Haya Molcho - Tel Aviv: Food. Stories. People

INTRODUCTION

TEL AVIV

FOOD. PEOPLE. STORIES.

The atmosphere of any city is the result of the memories and dreams of the people who live there, of their hopes, worries, successes and opportunities. It also comes from its sights, sounds and smells and this is especially true of Tel Aviv. The citys very name contains poetry: Tel makes one think of old hills, of millennia-old remains, while Aviv signifies spring and new beginnings. This is a city full of contrasts. Its diversity of experiences and people creates a complex mosaic in which new impulses act on cultures and traditions from around the world.

For this book, we set off together on a discovery tour through Tel Aviv. We love the synergy between regional culinary roots and the new, innovative ideas that we feel very distinctly here. The markets of Tel Aviv are noisy hubs of activity, with Yemeni, Turkish and Iraqi businesses often standing side by side, while in the citys restaurants, the mixture of culinary influences from the entire world arrives right at your table. Street food is ubiquitous and brings people together through the intimacy of having food placed in ones hands. It is in this vibrant community that we found our interview partners, who graciously and openly talked about their lives with us.

For two weeks, in preparing for this book, we lived in the rhythm of this city. All of the dishes were prepared here, all the ingredients were purchased fresh at the markets, and we met our interview partners at the places where they live and work. We were able to visit an eighth-generation Arab fisherman on his trawler and his younger Jewish collaborator who supplies fish to the citys top restaurants. We rode around Tel Aviv with a blogging taxi driver. We received a warm welcome both at a traditional bakery run by Uzbek immigrants and at a stylish patisserie that wouldnt be out of place in Paris. Through all of the people we met and places we visited, we found something of the distinctive character of this wonderful city and gained historical and sociological insights into its culinary traditions and latest trends.

Tel Aviv is also the city where Haya was born and raised. From her early childhood, she has particularly vivid memories of the colourful stands of the street vendors where the sweet and refreshing cactus fruit known as sabra was piled high on a bed of ice blocks. And of tiras, corn cobs grilled over an open fire on the beach. Samy, Hayas husband and a famous pantomime, also has very clear memories of his early years in Tel Aviv. Eighty years ago, he grew up in the drained swamp on the border to Jaffa and watched as the White City grew on the other side. He remembers the smell of the earth on Shabbat, when the streets were sprinkled with water, and the waves of immigrants who have been bringing their own culture and food with them for over sixty years. In the 1930s and 40s, many people came here from Germany and the rest of Europe, later from Yemen, Iraq and other Arab countries, and then from Russia and Ethiopia. Each group brought its artists, singers and actors to Tel Aviv. Today the artistic trends and innovations of this city make themselves felt throughout the world. In this way, Tel Aviv has been and remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration, and we return to this city again and again.