Earlier this year, I joined a group of food journalists from around the world on a mission to explore the cool culinary scene in Israel and in particular, its celebrated breakfast. Indeed, anyone familiar with Israeli food culture will know that no other meal can compete with the ginormous and delicious Israeli breakfast. In most countries, breakfast is a throwaway meal. Not here. Forget about the croissant or muffin and coffee that barely gets you through your morning commute, breakfasts here are a bona fide “feast in the Middle East.”
Breakfast buffet
It is said the big Israeli breakfast originated from life on the kibbutz where people live communally, farming and producing local fare. But what is perhaps most interesting about a modern Israeli breakfast, is that, in a part of the world where cultures clash, the morning meal is a mosaic of Middle Eastern, North Africa and Eastern European dishes all co-existing in delicious harmony.
Our first morning upon landing in Tel Aviv featured breakfast at our hotel, Harrods-on-the-Beach. Walking into the dining room, we were dazzled with the breakfast buffet in its full glory. There were oodles of Mediterranean dips, breadbaskets, soft cheeses, heaps of olives and incredibly fresh-looking produce. The Middle Eastern specialties included stuffed vine leaves, burekas (puff pastry stuffed with cheese or potatoes) labane (a soft, tart cheese) with olive oil and zaatar, while traditional Eastern European Jewish food, like smoked fish, egg salad, joined the early morning party.
This big-brekkie tradition has carried over to the many hotels and cafés all over the country and especially in Tel Aviv, one of the hippest & most cosmopolitan travel destinations in the world. Despite Tel Aviv, aka, The White City, being known for it’s own driving energy and amazing nightlife, breakfast is still not something you pass up, no matter how many great meals lie ahead of you or what late hour your head hits the pillow.
The Supervising Chef of Harrods and the Fattal Groups of Hotels explained to me that indeed the tradition of the big Israeli breakfast pre-dates the Kibbutz but he says the idea also comes “from the story of Abraham (one of the three fathers in the bible) who loved to host and serve a rich variety of foods to his guests.”
Inbal Baum
Later, one of our food guides, America-born Inbal Baum, (www.deliciousisrael.com) who runs culinary adventures in Tel Aviv, showed us how to eat breakfast a la carte, at places like the Carmel or Levinsky market where shoppers go from stall to stall, and visit family-run haunts to have “just a little taste” of their specialties. Inbal explained to us: “The best way to get the scope of tastes in a fun (and efficient) way is to come on a tasting tour.” In the span of a few hours as we navigate our way through giant barrels filled with bright spices, mountains of plump olives and glorious-looking fruit, we learn the ins and outs of the ethnic dishes that are at the root of the Israeli breakfasts, and we meet the influencers and artisans whose families have been creating these treasures for multiple generations. These include hummus and falafel (of course), a tasty sandwich called Sabich (pita bread with roasted eggplant, hard-boiled egg, tomato and tahini) and anything with pomegranate seeds – a common ingredient in Israeli cuisine and the sweetest juice you will ever taste.
Hummus from Happiness Joint
Inbal also takes to me one of her favourite neighbourhoody places, a cozy sidewalk café on King George Street near the Dizengoff Centre. Here, at the aptly-named Happiness Joint, the Israeli breakfast is thrown into the middle of the table and dishes are meant to be shared because “sharing is caring” after all according to chef/owner Bentzi Arbel. The place is oozing cool and friendly. Everyone seems like a regular. Bentzi knows all the patrons (or makes it a mission to meet the new faces) and their particular tastes and likes to throw extras at you – like a shooter glass of soup to get your feedback on something he is playing with in the kitchen. I love the casual approach here – and the interaction sitting at the stools sidled right up at the kitchen. Behind us is a wall of passport photos of people who have visited. I am betting when they leave they look a lot happier than their passport photo. Benzti, who I am instantly obsessed with, has high-end culinary training but opened the Happiness Joint to offer up street food his own way. He says – the signature Israeli dishes like, falafel and hummus are also considered breakfast foods. He credits the multi-culturalism of the country to the richness of the breakfasts – in a small place with 50 different cultures, every dish is represented on the table.
One thing you will notice whether you are eating breakfast at Benzti’s, your hotel, the street markets or almost any place in Israel is that the stuff passing itself up as hummus in your North American hometown’s grocery store or trendy new Middle Eastern restaurant is a fraud. It might be good but it doesn’t come close to Middle Eastern- made hummus and has spoiled me forever.
