In Search of Israeli Cuisine – November 2023

Activities:

• Meet your guide and group in the hotel lobby - Introduction to the trip

• Opening Conversation - Meet Avihai Tsabari, founder of Via Sabra, who will open the trip with a conversation: “What makes Israel a unique culinary story?”

• Machane Yehuda Market - In the heart of Jerusalem, a bustling multi-ethnic market bursting with life, art, and flavor, a tasting tour through 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.

• 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

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Tastes of the Old City - Start your morning walking through the Old City we will tour 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. We will have a “taste of history” that interweaves stories and anecdotes, historical information and, of course, combine the senses of smell, taste, and sound

• Explore Ashkenazic Jewish food traditions with Shmil Holland - Shmil is one of Jerusalem’s most well-known chefs whose inspiration comes from his grandmother’s stories and Eastern European recipes. Make Jerusalem Kugel in Shmil’s kitchen and talk about Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Arab, Israeli, and Jewish Food.

• Short free time

• Dinner at MachneYuda Restaurant - "This restaurant is considered one of the best in Jerusalem, possibly the country. Celebrity chef, Assaf Granit, grew up in Jerusalem and pays homage to the city's colors and cacophony in his elegant dishes. The menu changes twice daily, but it nearly always includes chamshuka, a fusion of chopped meat and hummus, and a raucous dessert ceremony of ice cream flung on tables covered in aluminum foil.”

• After dinner walk through the Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods near the shuk and visit challah bakeries while getting to know the area

• Overnight: Herbert Samuel Hotel - Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Tour the charming village of Ein Kerem

• Bread Baking Workshop - Atalya is an inspirational host who offers exceptional culinary events, meals, and workshops, Set in Ein Kerem is an ancient and picturesque village, the atmosphere of the village brings a special touch to the workshops. Join Atalya for a bread baking session. Get your hands in the dough and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

• Lunch on your own

• Western Wall - Proceed to the Kotel, (The Western Wall), sacred because it is the last remnant of the Second Temple that was destroyed by the Romans. Feel the stones that have witnessed so much in the history of the Jews. Place your special and personal prayer in the cracks of the stones.

• Shabbat dinner in a private home

• Overnight: Herbert Samuel Hotel - Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Israel museum- Optional - Visit the unique collections and expansive grounds of the Israel Museum, the country’s national museum. Linger over the renowned international and Israeli art, the world’s most complete Judaica collections and the charming Billy Rose Sculpture Garden. You can also visit the Shrine of the Book, home to the exceptional archaeological finds of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other rare ancient manuscripts.

• Shai Seltzer’s Goat & Cheese Farm - In the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, Shai created his own goat farm after winning cheese exhibition awards. Shai passed away in October 2020 and his son, Omer, carries on the tradition of preparing cheese in a 2,000-year-old cave.

• Seahorse Winery - The Seahorse winery is a small operation and is one of the better places to get to know the Judean Hills' terroir. Zeev Dunie, a filmmaker turned winemaker, has pioneered coaxing authentic Mediterranean flavors from unusual grapes.

• Stop at the Machal Memorial - The Machal Memorial dedicated in 1993, was created to honor volunteers who came from outside of Israel to fight on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people. The memorial is made up of the letters Mem, Chet and Lamed, forming the word Machal.

• Late lunch at Majda restaurant - Majda is a restaurant in the Jerusalem Hills village of Ein Rafa, famous for its innovative fusion cuisine, beautiful property and views from its rooftop and an appearance on Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. The menu is full creative local dishes all prepared by Yakub and Michal, the Arab-Jewish couple who own Majda.

• Free evening, dinner on your own

• Overnight: Herbert Samuel Hotel - Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Drive north with a stop at a fabulous Mosaic museum

• The Inn of The Good Samaritan-National park - The mosaic museum at the Inn of the Good Samaritan showcases a large and fascinating collection of ancient mosaics unparalleled in Israel. The spectacular mosaics, dating from the Byzantine period (fourth–seventh centuries) were collected from churches and Jewish and Samaritan synagogues throughout Judea and Samaria and from the synagogue in Gaza. The mosaics illustrate the cultural, artistic and religious concepts of Jews, Samaritans and Christians who lived
  side by side in the Land of Israel during the period of the Mishnah and the Talmud.

