B-bye bourekas

July 31, 2008 - 9:14 AM by Jessica · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, Food, General, Israeliness

Chef Erez Komorovsky, the founder of Israeli sourdough heaven Lehem Erez, says “there is no logical reason” for Israelis, who “live in a land of abundant olive oil, to go anywhere near trans fat, unless they are locked into a conference room for most of the day. ‘And then their situation is not all that great,’ he says.”

Komorovsky is quoted in a Haaretz article about saying b-bye to bourekas, those layers of filo dough slathered with margarine, as well as rugelach (yes, including Jerusalem’s famous Marzipan bakery in Machane Yehuda) and other popular pastries that Israelis love, yet are smothered in trans fat, read margarine, canola or soy oil.

I’m chuckling over Komorovsky’s conference room comment, since it’s simply so right on the mark, given the Israeli penchant for putting out plates of potato bourekas, chocolate wafers and sesame-studded pretzels, along with water and soda at pretty much any conference room gathering, whether it be at the Knesset or a venture capital firm boardroom. Okay, maybe Herzliya venture capitalists are sticking to fresh fruit and sparkling water these days. But every bakery slides out its trays of vegetable- and cheese-filled bourekas each day, along with cinnamon and chocolate rugelach, and people buy them by the box and bagful.

“Israelis’ affection for bourekas and manufactured pastries, along with the long work days that lead to snacks of this sort, are liable to have disastrous results. Another risk factor is the widespread use of margarine in Israel – in part due to kashrut considerations – since margarine is entirely trans fat,” according to the Haaretz article. And while “the good news for Israelis is that restaurants here are better than in the United States. Even McDonald’s in Israel stopped using trans fats as far back as 2004, and switched to canola oil,” we’re still a country that likes its trans fat in plenty of products.

I’m hooked on these concepts right now because I’m reading Barbara Kingsolver’s excellent new book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life”, and contemplating finally starting my compost pile and growing some more vegetables in our garden. Don’t know whether that will actually happen. But I’ll tell you this much: No more bourekas in this house.

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