Falafel

Food Guide to Israel

Israel is a fabulous country to visit. You can see all of your favourite sights from the Bible and Quoran, and then go for a relaxing float in the Dead Sea. After feasting your eyes on the birthplace of the world’s major religions, and gaping at the juxtaposition of rabbis heading to prayer followed by a group of gun toting police, you’ll probably be feeling peckish.

Forget all of your preconceptions about Israel: they don’t call it the land of milk and honey for nothing. There has been a lot of turmoil in the Promised Land for as long as anyone can care to remember, but by all accounts you shouldn’t let it put you off visiting. I mean, London has high crime rates: but that doesn’t stop people going to Luton Airport.

And hey, when it comes to food, Israel’s chefs can perform real miracles. Of course there are a number of scholarly debates about whether or not Israel actually does have its own cuisine: the country has passed through so many hands and been at civil war for so long that it’s difficult to know.

That doesn’t detract from the fact that there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on there: a combination of Jewish dietary laws, European diaspora influence, and fine Middle Eastern produce all combine to make the food served in Israel unique and intriguing.

Middle Eastern favourite falafel (crispy balls of spiced chickpea served in a pitta bread with hummus) features on Israeli menus. The Israeli salad (chopped tomato and cucumber) is very Middle Eastern both in taste and texture. The magic starts with the addition of new European flavours: Eastern European sour cream and borscht, for example, are popular in Israel.

During the winter expect to see lots of avocado, chopped into a simple salad with lemon juice or decadently smeared on a slice of bread. Avocados were first planted by farmers in the 1920s and are now an integral part of the winter diet.

Stuffed veggies (memula’im) are very popular with all ethnic backgrounds in Israel: and originally made it onto the dinner table as a way to make cheap ingredients go further. Zucchini, aubergine, and vine leaves (an introduction from the Ottoman Turks) are all stuffed with herbs, spices and meat. Keep an eye out for artichoke bottoms stuffed with meat: a wonderful delicacy of the Jerusalem style.

Kosher laws mean that you are unlikely to see pork or shellfish on any menus, and as for cheeseburgers? Forget about it: Jewish diet forbids combining meat and milk. You’re unlikely to miss it, though. Chicken, turkey and lamb are all abundant: on Israel Independence Day each year you’ll find barbeques in the park.

Dairy farming has been part of Israeli agriculture since the state was founded, and as such milk is abundant. When you’re in Israel be sure to try some of the local cheeses; most are soft and curd based. Cottage cheese is popular, as well as tzfat cheese (similar to feta). Again, you won’t be allowed to add the cheese to a kebab, but you can enjoy it smeared on the local challa (braided) bread.
As a new country, Israel is still figuring out its own traditions. But in the meantime, Israeli food is a great example of when West and East collide.

James writes for Skyscanner.net, a flight comparison company who compare flights to Israel, Egypt and hundreds of other destinations throughout the Middle East and worldwide.

The benefit of drinking a nice cup of tea or coffee in the morning is definitely well documented! Ask everyone in your office and each person will probably tell you that they rely on one or the other for their morning energy burst. Can you even imagine a world without tea and coffee? We’d probably all be zombies walking around unhinged until around 11am, when we eventually get our fix and continue the day in a spritely fashion. But tea and coffee isn’t just good for the one thing (that being, waking us up). It’s also great for our health! Some scientists claim that coffee and tea can actually help prevent illnesses such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. So, as if you needed an excuse to drink more of the good stuff; here are a couple more slightly valid reasons. Have a read through this awesome infographic and learn about all the other benefits that can come from your morning cuppa.

This infographic was produced by Policy Expert house insurance specialists.

Coffee vs Tea

A Beginners Guide to Wine.

WHITE WINE

White wine is a type of wine that is usually made from white grapes. As we all know white wine has less body than red wine, that is red wine is heavier than white wine. White wine is very refreshing because of its lightness and is best served with light meals. White wine is best served in narrow glasses. Because of its refreshing nature, this kind of wine is nice to have during the summer. The best type of white wine (in my opinion) is Chardonnay, though there are other types.

RED WINE

This kind of wine is made or processed from a variety of dark coloured grapes. Most red wines are delicious and i would say, most of them are stronger when it comes to the alcohol effect compared to white wine. I say that with experience. Red wine comes in different flavours, strawberry flavour, cherry, mocha, raisin, raspberry, currant and many others. The different flavours depend on the grapes that were used to make the wine. The red colour is from the skin of the grapes. The process of making wine is the same but when it comes to red wine the major process involves other minor but very necessary processes like the extraction of colour and the flavour of the wine. Most red wines are balanced so to speak and this is because most of them go through the process of fining. There are also different types of red wine types of red wine, these include sweet red wines, dry red wines and semi sweet red wines. Red wine is best presented in a round or oval shaped wine glass that usually narrows at the top of the glass. Red wine, other than drinking is also used in some food recipes and goes exceptionally well with spaghetti bolognese and red meat in general.

DESSERT WINE

Dessert wine is a very sweet type of wine. Its sweetness is mainly because the grapes used to make this kind of wine does not fully ferment. Some wine makers add brandy to stop the fermentation process. Dessert wine is not often taken during the main course because of its sweet character. Some people say that it is too sweet to accompany a main course. Dessert wines have very sweet aromas and usually have a great finish when it comes to the taste. The best dessert wine is the ice wine which is commonly produced in Germany.

FORTIFIED WINE

This is the wine that usually has a high content of alcohol compared to other wines. The high alcohol content is due to the distillation process of the grapes. There are four common types of fortified wine, these are; the marsala wine, sherry wine, port wine and Madeira wine. Fortified wines are also known as desert wines.

SPARKLING WINE

Sparkling wine is a type of wine that has a frizzy taste and usually has bubbles. The common type of sparkling wine is champagne. Sparkling wines usually undergo more than one fermentation process to give the wine its distinctive fizz.

About the author: Vim runs 12×75.com a wine blog with a twist.