Shakshuka
You cannot have the Israeli breakfast experience without shakshuka – which is a staple adapted from the North Africans who have come to Israel. We go to a hole in the wall near the Carmel Market run by a lady named Irit Aharoni. It has no sign; it has no name – it’s a little rough around the edges – and it’s so insider, even a friend of mine, a born and raised-local with a big appetite, who lives around the corner – doesn’t know about it. Inside what looks like a modest kitchen and 3 tables, Irit – who may be the most fun person in Israel – presents her shakshuka, the breakfast piece-de-resistance.
Shakshuka is a baked egg dish atop a roasted tomato and red pepper sauce spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne. Some restaurants in North America have tried to master this dish, but here it was beyond perfection.
Since we had been to many market and casual places seeking the secrets of Israeli breakfast, I was ready for some rest and stunning views and of course more delicious morning meals. We found it at Cassis.
When guests come to Cassis the first image is of the calm relaxing turquoise waters surrounding the natural reef. The restaurant offers an upscale menu, which is adapted to the local culture.
Cassis is owned and run by Executive Chef Ayelet Perry. Like many great chefs, Ayelet discovered her passion for fine cuisine at a young age by watching her mother and father preparing traditional Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes. She has worked with legends like Wolfgang Puck of Spago and also apprenticed under Master Chef Pascal Janvier owner of Fleur de Cocoa.
Breakfast sandwich in Cassis
Ayelet conducted a “breakfast sandwich-making” class for me and the other journalists and showed us a bunch of variations that mixed breakfast staples like eggs together with Israeli dishes like salads and gravlax that resulted in one of the most beautiful looking and delicious sandwiches I have ever had. Once the sandwich was plated, we all gathered around to take shots for our Instagram friends, as food people tend to do. This sandwich deserved to be photographed with the sea behind it. I unofficially called it the Victoria Secret sandwich because nothing has ever looked sexier on the beach than this dish.
A breakfast conversation also has to include coffee. Coffee is an interesting topic in Israel. Israelis love their coffee yet it is one of the only locations in the world where Starbucks failed dismally and now has no locations left in the country.
The American coffee chain’s grande- and vente-sized coffees didn’t catch on with Israeli consumers, said Zohar Segal, the marketing director at Natam Group, a Tel Aviv-based real estate company that leased the shops to the coffee group.
“Our impression was that between the taste of the coffee and the prices, they didn’t appeal to the Israeli consumer,” said Segal. “They were in prime locations, but their product just didn’t match the Israeli taste and pocketbook.”
Sign for Basma
Coffee culture in parts of Israel is not the same as at home. It’s not about setting up your laptop with a cappuccino looking aloof at a hipster joint. We visited a beautiful Arab woman named Alia who runs Basma coffee in old Jaffa. Her aim is to create an ambiance similar to the Bedouin style, using a method of grinding coffee that is also a form of music. When people were lost in the desert or at risk, they would listen for the sound of the wooden coffee grinder, playing its unique sound. You would be invited by a Bedouin to have the aromatic coffee in his tent – and if they liked you, they poured you half a cup, which was a signal that they would pour slowly, host and protect you for three days. If they poured you a full cup, you were meant to drink your coffee and then leave right away. BASMA is like a museum of coffee. I could have stayed for three days.
As we proceeded through Tel Aviv with more mind-blowing meals, the big Israeli breakfast became less and less of a novelty to me. However, I started to ease up on some of the more filling dishes and balance them with the chopped salad that is also served at breakfast. And when we ended the trip in Jerusalem at the Mount Zion Hotel, our final breakfast was a grand finale – a culmination of all of these dishes. I savored my last breakfast in Jerusalem, knowing that I would likely be returning home to that rushed sense of a morning meal. I helped myself to everything and took it slow. Even if it meant having to wear the hotel bedspread that day, I wasn’t passing up anything that the table spread offered.
I left Israel thinking that a lot of countries could learn from breakfast, the Israeli way. You face the day highly fueled with nutritious foods and feel more energized. You are less apt to grab a donut mid-morning or some other snack that is filled with empty calories. You also start the day with in a communal way, often at the table, as opposed to running out the door with a muffin in your mouth. All of this lends itself to a Boker Tov (good morning) indeed and a spotlight on the meal that almost always fades away to its more glamorous counterparts. In Israel, breakfast is a feeding frenzy you should never, never miss.
The author would like to thank: El Al Airlines, The Israel Ministry of Tourism as well as Harrods-on-the-Beach and Mount Zion Hotel.
