McD’s vs. Israeli fast-food

May 23, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Business, design, Food, General, health, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

Rice cakes and corn schnitzels vs. Quarter Pounders and fries; which is more oily?

As seen in the weekend edition of Yediot Achronot, from McDonald’s, one of the only American food franchises to still be succeeding in Israel:

Advertisement #1: Rice cakes with white spreadable cheese, 5% — 171 calories per 100 grams, as opposed to a McRoyal meal and regular fries — 185 calories per 100 grams (how much is 100 grams out of an entire McRoyal)

Advertisement #2 on the opposite page: Corn schnitzels and white rice — 201 calories (per 100 grams) vs. a kids’ meal of a Mini Royal and small fries — 196 calories.
Or, a veggie schnitzel and pasta — 232 calories vs. a children’s meal of a burger and small fries — also 232 calories.

Calorie counting aside, what I liked was the juxtapositioning of corn schnitzels, Tivol and classic Israeli white cheese next to McD’s products. The question is, how does a falafel or sabich weigh in next to a Quarter Pounder?

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Beaten with hummous, Israel goes for falafel record

May 23, 2010 by · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Food, General, History and Culture, Pop Culture 

Dignitaries, including Israel NBA player Omri Casspi (the tall one) stand in front of the not-too appetizing falafel ball in New York.

We may temporarily no longer hold the world’s record for the biggest plate of hummous, but Israel still has big balls – falafel balls that is.

An Israeli chef at the New York restaurant Olympic Pita has used thousands of chickpeas, 40 liters of oil and a variety of spices to create the world’s largest falafel ball, Ha’aretz reported.

Weighing in at 10.9 kilograms and with a circumference of more than a meter, the falafel ball is expected to enter the Guinness Book of World Records in the coming days.

“The record set today is nothing compared to the goal we have set for ourselves for next year – the world’s largest gefilte fish,” said Israeli Consul General Asaf Shariv, kicking off a week’s worth of Israel-related events in New York, including the annual Israeli day parade on Fifth Avenue.

I’m not sure if I’d want to bite into the humoungus falafel ball. Falafel joints throughout the country have making the delicacies down to a science, and usually, the smaller the better. A falafel ball of that size just seems too much of a good thing.

As Israel’s number one fast food (I’m sure we stole this from our Arab neighbors as well), there are plenty places to find the balls fried to perfection. I’d be very happy to let another country take the biggest falafel ball award – maybe we can convince Lebanon to make their own and give us back the humous record.

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Sanctifying the moon

May 22, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Religion 

We’re at half a moon tonight, which is a major event on a number of counts. I’ll start with my 1.7-month-old twin boys, for whom the moon has become an important factor of each day, the first thing they ask to see when they get up in the morning (which is often possible at 6:00 am), tool around outside during the day, and before they go to sleep.

“Moon? Moon?” they say, turning their little heads to the sky, and straining to see it, somewhere up there. Given that they go to sleep before it’s dark out means they don’t get to see it in all its night-glow glory. But as the moon goes through its phases they do see its slivers high in the sky in the late afternoon and early evening, and then their reading of “Goodnight Moon” is that much more meaningful.

Tonight, however, they had just gone to sleep when we heard the sounds of another kind of moon celebration, Kiddush Levana. It was coming from a minyan of men on the sidewalk outside our house, who had emerged from the Sephardic shtiebel next door. Kiddush Levana means Sanctification of the Moon, and it is a series of prayers said after Rosh Chodesh, or the new moon, although it can be said until the moon is full. It’s also customary to say Kiddush Levana after Shabbat, with the moon visible by the crowd coming from Saturday evening services.

Which is what they were doing. There’s something great about knowing that moon celebrations continue from the early years of amazement, that we never quite get over the phases of the moon. I have a friend who tends to send an SMS on the first night of the full moon, and while I used to make fun of her, now I’m starting to appreciate her sanctification.

