Embracing a culture of food and wine

founded on traditional flavours ...

Food has the ability to shape us as individuals, influenced by memories, experiences, places, people and largely, by flavours.

Culture affords us an identity as a society, inspired by a sense of belonging, language, beliefs, customs and fundamentally, through tradition.

Israel is a nation of foodies and oenophiles, cultivated by its rich agricultural history and fertile biblical landscape ‘flowing with milk and honey’. It has been built on a culinary culture enriched from the diversity of its population and the flavours of their heritage. Helped by its geographical position within the area known as the Levant and bordering Eastern Mediterranean, every dish combines a freshness from seasonal ingredients with fragrant aromats and a citrus burst, finished off with an extra large helping of tradition.

The food of Israel is a celebration of its roots, that stems from a land whose staples have sustained and nourished its inhabitants for centuries, in times of famine, plenty, poverty, wealth and war.

Typically divided between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities, traditional foods and native dishes tie socially, culturally, and emotionally to their heritage and the culinary traditions of the generations before them, all bound by religious dietary laws. The Ashkenazim, descendants of Central and Eastern Europe lived in poverty and their food reflected this. Traditional dishes were made from cheap basic staples, including barley and wheat, off cuts of meat and offal and root vegetables such as potatoes and beetroot, made into stews and thick soups, lacking in spice, colour and flavour. The Sephardim from Iberian and North African origin, by contrast used the luxurious ingredients of olive oil, herbs and spices including saffron, cardamom and cinnamon for flavour, citrus fruits for freshness and dried fruits for sweetness, which they added to bulghul wheat, rice, meat and vegetables for colourful, rich, flavoursome dishes, both savoury and sweet.

Heavily influenced by the culinary diversity, multi ethnicity and faiths of its inhabitants, together with a flourishing agricultural belt and cultural history of this ancient land, Israel’s has developed a sophisticated palate and a taste for well balanced wines. It has developed a food culture that emphasises healthy eating, organic and whole foods, modern cooking styles and is embracing the growing global trend of plant based eating, all served on a bed of tradition … the first ingredient of every dish.

Enjoy!