Cooking up a brand for Israel

May 6, 2011 - 2:23 PM by

Anyone who’s spent time in Israel knows that the culinary scene here is on par with anywhere else in the world. Top-line restaurants and chefs abound, not only in Tel Aviv, but even in the Jerusalem boondocks and beyond.

American fans of cooking shows will soon learn about some Israeli cooking secrets when two of the top chefs here appear on the popular shows Iron Chef and Chopped on the Food Network and Cooking Channel.

Omer Miller from the Dining Hall in Tel Aviv and Assaf Granit from Jerusalem’s Mahneyuda were chosen from of a list of 10 Israeli chefs compiled by Israeli government officials in the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Consulate in New York, according to a report in Ynet. It’s part of the government’s rebranding efforts that have been going on for close to a decade and which organizations like ISRAEL21c have been directly involved with.

The government officials then approached the CEO of the channels, Brooke Johnson, and suggested that Israeli chefs be used on the shows, and the shidduch was made.

“I am very excited about being on ‘Iron Chef’,” says Miller, 30. “I watch the show regularly, and it’s a very impressive competition.

“It would be nice if they’d challenge me on the show with a certain kind of vegetable, because we have a huge selection of excellent vegetables in Israel. Eggplant, tomato, onion, hot pepper, even cucumber – you can play with each one of them and prepare interesting things.”

Granit, 32, is very excited too. “Omer and I belong to the new generation of chefs, which is greatly influenced from the older chefs, like Erez Komarovsky and Ezra Kedem, and I hope that sometime we’ll be able to say for certain that there is a thing called an Israeli culinary.

“I love such competitions,” adds Granit. “They bring the best out of me.”

And Israeli food, of course, brings out the best of the country. Sounds like a win win situation

Tags: • Category: education, Entertainment, Food, General, Pop Culture 

Comments

2 Comments on Cooking up a brand for Israel

  1. Daniela@Isreview on Fri, May 6th 2011 4:24 PM

    2. Wow that’s really cool I really enjoy watching iron Chef:) I look forward to seeing that episodes on line! Thanks for letting me know to look out for it

  2. Jerry on Thu, May 12th 2011 2:21 AM

    3. I’ve eaten at Machneyuda. It’s wonderful (and unique).

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