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Mitch Albom takes over Israel

May 22, 2010 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Pop Culture, Profiles 

Mitch Albom in Jerusalem (Photo: Brian Negin)

Welcome to Tel Albom.

Celebrated US author Mitch Albom was in town earlier this month, and for a few days, it seems like he was everywhere. The Detroit, Michigan writer of Tuesdays With Morrie and the new Have A Little Faith The writer, was here as a guest of the wonderful Israeli nonprofit organization Tishkofet, that provides support to patients who have serious illnesses (and their families and caregivers).

But in addition to speaking for the organization at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, he was also led around the country for a nonstop menu of receptions, two performances of the play ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’ in Hebrew, at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv and in Haifa, a meeting with President Shimon Peres, and an appearance at a Conservatvie (Masorti) synagogue in Jerusalem whose membership includes Orah Lipsky, the daughter of the subject of Have a Little Faith – the late Rabbi Albert Lewis of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Talk about a busy week!

Albom has seen himself portrayed onstage enough times that it doesn’t fluster him much anymore. There have been more than 200 productions of the play, based on Albom’s wildly successful 1997 book about his encounters with his old college sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, who was suffering from a terminal disease. And lots of actors have played the two characters in the play – Schwartz and Albom – since Hank Azaria and Jack Lemmon, respectively, pioneered the roles in the popular Oprah Winfrey-produced TV movie in 1999.

But the Cameri production, which has been running since December in conjunction with the Haifa Community Theater, contained a first, Albom explained to a rapt audience at the Jerusalem synagogue a few nights after attending a gala performance in his honor. Veteran actors Yossi Gerber as Morrie and Yiftah Klein as Albom were just fine in their roles. But Albom was surprised to discover a third character had been introduced into his script – his wife, Janine. Only instead of Janine (which is pronounced like the Palestinian city of JeniN) the Cameri production gave her the name Rahel.

“They wrote in a character that plays my wife and they call her Rahel!” said Albom, telling the story with mock outrage. “If you’re going to write in a character, they should use the right name. So if you go see the play, when they say Rahel, shout out ‘Janine!’”

Albom also said his wife’s name became an issue when he introduced her to Peres. “Janine?” he repeated. “Her name is Janine?”

In Israel, apparently, Janine can be a dirty word.

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Foto Friday – Tel Aviv Contrasts with Gabriel Benaim

May 21, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Art, design, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Picture of the Week, Travel 

Tel Aviv is a city of contrasts, not only for the lifestyles that coexist within its boundaries but in its very appearance. Up close it seems trashy, flashy and colorful. But take a step back and what you see are light-hued buildings set against dark shadows cast by the bright unblinking Mediterranean sun.

Black and white photographic imagery — captured the old-fashioned way on film and printed on paper in a darkroom — may be the ideal way to present that contrast.

And printing on silver chloride paper — a rarity nowadays — could not be more perfect for the many shades of grays along that spectrum.

Photographer Gabriel Benaim’s work was first profiled by Israelity last year. Since then, a lot has happened. His first solo show opened last month at the Walter Keller Gallery in Zurich, and his “Tel Aviv at 100″ series has been included in the Center for Fine Art Photography’s portfolio showcase. Plus, German magazine Photonews has published a selection of Tel Aviv shots in their May issue.

In his gallery notes, Walter Keller writes: “I am taken by the alertness, the quiet attention to detail of the images. Strolling, leisurely meandering like a flaneur, Benaim captures this city that was founded 100 years ago.”

“Using a large-format camera, Benaim presents us near perfectly produced silver gelatin contact prints. And this in itself is a breath of fresh air given the current confusion within the production of contemporary photography. Almost like a moment of silence in the midst of a noisy performance, Benaim’s images are calm, unhurried; photographs that pull the brakes on the race that is our urban life.”

Visit Gabriel Benaim’s homepage to view more of his work.

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