Culinary Trips in Israel
I love to travel and I have a special love for markets, especially food. I often stray from my way to visit places that have caught my eye on the way. My enthusiastic stories led to the spontaneous organization of 5 culinary tours in Israel. We started with four cars in the direction of Kfar Tavor, and this developed into 4 other very fun bus rides.
Trip No.1 to Kfar Tavor
The first trip took place in January 2009.
We drove north to Kfar Tavor in four cars, and visited:Mr. Cake in Netanya
Saar Supreis in the Granot industrial zon
The Marzipan Museum in Kfar Tavor
The Star Plast factory in the Alon Tavor industrial zone.
We had lunch at the amazing Sahara restaurant at the gas station opposite Kibbutz Dovrat.
Trip No.2 to Jarusalem
On a trip to Jerusalem that took place in April 2009, we already had a larger group and we hired a small bus.
The Wilton Center
The Mahaneh Yehuda market
The Mana Acharona Shop
Eli Basher's amazing cheese shop. On the way to lunch at
Lunch was at "Sima" restaurant
Trip N0.3 to Old Nazareth
In March 2010 we went on a culinary tour of old Nazareth, a wonderful city with history, tolerance and wonderful people.
We visited:
Halva and Tahini factory and envisioned the entire production process.
A candy store with interesting chocolates from neighboring Arab countries
The Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation
The market and shops of legumes, pastas, nuts, bulk candy and preserves. The El-Babor grinder has mainly spices, herbs and dried fruits. The design of the former flour mill was particularly impressive, and all the ancient work tools hung on the wall.
We held the lunch break at the amazing Alreda Cafe, which is not a typical Arab restaurant but rather a kind of Arab and European fusion.
Everything is special from the special salads with fresh berries to the unique meat dishes. At Alreda we also received a lecture about the city at the observation point from the amazing BB on above the Cafe. From there we walked through the market towards the impressive Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation. Our last stop was in the "sweets of friendship" . They also allowed us to observe the whole process of preparing different baklava types.
Trip No. 4 to the Besor region
at the northern Negev
We visited:
Kibbutz Be'eri where we met the dairy farmer Dagan Peleg who runs the Milky Way Dairy. In 2009, Dagan won three medals for his wonderful cheeses.
Dagan took us to visit the dairy where we watched while tasting
Kibbutz Kissufim where we visited "Ness Shmanim", a small and interesting factory for producing cold pressed oils. There are oils from pomegranate seeds, almonds, strawberries, sesame seeds, grape seeds, and others, designed to slow down the aging process, lower cholesterol, balance sugar levels, lower blood pressure etc.. We were briefed on the cold pressing process and its health benefits.
Later we visited the San Pedro farm - an amazing cactus farm in Moshav Talmei Yosef. We packed lunch at Kibbutz Beeri and had a picnic in Eshkol Park. After we rocked on the rope bridge on the Besor river, we headed back north.
Trip No.5 to Western Galilee
On November 2011 we went on a tour of mainly pastry shops in the north. This time it was a full size bus.
We visited the Bakers' kingdom in Nesher.
The wonderful pastry shop of Dudu Outmazgin
Dudu does not allow visits, this was an exception.
Throughout the visit, we received endless treats from the best of the house, and later Dudu took us to visit the factory itself.
colorful Acre market
At the Palm Beach Club Hotel we had lunch.
After lunch at the hotel, we went down to the conference room for a brief talk about pastry,motherhood Sarit Gez, the hotel's charming confectioner.
Our last stop was at the Art de Coco - Carmiel - a chocolate and dairy restaurant. Here we were treated with a tea and coffee and each of us received a lovely box of pralines as a gift