Preparing your own food : Isreal

Preparing your own food is quite cheap, especially during the summer months when fresh fruits and vegetables are available in every outdoor shuk (market). You can buy groceries inexpensively at local sbuks, at the neighborhood makolet (small grocery store), or in supermarkets. The standard Israeli bread is tasty and cheap; on Thursdays and Fridays, stores sell fresh loaves of hallab, egg bread sprinkled with sesame or poppy seeds. Supermarket refrigerators sport a huge selection of dairy products, from low-fat yogurts (try Prikef) to cream-topped chocolate snacks (try Milki). In the deli section you can get food-to-go by the gram, including cookies, miniature burekas, and other pastries, as well as an assortment of salads and pickles.

You may want to carry a canteen filled with water unless you want to singlehand-edly subsidize the Israeli soda industry. The two most common beers are the excellent, deep-amber Goldstar, and the lesser Maccabee lager. Goldstar is the most common draught beer (Maccabee comes in bottles only); other brews currently available on tap are Carlsberg, Tuborg, and Heineken. Supermarkets carry a small selection of liquor; note that Nesher “black beer” is a sweet, non-alcoholic malt brew. The official drinking age in Israel is 18, but you rarely get carded.

In Aral) restaurants, if you ask for coffee with no specifications, you’ll get a small cup of strong, sweet, murky Arabic coffee, sometimes referred to as turki (Turkish). If you want something resembling American coffee, ask for hafukb (mixed with hot milk) orfilter. Instant coffee (ties) is also popular. “Black” (shaihor) or “mud” (botz) coffee is Turkish coffee brewed in a cup; watch out for the sediment. Finally, Israel has many ice-cream (glida) parlors, and a respectable selection of ice-cream bars; try Chocolida, a chocolate-filled and coated vanilla bar. It’s as good as it sounds.