South African’s are unfamiliar with an indigenous street food scene. Food typically South African and delicious like ‘boerewors and pap’, ‘biltong’, ‘Koeksisters’ do not classify as daily “street food”. The closest that comes to mind is the relatively inexpensive and rich variety of “Curry & Rice” you find in the Cape (introduced by the Malay community) and Natal (introduced by the Indian community).
Despite the availability of cuisine from all over the world today in Israel, it nevertheless has a flourishing unmistakable ‘Street Food” that is typically local and a sumptuous introduction into Israeli culture.
You have had a ‘taste of Israel’ from antiquities to art galleries and still have an ‘appetite’ for more. Where better to sink your teeth deeper into Israeli culture, then trying its cuisine, and where better to take your first bite than on Tel Aviv’s bustling, pulsating streets. Blaming the weather for all manner of things is fashionable the world over. Less so in Israel! It may be that our tasty, popular street food is indebted to Israel’s perennial sunny and warm weather. The fact that one can walk outside and eat outdoors, has created an easy laidback cuisine that gels with the Israel temperament – open, candid and ‘catering’ for loud and boisterous conversation. Despite Israel offering today cuisine from all over the world, local indigenous food remains ever-popular. Most countries have some indigenous street food, so what’s Israel’s most popular and where best to look?
SHAWARMA
MAFRUM
The one indisputable street food that has developed into a national dish is falafel. These are balls made of hummus and spices and deep fried in oil .
It is usually served in a fresh pita (round pocket bread) with a variety of salads, tahina (paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds) and pickles, and if you enjoy fiery hot sauce then you must add skhug (a hot green or red Yemenite chili sauce). Folk with more sensitive palates might dismiss this relish more suitable for gas tanks than gullets, but for most seasoned falafel eaters, it’s a vital component. “You don’t eat a hot dog without mustard. Same as falafel – you add skhug,” says Martin Wolff from Ra’anana, who the writer met tucking into his falafel in pita at Dr. Shakshuka in Jaffa. “This is one of my favorite places for falafel and Shawarma,” says Martin. His wife Michelle was tucking into a shawarma, but without the skhug. “Not for me,” she says, with Martin adding, “she is hot enough already!” If in the typically Israeli family of street-food, falafel is the favorite son, then its favorite daughter is shawarma. It comprises cuts of meat (usually turkey, but originally shawarma was made of mutton) which are packed into a pita or laffa (a large Iraqi pitta, which one fills and rolls like a huge taco), with salads and potato chips. And if you are wondering about the French fries, “it’s a case of mid-east meets west,” says Martin, originally from Cape Town. One of the most popular ethnic eateries in Jaffa, Dr. Shakshuka takes its name from the dish Shakshuka, which is a pan-fried casserole of poached eggs and spicy tomato sauce, the restaurant’s most popular dish. Dr. Shakshuka’s many versions of this dish emanate from Libya and have solidly cemented a reputation in Jaffa over two and a half family generations in the business. Believing they are “specialists” in this cuisine, explains the “Dr” in the restaurant’s name. But there’s much more here to enjoy: Tripoli-style couscous with mafrum (potato stuffed with ground meat, served with stewed beef and vegetable soup); stuffed vegetables; kishke (North African-style intestine stuffed with meat and rice); grilled lamb patties; and fresh grilled or fried fish. Main courses come with a spread of fresh pita and eight Middle Eastern salads.
Best Kept SecretWhile hummus, falafel, and even shawarma, are well-known outside the Middle East, sabich – described by one food critic as “the ultimate Israeli street food” – remains one of the country’s best-kept secrets. Sabich is a pita stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled eggs, hummus, tahina, and vegetable salad, while some versions contain boiled-potatoes as well. Pickled cucumbers, chopped parsley, and onions seasoned with purple sumac are usually added, as well as the sauces skhug or amba. While making sabich may seem simple enough, true lovers of it say that preparing it “just right” is an art form that few truly master. One, who according to Tel Aviv folklore has earned this title, is Oved Daniel, referred to as the “Diego Maradona of Sabich”. Like the revered Argentinean who dominated football in his day, Oved, has been dominating Israel’s sabich scene from his little corner on Sirkin Street in Givatayim, adjacent to Tel Aviv, for nearly three decades. Customers are reputed to flock there from all over the country. Tel Avivians now no longer have to make the trek as Oved has opened a branch in Tel Aviv on Karlebach Street.
In a recent interview, Oved revealed that “People eat here from all over the world, and many ask about opening branches in the States. I tell ’em, forget it, it can’t be done! They won’t be able to find the right ingredients and importing them will impair their quality.” Oved offers a sound solution to their problem – “Visit Israel often.” While some might argue that hummus and falafel are essentially Arab dishes ‘adopted’ by Israelis, sabich is a local concoction. The core ingredients can be found in the traditional Shabbat-breakfast of Iraqi Jews, but the idea of putting them into a pita and eating them as a sandwich is purely Israeli. Apparently, the credit for this culinary achievement rests with one Sabich Halabi, an Iraqi immigrant who opened what is believed to be the first sabich stand in Ramat Gan in 1961. One of the closest quality sabich eateries is on the corner of Dizengoff Street and Frishman Street simply called- Sabich Frishman. It is reputed to be the first place that locals recommend, and as one food critic wrote, “If lines and smell give any hint of quality, it’s hardly a surprise why.” While many of these street food eateries are referred as “hole-in-the-wall” establishments, one must not be put off – this is part of their charm, and often the less attractive on the outside might be a cover-up for the best food in town. This is typical of Tel Aviv cuisine deception. Salivating for a Sabich, another that comes highly recommended is Sabich Tchernichovsky whose food one food critic described, “rivals my grandmother’s.” Could you ask for a better endorsement? He continues: “From the moment you walk in, you know you’re in good hands. Despite the ever-existent line, the employees take their time constructing each and every sabich. Each ingredient is layered artfully in the perfect pita, providing the ideal combination of flavours in every bite. The delicious eggplant is thin and crispy, packing a flavourful kick with its unique and unidentifiable seasoning. It combines well with the soft creaminess of the boiled egg and pickled flavour of the amba.” There is also the option of ordering your sabich with a cheese that “is both gentle and tart, balancing the smoky eggplant and flavourful egg yolk.”
