the world, the customs, spices and manner in which food is prepared become an educational experience.
I think my taste buds are playing tricks on me because everything I seem to cook lately tastes bad. Whatever my friends and restaurants prepare is delicious. I used to cook, even did a little catering, but somehow as I get older, I tend to be experimenting more and enjoying less. It probably is good for me since I really used to like my own cooking – and my waistline is indicative of it. If only my friends weren't such good cooks… My friends tell me they like my food. I think they are just being nice. Some of them say they would gladly be my guinea pig when I am experimenting with food. Often if I have leftovers (and I usually do since I tend to cook for an army), they do not go back into my refrigerator. My guests have been known to ask for doggie bags.
L'hitraot. Shachar