• TRAVEL
    • THREE PERFECT DAYS
    • WHERE TO STAY
    • WHAT TO DO
    • ADVENTURE
  • FOOD + DRINK
    • RESTAURANTS
    • BARS + COCKTAILS
    • WINE + BEER
  • CULTURE
    • THE HEMI Q+A
    • TV + FILM
    • MUSIC
    • THEATER
    • SPORTS
    • STYLE + DESIGN
  • Watch
Menu
  • TRAVEL
    • THREE PERFECT DAYS
    • WHERE TO STAY
    • WHAT TO DO
    • ADVENTURE
  • FOOD + DRINK
    • RESTAURANTS
    • BARS + COCKTAILS
    • WINE + BEER
  • CULTURE
    • THE HEMI Q+A
    • TV + FILM
    • MUSIC
    • THEATER
    • SPORTS
    • STYLE + DESIGN
  • Watch
Search
Close
Home > FOOD + DRINK > How Culinary Tel Aviv is Going Kosher

How Culinary Tel Aviv is Going Kosher

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest
Share on email
  • by Debra Kamin
  • September 3, 2020
A chef working in front of diners.

Photo: Ariel Efron

For obvious reasons, Israel has long been the epicenter of global kosher cuisine. But in recent years, observant foodies have been more likely to head for Jerusalem than attempt to navigate the acclaimed but often non-kosher dining scene in Tel Aviv. Today, though, Israel’s unabashedly secular second city is in the midst of a quiet revolution, as many of its sought-after new restaurants are fully kosher-certified.

According to local chefs, the trend is less about tradition than it is about changing tastes. “While it used to be that fancy kosher restaurants were just for tourists, today Israelis eat out a lot,” says Tel Aviv-based cookbook author Adeena Sussman. “Half of Israelis keep kosher, and with so many cooking shows on television, average Israelis have gotten very involved in the culinary scene.”

Swapping Out

While Tel Aviv diners have often considered kosher synonymous with tasteless, celebrity chefs here are applying a new creativity to the ancient dietary laws, which include the prohibition of pork, shellfish, and the mixing of meat and milk. (In fact, by kosher law, a restaurant that has meat on the menu cannot serve any dairy, and vice versa.) When the avowedly un-kosher MasterChef Israel judge Yonatan Roshfeld decided to do a kosher restaurant—Herbert Samuel at the Ritz-Carlton, Herziliya, which is now run by chef Mor Cohen—he eliminated the dairy from his classic tomato salad, removing the creamy white cheese in favor of soft-boiled eggs.

Kosher tomato salad in a white bowl.
The tomato salad at Herbert Samuel. Photo: Jonathan Ben Haim

Culinary star Eyal Shani also made a key substitution. While he serves a lamb kebab with yogurt at his hot spot North Abraxas, at his first kosher place, Malka, he created a kebab that’s “dripping in oil” and “nestled in an infused focaccia with herbs and field vegetables.”

Meanwhile, at Bodega, an American-style burger joint in the city’s business district, chef Todd Aarons concocts a kosher bacon-cheeseburger by salting and smoking his own bacon from lamb belly and making vegan cheese using coconut oil and sea salt. The result is delicious, no matter your level of observance.

“If your target is to make great kosher food, you’ll fail,” says Bodega co-owner James Oppenheim. “If your target is to make great food that just happens to be kosher, then you’ve got a shot.”

Want to know more about Tel Aviv? Here’s how to spend three perfect days there.

Need a little extra wanderlust in your inbox?
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

You May Also Like

This Israeli Hotel Serves Up Luxury Without Forgetting Its Historic Past

Three Perfect Days Tel Aviv

  • Chefs, From The Mag, From The Web, Kosher food, Restaurants, Tel Aviv
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest
Share on email

Recommended

TRAVEL

This Israeli Hotel Serves Up Luxury Without Forgetting Its Historic Past

  • BY Debra Kamin
Three Perfect Days

Three Perfect Days Tel Aviv

  • BY Justin Goldman
Hemispheres United Airlines

Hemispheres is the award-winning onboard magazine for United Airlines. The magazine is published by Ink and produced by a dedicated staff of media professionals out of an Ink satellite office in Brooklyn, New York.

Instagram Twitter Facebook-f Youtube

Content

  • Travel
  • Food + Drink
  • Culture
  • Watch

About

  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Advertising
  • Writers Guidelines

Legal

  • Terms + Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Anti-bribery & corruption policy
united_4p_h_w_r.png

© 2020 Ink for United Airlines. All rights reserved