Aliza Green Culinary Trip- November 2022

Activities:

• Opening talk with Aliza Green and Avihai Tsabari- "Is there an Israeli Cuisine?"

• Old City Tasting Tour - Walk through the Old City seeing the historical and religious sites of the Jewish and Christian Quarters. See some off-the-beaten track sites in the winding alleyways and enjoy some Jerusalem delicacies.

• Muslim Quarter - Tour the Muslim Quarter’s hidden culinary gems. Visit family businesses that have been in the Old City for generations, taste the unique flavors of the Arab quarter, from tehina to coffee to hummus.

• Bird's Eye View - On the rooftop of the Austrian Hospice, have a beer and look out over the Old City from above.

• Rest and digest before dinner!

• Hatzot - Dinner at Hatzot, which is a part of Jerusalem’s history. Two brothers, Abraham and Michael Ajami founded this landmark family restaurant in 1970. Located in one of the older neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Legend has it that Meurav Yerushalmi - the favorite Israeli mixed grill dish - was born at Hatzot Restaurant.

• Jerusalem-Inbal Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Spice workshop with Aliza and Shuli Madmone

• Shtisel Tour - Walk the streets of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, get to know the people, the food, and feel the vibrations of this life. Gain a more complex appreciation for the people by listening to their music, visiting synagogues, various institutions, seeing unique leisure, fashion, and art this world encompasses.

• Machane Yehuda Market - In the heart of Jerusalem, Machane Yehuda market is an adventure for your taste buds. Enjoy the hustle and bustle with all the rich fragrances, colors and sounds this iconic Jerusalem market offers. As you tour the market, you’ll be assigned to buy ingredients that you’ll use when you cook dinner.

• Spend the late afternoon and evening cooking together together with Aliza then devour your feast!

• Jerusalem-Inbal Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Check out and drive north through the Jordan Valley

• Uri Mayer Chizzik Sustainable Eating - Get to know local, wild food from nature– and dishes prepared today from food that has grown here throughout history. With Dr. Uri Mayer-Chissick, an expert on the history of local food and nutrition in the Middle-East and author of the Israeli guide to foraging wild edible plants, hike and cook outdoors.

• Beit Shean-National Park - One of the main pagan towns during Roman rule of the region 2,000 years ago, and in the shadow of an important biblical city, Beit She’an contains a magnificent theater, Roman bathhouses, mosaics and more. It is considered one of the best preserved Roman sites in the region.

• Tavor Winery - Tavor Winery's new visitor's center has breathtaking views of mount Tavor and is the ideal atmosphere to reflect their exclusive wines. The winemaker, Michal Ackerman, brings her unique knowledge to the winery and is transforming it into one of Israel's best. Sample wines from the exclusive collection, eloquently presented by our professional staff, known for sharing tidbits of wine lore, an excellent sense of humor.

• Check into hotel

• Dinner at the Wood Grill Restaurant - Mitzpe Hayamim's Chef restaurant by Ronen Waldman and Erez Komorovsky

• North-Kfar Blum Pastoral Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Agamon HaHula - The Hula valley sits in part of the northern Syrian African Rift Valley which stretches as far south as Mozambique in Africa. During every migration season over 500 million birds travel through the Hula Lake. This wetland paradise is the perfect stopover for small waterfalls, cormorants, heron, pelicans, raptors, storks, and cranes. Ride in an open bus with guiding for an explanation of the site and to view the wildlife.

• Goats with the wind - At Goats with the Wind, have a magical lunch at this family-owned goat cheese farm and restaurant. Everything you will eat comes from the farm. Meet the goats and enjoy the special touches of the place.

• Druze Village visit - There is a significant Druze population in Israel and Druze people are a central part of Israeli society. Visit and tour a Druze village and learn about the culture, customs, and beliefs of this Arab population who serve in the Israeli army. Taste the incredible Druze sweets- with a demo.

• Tzfat - Discover Tzfat which sits at a higher altitude than any other city in Israel and has been known since the 16th century as a major center of Kabbala, Jewish mysticism. The old synagogues, narrow alleyways and artists’ studios add to the hilltop city’s unmistakable charm. You can wander around the artist quarter and find some beautiful galleries in artist row.

• Tzfat Art - Meet a Glass Blower Chaya Sheva for a demonstration and to hear her story, learn about the art of glass blowing and hear how Chaya connects her art to Judaism.

• Dinner at the hotel

• North-Kfar Blum Pastoral Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Drive to Akko

• Akko - The ancient city of Akko, on the Mediterranean, is one of the oldest ports in the world, a city shared by Jews and Muslims. Walk narrow streets past towering ramparts, deep moats, green domes, venerable synagogues, slender Muslim minarets, secret passageways. Discover the subterranean city built in the Middle Ages by the Crusaders beneath Akko. Learn about the city’s ancient history as well as its important role in Israel’s modern history.

• Osama Dallal - You’ll be guided by Chef Osama Dallal, an Akko native and one of Tel Aviv’s most promising young chefs, through all the culinary delights that this city has to offer. Learn about the spices that color and season the rich and delicious Galilean cuisine. Meet with the local fisherman. One of your stops will be at the legendary Uri Buri Restaurant.

