Supermarket scavenging

March 27, 2009 - 8:36 AM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, Food, General, Israeliness

Just back from a food shopping trip, which is an unusual event for me, as I generally dislike supermarket experiences. (Not counting Eden Teva Market.) It’s not just that food shopping in Jerusalem can be a third world experience, but the supermarket on Thursday nights offers a sensation of the world coming to an end, or at the very least, the sense of impending war with Iran, as all shoppers fill their carts to overflowing and checkout lines are long, very long. And that’s without mentioning — although I will — the search for a shopping cart, and then seeing if you have one of the plastic tzuptziks that you need to ‘rent’ the cart, unless you keep a supply of five-shekel coins.

But what is fun about food shopping in Israel, and particularly in the chain stores, is the search for unusual products, ones that you wouldn’t expect to see in your neighborhood Supersol Deal, Rami Levy or Mega Bool. I’m talking about the excitement in sighting ShopRite Brown Rice Crispy Rice cereal, a new Ben & Jerry’s flavor, or a package of Aspen Products Cool Shades paper plates in “4 assorted colors.” It’s finding the Czech beer you like amid all the Goldstar and Tuborg bottles, discovering that scallions can be purple, spotting decent-looking tuna steaks in the frozen foods section and — this is a major one — seeing that American-style brown paper lunch bags are now available.

To those of you from the real western world, these kinds of discoveries are ho-hum, and happen all the time in the local supermarket. But for those of us here, on the Middle Eastern front, it can often be a wondrous occasion, and not one to pass off flippantly. It explains why so many local Israeli papers have a consumer products section, briefing readers about food news. Consider Greer Fay Cashman’s Market Wise column in the Jerusalem Post business section, as well as Eva Ben-David in other sections of the paper. It’s always sort of funny to read those columns, because does one really care if Strauss has a new ice cream flavor? Then again, I always make sure to skim those columns.

It’s not that there aren’t great offerings from the local manufacturing industry. There are. I’d say it’s more about the thrill of the scavenger hunt, finding those unexpected treats during what is often a mundane chore. Happy hunting.

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Tags: Ben & Jerry's, Eden Teva Market, Goldstar, Jerusalem Post, Mega Bool, Rami Levy, Strauss, Supersol Deal, Tuborg

Ikea in Rishon

March 23, 2009 - 8:38 PM by Jessica · 4 Comments
Filed under: Business, design, General

ikea-rishon The Ikea franchise in Israel has won a major or minor victory, depending on how you look at it. After three years of a heated legal battle between the Ikea franchise owners in Israel and more than 200 furniture purveyors in Rishon Lezion — Israel’s fourth-largest city — a second branch of the Swedish furniture chain will be built in the seaside city of Rishon, but without an adjacent shopping center, which was what the city’s storeowners had feared.

According to the Ha’aretz account of the settlement, the furniture store owners are less fearful of the Ikea branch itself, and more nervous about the planned 30,000-square-meter shopping center that was supposed to accompany the 323,000 square-meter Ikea. Personally, I’m surprised they’re not more nervous about Ikea; the Netanya store is one of the chain’s most successful ever, with more than 16 million visitors since it opened eight years ago.

Rishon, in case you didn’t know, has become something of a shopping destination. I was somewhat aware of this, but became more aware last week when my sister and I took an outing in order to shop at the city’s branch of Eden Teva Market, without having to schlep out to Netanya. Yes, I know, it may seem strange to head all the way to Rishon from Jerusalem (about a 45-minute drive, longer, if you don’t have good directions) for food shopping. But when the store in question is Israel’s answer to Whole Foods, some of us travel far and wide.

And now, it seems, we won’t have to head as far as Netanya any longer for our Billy bookshelves and Poang armchairs. As for those in northern Israel, it seems there are plans to open a third store in the Galilee within three years. So thanks to all the Rishon Lezion furniture store owners and to Ikea Israel for settling; now I’ll have an additional stop to make in Rishon when I head out there for sulphur-free dried fruits, spelt breads and other natural goodies.

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Tags: Eden Teva Market, Galilee, Ikea, rishon lezion, Whole Foods

Good eats

August 18, 2008 - 9:06 PM by Jessica · 1 Comment
Filed under: Food, General

Still got my head in the mercaz, local lingo for everything north of Jerusalem and south of Haifa, more or less, and following our weeklong stay in Hofit. It’s not that we’re starved for entertainment or consumer opportunities here in Jerusalem, but the towns and cities of center Israel offer just a tad more in terms of choice and range, which is not a bad thing to have for a change.

So a brief mention of two, nay, three places of interest that we visited over the course of the week, and not to worry, I’m not including Ikea, although we did spend a very intense morning there amidst the annual summer sale. Never again. But, for a food shopping experience that even the kids will like — and we were there with at least four of varying ages — check out Eden Teva Market, a Whole Foods-like emporium in Netanya that is right next door to Ikea.

Said to be the largest health food store in the Middle East, Eden Teva’s shelves are stocked with more than 14,000 products in 20 different departments. They’ve got aisles of unusual dried fruits and nuts, a specialty chocolate counter, an organic hummousiya in the middle of the store, right next to an Aldo sorbet and ice cream stand, with summer features such as green and red grape sorbes and fig ice cream. And if you check it out on a Friday, they’ve got many free treats to taste, as well as fresh greens and other veggies brought straight from nearby organic farms. There is also an Eden Teva Market in Rishon Lezion and one in Or Yehuda.

Just to complete the fresh food bonanza, make one more stop on your way out of the Netanya industrial zone and check out Lehem Artisan (5A Giborei Yisrael Street), a really wonderful local bakery with breads, cakes and other baked goodies that also offers many free samples for the hungry and cranky. It’s worth the trip.