Cuisine

Israel is known in the Bible as the "land of milk and honey." But for a long time, the country did not have a recognized culinary heritage. Thankfully, however, today Israel is widely credited with a rich and distinctive cuisine which reflects the diversity of Israeli society, as well as its deeply planted roots in Jewish and regional customs. Israeli cuisine comprises local dishes by people native to Israel and dishes brought to Israel by Jews from the Diaspora. Since before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, an Israeli Jewish fusion cuisine has developed. Israeli cuisine has adopted, and continues to adapt, elements of various styles of Jewish cuisine and regional Levantine cuisine, particularly the Mizrahi, Sephardic and Ashkenazi styles of cooking. It incorporates many foods traditionally eaten in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines, and foods such as falafel, hummus, msabbha, shakshouka, couscous, and za'atar are now widely popular in Israel. Other influences on cuisine are the availability of foods common to the Mediterranean region, especially certain kinds of fruits and vegetables, dairy products and fish; the distinctive traditional dishes prepared at holiday times; the tradition of keeping kosher; and food customs specific to Shabbat and different Jewish holidays, such as challah, jachnun, malawach, gefilte fish, cholent (hamin) and sufganiyot. Thus, a traditional Shabbat meal for Ashkenazi Jews might include roast beef, pot roast, or chicken, carrots tzimmes, and potatoes. A traditional Shabbat meal for Sephardi Jews would focus more on salads, stuffed vine leaves, couscous and other Middle Eastern specialties.

Popular Jewish food found in Israeli cuisine include:
- Challah - any traditional Jewish meal begins with the breaking of bread. Challah is a special kind of bread used for Shabbat and holidays.
- Bagels and Lox - bagels and salmon
- Gefilte Fish
- Matzah ball soup - is generally a very thin chicken broth with two or three ping-pong-ball sized matzah balls (or sometimes one very large matzah ball) in it. Matzah ball soup is commonly served at the Passover seder, but is also eaten all year round.