Passion Blog 2: Tel Aviv, The Melting Pot

After my grueling and heart-wrenching travel experience, I settled in the biggest city, the capital, of Israel: Tel Aviv. This city is known as a giant melting pot, which brings me to my next post. It is a city full of people from all walks of life. It’s full of people of different races, religions, ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds. Upon arriving in Tel Aviv, we took part in various activities such as ancient sheep herding and were even immersed in the Israeli culture right off the bat, as we ate Israeli lunch.

That night, for dinner, we ate at a place known as a “dark restaurant”. This restaurant utilized a completely pitch-black room with zero lighting whatsoever. The experience simulated what it is like to suffer from blindness. It did so by serving a three-course meal. As we arrived at the restaurant, a host took our orders by having us fill out a little sheet. Due to my nut allergy, I began to panic as I filled the sheet out because almost everything that I saw on the menu contained nuts. I ensured to write in large letters, in both English and Hebrew, that I had a severe tree nut allergy. A woman then approached us and told us that she would take us to our table. She first had us put our phones and watches in a locker as no light is allowed in the dark room. She herself was actually blind and remarkably, she safely escorted us to our table. We ate our food over the course of about an hour and socialized. Pouring water stood as the most daunting task in the dark room. I placed my hand inside the glass as I had no clue as to when it was full or not. Our waitress brought us our food and we ate. Though, I began to hyperventilate as I ate because I suffered from paranoia that my ravioli and cheesecake contained nuts. I truly have a newfound and extreme respect for the blind after experiencing this dinner. The food was incredible that night as well, but it was only the start to my enrichening food culture experience in Tel Aviv.

The following day, we met up with the young woman in Tel Aviv for a food tasting tour. Extremely excited and intrigued about the food in Israeli culture, particularly in Tel Aviv, I could not wait for the tour. First on the tour, we stopped at a small quick-service restaurant on the corner of a street (Sorry that the umbrella is blocking the front word!):

Here, we indulged in a middle-eastern specialty dish: hummus, pita, and falafel balls:

Although my father is Israeli and cooks middle-eastern cuisines often at home, I never really enjoyed his cooking. However, after eating this delicious dish, my view on middle-eastern cuisine changed forever. The richness of the hummus and perfect amount of spice in the falafel was remarkable. The fluffiness and softness of the pita bread made all other slices of pita seem inferior to the greatest extent. When I return to Israel this summer, I hope to find this shop again and eat at least 20 falafel balls.

A few more stops on the tour included an olive bar. Olives are a popular fruit in Israel as it is present in abundant amounts and they taste phenomenal. At this bar, we sampled a bunch of different delicious types of olives including green olives and red olives:

Next on the tour, we stopped at a small bakery window on the side of the road. Here, they cooked Challah bread, a traditional Jewish bread that is often eaten on Shabbat (the Sabbath). The delicious bread truly beat out any challah that I ate prior to this food tour. The exact amount of salt and pepper used, combined with the strong density of the bread made for a truly outstanding experience. Here is a picture of the challah:

Last on the tour was a Turkish deli. Here, we sampled many different types of meats and learned about Turkish culture in Israel and around the world. Our guide informed us that McDonalds in Turkey actually serves this certain type of beverage that is a sour yogurt. This deli, in fact, had the yogurt drink and asked us if anyone wanted to try it. I ambitiously took the yogurt and began to drink it. While everyone else made a face at the drink due to its extreme tart, I thoroughly enjoyed drinking it! This drink at the end of the tour fittingly made for a memorable experience.

After the tour and my first two days in Tel Aviv, I began to think how much a melting pot it actually is. Cultures from all around the Europe and the Middle East were represented in different culinary aspects. From Turkish food, to Israeli food, to Italian food, to American food, to Chinese food, all cultures seemed are truly represented in extraordinary light in the streets of Tel Aviv.