Food
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An ethnic celebration
Jewish cuisine takes on new global dimensions.
RUTH HEIGES SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
In the 1980s, guests in Israeli hotels might have been served an artistically arranged morsel touted as "kosher nou-velle cuisine," as Israeli chefs proudly embarked on adapting that culinary movement to the stringencies of the kashrut laws. It can be argued that the simplification set in motion by the nou-velle-cuisine phase - which saw the elimination of heavy sauces, followed by greater health consciousness in eating - set the stage for a new retiun to basics.
Now, Israeli chefs are at the forefront of what has been termed the "slow food" movement - the backlash against fast food - which stresses fitsh, local ingredients and allows each dish its full measimj of care and time. Miki Nir, executive chef of the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel-Aviv, simply refers to it as "mother's kitchen." The special advantage diners enjoy fitjm this is that the mothers of his staff members come from a wide range of countries.
"No matter what anyone says, we do not have an 'Israeli cuisine,' " he said. "\Vhat we do have is a Jewish cuisine, and it is time we gave it the honor it deserves and took pride in it."
With the aromas of the day's Persian-themed buffet wafting
around him - finely chopped spinach in a lemony broth, perfumed rice, lamb kebabs shaped by hand onto wooden skewers, minced-chicken balls spiked with cumin - Nir explained that there is a two-week cycle of daily themes, based on the Jewish cuisines of various countries. These range fi:x)m Iraqi, Tunisian and Moroccan, to South American, Russian and Bukharian (the latter reflecting the kitchens of the Asian provinces of the former Soviet Union).
The concept arose finom an exercise among his kitchen staff, who comprise cooks fix)m aroimd the world, including Thai and Vietnamese. For their own diversion, they started taking turns cooking meals for each other. The labor-intensive dishes were child's play in their hands, literally and figuratively.
"We all found it so enjoyable that I sent them to their mothers to bring back more recipes," Chef Nir related. "Then, we started the process of adjusting the recipes for the large volume needed for a restaurant buffet As these things go, though, many of their mothers cook on the basis of experience, rather than measured quantities. But, being profession^, we experimented and were able to make the necessaiy adjustments."
One of those who took up the challenge in earnest was sous-chef Roman Elizarov, whose family immigrated to Israel in 1979 fi:x)m Tajildstan, an Asian province of the former Soviet Union.
"Of coiu^se, our food was taken bam. the Muslims among whom we lived, and it was adapted to eliminate such things as using yogurt with meat." Fittingly, his family settled in Ramie, a mixed Jewish and Arab city located not far from Ben-Gurion Airport, happy to find an environment siinilar to what they had known. In fact, while he is clearly comfortable in a luxury hotel, wearing a crisp white jacket embroidered with his name in gold thread, Elizarov unabashedly admitted that he still prefers eating at home, where the food is set on a large platter in the centre of the table.
"Here I'm in charge of the Russian and Bukharian buffets," he explained. "One of my specializations is dough, such as for krcplach, piroshki and pelmeni, for the Russian buffet. When we have the Bukharian meal, on alternate weeks, I prepare one of seven different styles of rice and a similar variety of soups. In fact, some of the reguJar patrons phone in advance to find out which kind of rice I'm making and decide whether to come for lunch at the Deli Dan on that basis."
Reuven Bar Lev, the Dan's food and beverage manager, confirmed that a large proportion of those patronizing the buffets are Israelis, and that they particularly favor the themes which re-
From tlie Dan's buffet:
Iraqi Beet Soup with Kubeh
1/2 kilo (1.1 lbs) semolina 2-1/2 cups warm water 7 cups chicken broth 3 large beets, cubed 1/2 cup fi-esh lemon juice 2-3 tablespoons sugar 250 grams (1/2 lb) ground beef 2 onions, choppeid 1 cup chopped celery leaves salt, pepper
1. Lightly salt the water and pour it into a large, shallow dish. Spriidde the semolina into the water and mix, creating a very moist mixtvire. Let this stand for about 20 minutes.
2. In a pot, mix together the soup, beets, sugar, lemon juice; add salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce the flame, and cook for about 40 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix the meat with the onions and celery. Season with salt and black pepper.
4. Shape the semolina mixture into balls (3 to 4 inches in diametre). Stuff each with the meat mixture and close the ball.
5. After the soup has cooked for the 40 minutes, add the kubeh to the boiling soup and cook for about another 20 minutes.
Serve with white rice.
fleet the complex Sephardic dishes. Having come to Israel from Egypt at the age of five. Bar Lev said, "I remember my mother getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning to start cooking, even though there were only four people in our family! Our modem lifestyle and norms just don't allow for this anymore."
"We have been trying to copy the American way of Hfe and the French style of cooking. But we don't have to copy anyone," stated Nir. "If tourists want French food, theyll go to France. Hero, they come to taste Jewish food." □
Ruth Heiges is a writer with the Israel Press Service.
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