So it’s our last day in Israel, Tel Aviv to be exact. We spent the day wandering through the lanes of Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv’s oldest neighborhood. We visited the former home of one of the founders of the Neve Tzedek restored by his granddaughter, who is also a famous artist. I fell in love with her sculptures of these charming, elfish women (below), and also the paintings of Nahum Gutmann, one of Israel’s most famous painters.
But on to the important things—lunch, specifically shawarma, the national dish of the Arabs. Shawarma stands dot the city, and we stopped at what we were told is one of the best. In Israel each vendor makes his own Shawarma. Israel shawarma is made from turkey with lamb fat added. The marinated meat is sliced and stacked in a large rotating skewer that roasts the meat on the outside. (Definitely not something one would make at home). It is then shaved and stuffed into a pita with, what else, hummus, pickles, tahini and of all things French fries. I bypassed the fries and stuck to the hummus.
Our bon voyage dinner consisted of shakshuka, the Iraqi dish we had seen all over Israel, particularly for breakfast. It was at the famous restaurant Doctor Shakshukas in the old city of Jaffa. It’s a wild, cavernous place half inside, half outside that resembles a flea market more than a restaurant. Shakshuka consists of eggs, tomatoes and hot sauce and watching the cooks make it was something… Shakshuka is something you can make at home.
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