BOUREKAS Potato Cheese Bourekas by Tori Avey
Abouelafia Bakery in Jaffa.
No serious ‘explorer’ of Israeli street food can avoid a visit to Abulafia in Jaffa. It’s almost ‘universal’ popularity is best expressed by an overseas patron sounding more like a frequent ‘pilgrim’: “Here are your directions. (1) Board plane for Tel Aviv, (2) Clear immigration and customs, (3) Ask taxi driver to take you to Abouelafia. You could tell him that it is in Jaffa, but he already knows.” Open 24-hours a day, this street-side bakery has been located at the same corner in Jaffa just south of the Jaffa clock tower since 1879, and there are always crowds ordering at the counter. It’s hard to walk past without stopping to order, the smells draw you in, and “once hooked, you’re an addict,” said one customer from Ramat Gan who was buying to take home a huge supply of fresh and flavored pitot, bagels, sambusak (stuffed pastry with mushrooms, egg and different cheeses), and a variety of sweet confectionary. Was it for a party? “Nope, I have a big family with healthy appetites.” And while in Jaffa, one must try the local bourekas, a puffed pastry introduced mainly by Jewish Bulgarian immigrants. Its filling is either white cheese, potato or mushrooms. While it’s as easy to find bourekas in Israel as it is to track down falafel, however, just like snowflakes, no two are alike. And like the quest for the best falafel, shwarma or sabich, boekeras-makers have their “to-die-for” customers. ‘Bourikas Leon’ on Oleh Zion Street is the oldest Bulgarian bakery in Jaffa. The owner Avi Cohen is a third-generation Bulgarian in Israel and the bakery, named after his father, was started by his ‘Grandma Julie’ who arrived in 1948 “and was the first to make the phyllo dough that people would come from all over Israel to buy. This was even before she went into the bourekas business.” Is bourekas still such a popular food today? “Absolutely,” answers Avi. “Each year we have more and more new customers while still keeping our local, loyal customer base. It’s funny,” he says, “many of the young people who come today for a bourekas are the children of my father’s customers and the grandchildren of the customers my ‘Grandma Julie’ served.”
While street food is generally labelled ‘fast food’, and assumed unhealthy, this is not necessarily the case in Israel, where Israelis tend to eat more turkey than red meat, and always accompanied by mounds of fresh salad. It’s practically unheard of to have a meal in Israel – whether at a restaurant or a sidewalk eatery – without lots of salad. This is why cities like Tel Aviv are vegetarian and vegan-friendly – they are catered for as part of the mainstream food options. While Tel Aviv’s ‘street food’ scene, cannot escape the big name international chains such as the hamburger behemoths, they, however, do not dominate the market. They may allure their customers by illuminating their presence with big, bright colourful lights; still, they are no match still for the small, unassuming sidewalk eateries attracting their loyal customers by offering quality, wholesome Israeli street cuisine. People in Tel Aviv certainly love their side-walk food. Join them.
HUMMUS
FALAFEL
Whose dish is it anyway? As with much in the Middle East, politics can’t be left ‘off the plate’. While Israelis have championed falafel as its prime national dish, they have faced strong opposition from Egyptians, Palestinians and Lebanese, who all claim to be the sole proprietors of these fried chickpea balls. The falafel debate has actually turned into a verifiable food fight, much like the ‘Great Hummus War’ between Israel and Lebanon, ongoing over the last few years. Some years ago, 300 Lebanese chefs set a record for the largest plate of hummus in the on-going gastronomic war with Israel over this regional specialty. It weighed eight tons. The achievement more than doubled the previous record set earlier in January that year in the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Gosh. Their dish weighed in at a ‘paltry’ four tons, still matching four average family cars. While the Lebanese claim exclusive ownership seeking approval from the European Union to register hummus as a national dish, Israelis have simply got on with the job of making and eating it. “Trying to make a copyright claim over hummus is like claiming the rights to bread or wine,” said Shooky Galili, an Israeli whose blog, dedicated to all things hummus, bears the credo “Give chickpeas a chance.” “Hummus is a centuries old Arab dish – nobody owns it, it belongs to the region,” said Galili, who is hopeful that the so-called “hummus war” will in the end improve regional relations. “If you enter any good hummus restaurant in this region, you will see Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and Israelis sitting at the same tables, eating the same food. I think in the end this rivalry will show that we in the Middle East have far more in common than the things that divide us.”
After all, you don’t see Germans accusing Americans of stealing their ‘hamburgers’!
[*Ed. Note: Faribel is Yiddish for “grievance”].
Baklava on display in an Israeli bakery. (via globetrotter girls)
