[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img] Dateline Jerusalem — How can I be on a diet when my Israeli friends are such good cooks? I get invited to friends for Shabbat (Sabbath) meals almost every week. Not only is the food delicious and different, as my friends come from countries and cultures all over the world, but the topics of conversation are fascinating, spiritual, educational, thought-provoking, and entertaining. Meals can last 3 to 4 hours, and no one gets bored.

Shabbat is a festive day, and we celebrate three festive meals. When not in synagogue, we sit around the dining room table with family, friends and invited guests who may be strangers. In Israel it is not unusual to meet someone on the bus, train or in the street and invite them to share a Shabbat meal.

According to the dictionary, the definition of festive is “An occasion for feasting or celebration, especially a day or time of religious significance that recurs at regular intervals.” On Shabbat we dress in our finest clothes, as though we are preparing to meet royalty, for Hashem (G-d) is the King of the Universe. My friends prepare Shabbat meals as though they were feasts fit for a king. The tablecloths are pristine white and set with special Shabbat china and silverware not used during the rest of the week.

For example, on Saturday, I was invited to a friend's for lunch. It was not a lunch, but a feast! After the traditional wine and homemade braided challah (bread), there were 17 different kinds of salads trying to find a place on the table. Everyone had to have at least a “taste” of each, and often seconds, thirds and fourths. Served with the salads were 2 kinds of baked fish. Their portions were more than a “taste.” Then the table was cleared for the entrees. Six were brought to the long table, including chicken and rice, spicy ground beef in a flaky puffed pastry, meatballs with peas, sweet-and-sour rolled chicken breasts, meat patties or croquettes, and a traditional Shabbat cholent of beef and beans and potatoes. Of course there were side dishes like potato kugel. But it did not end there! The table was cleared again for desserts, including a non-dairy homemade ice cream with apricot-jelled topping, cream-filled rolled wafers, a hot fudge sundae type chocolate and mousse cake topped with whipped cream, cookies, about 5 different types of nuts to munch on, and of course fresh fruit. There was so much I just know I am forgetting something.

I am known for the capacity of food that I am able to consume. In my skinny days as a student at UCLA, I used to represent my floor in the dormitory in the eating contests. I also used to be “sponsored” in eating contests by people who were amazed at how much I could eat. Believe it or not, I had to gain weight before the Sheriff ‘s Dept. would hire me. Of course those of you who know me now would never guess that the obese person of today was once underweight.

Besides a change in my metabolism, how can I possibly lose weight when my friends prepare weekly feasts? Perhaps others can resist the temptation of trying everything, but I have no willpower when it comes to good food. Can't they be lousy cooks? Shabbat is over, and I can still savor the velvety smooth pureed soup and roast turkey breast, among other entrees and side dishes,that another friend made for Friday night's dinner.

Kayitz na’im lekulchem!
(‘קיץ נעים לכולכם’) – wishing you all a lovely summer!

L'hitraot.  Shachar