Friday, November 1, 195'7—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

28-

Israets Exotic Foods Provide a Mixture
of Appetizing Delicacies from Many Lands

By ANNA G.-- SLOMOVITZ
JERUSALEM—Ask the average
person about the most peculiar and
best known Jewish dish, and you'll
be told that it is "gefilte fish."
They make it here, too. It is called
"dagmemoola," and is made only
*of the carp grown and developed
in numerous ponds in Israeli set-
tlements: It is seasoned with black
pepper and salt and is made here
with boiled onions.
- Israel, which only a few years
ago suffered greatly from food ra-
tioning, has modernized also in the
food sphere. The gourmet can pick
up many recipes, and he can en-
joy the foods of the Orient as well
as the Occident.
Take, as a typical instance, the
Druze, the picturesque group
whose people are like Arabs but
who refuse to be known as
Arabs. They trace their descent
from the father-in-law of Moses.
They enjoy Israel's completest
freedoms. They serve in the
army, they fought with the Is-
raelis in the War of Independ-
ence of 1948, they played impor-
tant roles in the Sinai and Gaza
operations of 1956.
The cucumber and tomato sal-
ads of the Druze are spoken of
as choice dishes. Lambs are stuffed
whole with meat, rice and herbs.
Their popular dish of "teheena,"
the vegetable salad, is made with
sesame oil and caraway seeds.
The Druze serve their guests
first, then they eat the leftovers.
A feast with the Druze winds up

with an 'exciting social gathering,
at which the men dance the "Deb-
ka," to the accompaniment of the
"oud," the' Priest's single-stringed
instrument.
The "pita" is one of Israel's chief
food peculiarities. To eat it, you
break the thick, immensely circu-
lar bread_ into pieces.

There are special holiday foods,
in this land of many contrasts and
there are the usual every-day food
concoctions. Best known here is
the "felafel," which is served on
stands wherever one turns. It is
the "hot dog" of this area, made
of spiced peppers and pickled cu-
cumbers, and served between
halves of the "pita" bread.
The settlers from Yemen, who
are considered among the most
interesting' and most productive
elements in this land of settlers
from 72 countries in all parts
of the globe, have brought with
them a delicacy to Israel — the
popping of locusts by the hun-
dreds into hot saucepans. They
squat on their rugs, in Oriental
fashion acquired in their native
land, and enjoy their food in
the land that has given them
freedom for the first time.
"Khumus" is another favorite
Israeli dish, made of finely ground
chick peas. They season this food
with peppers, salt, garlic, dill and
parsley.
The Israelis' "teheena," the ses-
ame oil, is mixed with honey or

syrup, covered with nuts, and used
as a spread on bread or "pita."
"Teeras" is the name for corn-
on-the-cob sold from hot ovens on
wheeled metal wagons. The sales-
man of this delicacy, who is seen
on the beaches as well as on the
streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and
Haifa is known as the "teeras
man."
Then, of course, there are the
delicious marmelades, made from
Israeli fruits, guavas, citruses and
other local products.
Israelis also enjoy the fruit of
the cactus, known as "sabras." 'A
native-born Israeli is called a "sa-
bra" meaning rough on the out-
side and sweet on the inside.
The fashion-wise, the women
in the cities are well dressed
and the creative fashions are the
envy of Paris. Parisians come
here to learn new styles, and the
dresses and blouses made here
compare better than favorably
with those of the Champs Elysees
in Paris or Fifth Avenue in New
York.
The optimistic people here take
pride in telling the visitors from
the United States that Tel Aviv
already is the Paris of the Middle
East, and they add: "Paris will
some day pride itself on being the
Tel Aviv of Europe.".A Swiss vis-
itor said he had begun to believe
that, granted peace and the free-
dom of action, Israel will develop
so rapidly that Switzerland some
day will be happy to call itself
"the Israel of Europe."

100,000 Visitors for Tenth Year

The Israel Government Tourist
Corporation has set a target of
100,000 visitors Israel for the
duration of the enth Anniversary
Celebrations — which figure in-
cludes a target. of 86,000 visitors
during 1958 itself, it was an-
nounced last week.
44,559 tourists visited Israel
during 1957, an increase of five
per cent over the previous year,
but below the record mark for
1955.

Director of the Corporation, Mr.
Y. Beham considered the 1957
figure as "an achievement prom-
ising big things for the Tenth An-
niversary Year." The first four
months of 1957 were 'post-Sinai
months, and the American ban on

Middle East travel was still in
force," he pointed out. For the
peak season—Passover and Inde-
pendence Day itself—more than
12,000 tourists were expected to
be in Israel. The Tourist Corpora-
tion was prepared for a maximum
of 20,000 tourists at one time.
The "rooms for tourists" drive
had come to a successful conclu-
sion, and 3,500 rooms have been
set aside in all parts of the coun-
try. The price of Class A rooms
has been set at $3.75 for a single
$5.00 for a double, per night.
Class B rooms may be had' at
$2.75 and $3.75. Prospective
visitors are reminded that they
may book accommodations in
Israel for the Tenth Anniversary

celbrations through their local
travel agents.
The latest news is that for the
peak - season, luxury hotels in
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and other
accommodations are booked to
capacity, although accommodations
are still to be obtained in Haifa
and in surrounding towns. Over
300 rooms in luxury ',plass hotels
are now going up and will be
ready for the anniversary year.
An encouraging sign, Mr. Beham
said, was the unprecedented de-
mand , with overseas travel agents
for bookings to Israel.
Among other accommodations
available would be 1,200 youth
hostel beds and various resorts
which are to be put at the disposal
of the Tourist Corporation for the
Tenth Anniversary.

