Several years ago, my husband and I were looking for a restaurant in Eilat, Israel. We ended up at one called “Hallaluyah.” It was a kosher, Chinese restaurant and the hot and sour soup was the best we had ever tasted. We liked it so much we returned the following evening. Chinese cuisine wasn’t always on the menu in Israel. FALAFEL NATION explains how it got there.
FALAFEL NATION tells the history of Israel from the late 1800s to the present day through its food. It tells how the food was affected by changes in population, availability, politics, education, and economy. Israelis also had to create new words to describe techniques, tools, and foods that were not part of the Biblical Hebrew vocabulary.
Originally, the residents ate the food that was grown or raised in that area. Several of the items were unfamiliar. Olives were one example. When one new resident took some olives back to his former Eastern European country, the people were awestruck: Olives were mentioned in the Bible but no one had ever seen one, let alone taste one.
Cooking was very basic, just a way to make it palatable. Rationing under the British mandate and during World War II made it necessary to find food that was inexpensive but also healthy. In the kibbutzim, food was an instrument for reconnecting with the land and with nature, as well for the creation of a social revolution in which the workers in the field became the “elite.” Hebrew labor helped Jewish settlers feel morally justified in their actions: they were not colonizers taking advantage of the local population but rather workers themselves, bringing the benefit of Western technology to a “primitive country.”
Cooking the food was not considered an important job. Being relegated to the kitchen was a potential trap. None of the women assigned to the kitchen remained there long enough to learn much about food preparation and meal planning so menus were bland and repetitive.
In the three and a half years after independence, Israel became the primary destination for Jews. The population more than doubled. About half came from Asia and Africa, and a major segment was entire communities. Until the arrival of the former Soviet Union immigrants, the Moroccans were the largest Jewish ethnic group in Israel.
In a very political shortsighted view, the government decided to push people to eat the same types of food as a way of becoming one people, living independently in their historic homeland rather than in the Diaspora in several subgroups. Government and women’s groups began writing cookbooks offering recipes and techniques to help the residents learn how to cook food they might not have known in their previous homes. The emphasis was on European foods, something very different from what was known by the Jews from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Ben Gurion: feared of “Levantinization” and did not want Israelis to become Arabs. He believed the need to spread authentic Jewish values crystallized in the Diaspora and didn’t want to see Moroccan culture here. Jabotinski saw nothing in common with Orient and said that they must be forced away from all traces of the Oriental soul.
The Israelis who came from the Arab countries were familiar with foods that were grown in that particular climate. They followed the Arab habit of gathering wild plants and herbs. Culture and modernity were considered European. Farmers began growing those native foods, beginning with grapes and oranges. At first, they decided on grapes because they could be used sooner, in two years, rather than the oranges which took four years. It didn’t take long for them to realize that grapes required a lot more expense to build the facilities to process them and then to ship them. So oranges, especially Jaffa oranges, became the symbolic. Eventually, those in charge began taking some of the Sepharaic dishes and featured them in standard cookbooks, not as a separate section of Oriental dishes but as part of the Israeli cuisine.
As more people immigrated from all over the world, they brought their own food preferences which began to be appreciated. The end of rationing brought about an increase in cookbooks, introducing women’s voices. After the Six Day War in 1967, Israelis felt more secure, both economically and physically. They were able to travel more. Some cookbooks offered recipes to entertainment showing cooking for leisure activities.
As the population grew, several standards were introduced, especially kosher foods. In the military, cooks had to learn to prepare meals to satisfy a diverse assortment of tastes. Cooking shows and classes began to be offered. People began traveling to other countries and were introduced to different types of foods there as well.
In Israeli restaurants today, food for visitors became part of the Israeli experience, especially the Israeli breakfasts. They require a minimum amount of cooking but relies on fresh, high quality items. The foods were not necessarily what Israelis ate but the image Israel wanted to project.
While FALAFAL NATION discusses the changes in the types of foods eaten and promoted at various times; it does not include recipes. At the end of the book is an appendix that encapsulates the history of Israel. Since translations were used irregularly, including a dictionary appendix would have been helpful.
I found that using a country’s food to tell its history a very different but very interesting idea. Yael Raviv does so very successfully. There were a few spelling errors and some unnecessary repetition. ( )