• Drive to Tel Aviv and check into your hotel

• Shabbat Dinner -home hospitality

• Tel Aviv-Rothschild 96 or similar

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• The Tel Aviv Museum of Art - In this dynamic tour we'll figure out what makes Israeli art into what it is, and what’s it relationship with the Zionist narrative as well as the international art world. This tour through the extensive Israeli collection at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is an amazing way to visually explore the Israeli narrative from the early 20th century until today. What is the story the Arts Establishment tells about Israeli Art?

• Shabbat Foods Picnic - Eat like the locals- jachnun, cholent, and other Shabbat foods!

• Cocktail Workshop-Drink down a story of Israel! - Travel the different regions of the country through the drinks. Through local spirits, quality Israeli produce, cultural design, and Israeli innovation, meet the staff of an Israeli cocktail 'start-up' and see how they translate this into amazing cocktails. Cocktails are mixed with Israeli alcohol, fruit in season, and wrapped into the Israeli story. You’ll have a chance to learn to mix the drinks as well.

• Free time and dinner on your own

• Tel Aviv-Rothschild 96 or similar

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Tour Old Jaffa, one of the most ancient port cities in Israel and the Mediterranean basin - On a walk through Jaffa, discover the ancient and modern situated side-by-side. Stroll through the alleyways of the Old City filled with artist studios as well as archaeological discoveries. Taste the legendary hummous of Abu Hannan.

• Levinsky Market Tasting tour - The Levinsky Market specializes in spices and Mediterranean delicacies. It is, in many ways, the best market in Tel Aviv, for its variety, freshness and special atmosphere. Whether you are looking for a rare Indian spice or some good quality saffron - this is the place. Shops offer a cornucopia of excellent cheeses, smoked fish, wines and other delicacies. Tour the market and have "tastings" throughout.

• Bauhaus Tour - Tel Aviv has more Bauhaus buildings that any other city in the world, so many that it is designated by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. The buildings were designed by Bauhaus architects who immigrated to Israel from Europe in the 1930s and were influenced by the work of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius.Some 4000 Bauhaus buildings were built in the 1930s – a development which turned the city center into a quasi "open air Bauhaus museum" and earned Tel Aviv the nickname “White City.”

• Street Food dinner hopping - For dinner, in small groups explore the seven species of Israeli street food “hopping” between street food resturants: Enjoy favorites such as sabich, at Sabich Tchernichovsky, Chef Eyal Shani’s Miznon with fresh gourmet cuisine stuffed in light and fluffy pitas, signature roasted cauliflower, and taste falafel at HaKosem, which in recent years has developed a serious cult following in Israel.

• Tel Aviv-Rothschild 96 or similar

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Meet Gideon Ben Ami - Ben Ami is founder of Pesia’s Kitchen. Pesia’s Kitchen, founded in 2011, focuses on rescuing nutritious, freshly prepared food and delivering it to those who need it most. They believe that no food should go to waste when there are so many people living in chronic hunger. For each person in the group, an additional meal will be purchased and donated through Gideon. Visit a kindergarten that benefits from his work.

• Depart Tel Aviv and drive to Beer Sheva

• Begin with lunch at an Ethiopian Restaurant - Meet Naftali Aklum during lunch

• Naftali Aklum - Naftali Aklum is an Ethiopian activist who was born in Ethiopia in 1979, the youngest of 12 siblings. His brother Ferede Aklum z”l was determined to reach Jerusalem and set out from Ethiopia in 1978 on a long, dangerous trek through the desert, ultimately reaching Sudan. Naftali reached Israel with his family in 1980, at age one, thus fulfilling a dream that had been kept alive for 2,500 years. Hear his story and that of the Ethiopian Aliyah

• Stop at Sde Boker - Visit the grave of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, whose vision for settling the desert is continuing to bloom. Throughout the day, you’ll see his vision come to life.

• Check in and Dinner at the hotel

• Beresheet Mitzpe Ramon

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Optional: Makhtesh Ramon - Hike or jeep tour in Makhtesh Ramon, a geological formation found only in Israel and northern Sinai. The steep rock cliffs surrounding a closed valley drained by a single wadi are the product of erosion.

• Free time - Take some time to relax and enjoy the hotel facilities and the beauty of the desert. Spa treatments are available.

• Desert Dinner in the Makhtesh - It’s not a mirage! Your evening awaits under the stars with a taboon for bread making, smoked meats, spirits, desert music, star-gazing, and the most magical dinner you’ve ever had.

• Beresheet Mitzpe Ramon

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Enjoy and easy morning

• Check out and depart the hotel

• Naot Farm - Naot Desert Farm is one of the many havot bodedim (lone farms) built by Lea and Gadi Nahimov, modern-day pioneers who are making David Ben-Gurion’s vision of the desert blooming come to life. Visit the goats taste some delicious cheese.

• Final dinner at Reshta Restaurant - Reshta chef restaurant in Ein Rafa village is set among green fields in front of the breathtaking view. Offering authentic Arabic food, Reshta restaurant is named after a traditional lentil and noodles dish, which is made by the restaurant’s chef, Ranam Barhom, out of local produce, grown in the fields surrounding the restaurant.

• Drive to airport for return flight - Or option to extend your trip