• 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.

• Tamar Bakfar - Learn about the centrality of the date to Israeli culture and taste samples of different dates.

• Agamon HaHula - Bikes & Golfcarts - 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 through the park in bikes or golf carts.

• Overnight: Bayit Bagalil - North

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Tzippori National Park - At Tzippori, view the ruins and ancient mosaic floor to see how native species have been part of the national iconography for centuries.

• Jezre’el Valley Winery- Lunch and wine tasting - In a land of some 300 boutique wineries, it took a high-tech entrepreneur, an organic landscape architect and a branding designer to come up with a new concept for their wine venture. Meet with Jacob Ner David a successful serial entrepreneur in technology based start-ups who made a dream come true and continues to infuse out-of-the box thinking into the DNA of the winery.

• Visit the Circassian village of Kfar Kama - Learn the story of the Circassians which can be traced to the mountains of the north-western Caucasus, where they lived for thousands of years. In the 19th century the Caucasus was occupied by the Russian Empire and most of the population was deported from their homeland. In the second half of the 19th century the Circassians established three settlements in the Land of Israel, two of which still exist in the Galilee: Kfar Kama, with a population of approx. 3000, and Rihanya, with around 1000 inhabitants.

• Druze Home Hospitality - Together with your hosts in their private home, prepare traditional Druze Galilean dishes and then enjoy the feast you create. Learn about Druze culture and history from your hosts and from the food you eat.

• Overnight: Bayit Bagalil

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Israel National Trail - Hike a portion of The Israel National Trail which traverses the length of Israel and was established as a National Trail in 1995.

• Akko - Tour Akko, the ancient port city built and influenced by the Crusaders, Arabs, Ottoman Turks and the British. Akko's shuk (market place) is right in the center of the Old City and is a fun and vibrant bazaar full of fresh produce, spices, and souvenirs. Akko also has several of the best hummus spots in all of Israel which are a “must-taste.”

• Lunch at Uri Buri - “For the past 20 years opposite the Crusader subterranean city in Akko, the Uri Buri restaurant has been offering different kinds of delicately prepared fresh fish and seafood dishes served with more than 100 different kinds of fine Israeli wines.”

• Agritour at Kibbutz Magal - Visit Netafim, the world-renown agricultural entrepreneurship (irrigation methods) and Kibbutz Magal’s development of its olive and almond agricultural and production center, a global leader in quality and health.

• Drive to Tel Aviv

• Dinner on your own - Be a restaurant Critic for a night- you'll be asked to share your dinner experience with the group the next day.

• Overnight: Sam and Blondi Hotel - Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Pesia's Kitchen - Meet Gideon Ben Ami, 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.

• Levinsky Market - 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. Today we will tour the market and have "tastings" throughout.

• Graffiti Tour - Explore Florentine on an urban Graffiti Tour. Who are the people going out at night and changing the face of the neighborhood? What kind of story do these images and words tell us about the people living there? What is unique about graffiti in Israel and in Tel Aviv? We will walk through Florentine, the neighborhood of Tel Aviv best-known for graffiti art to answer these questions and many more in a dynamic and inquisitive tour.

• Free time

• Habasta - – "A tiny restaurant and wine bar, just a clutch of round tables on an alley just off Carmel Market, draws its inspiration from the market's fresh offerings". Greeted by Maoz Alonim, chef and owner.

• Overnight: Sam and Blondi Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Netiv HaAsara - Striving for Peace at Netiv Haasarah, a moshav on the western border of Israel with the Gaza Strip. Visit the Peace Wall on the border. Meet Tsamaret Zamir, an artist and the creator of the project who will talk about life in the moshav in the shadow of the ongoing security situation – and about the hope of a good and peaceful future. Choose a colorful optimistic tile on which to write a personal wish and later glue to the border wall.

• Ramat Negev Agricultural R&D Center - Visit the R&D Visitor Center. Its main purpose is to encourage the development of agriculture in the peripheral areas, taking advantage of natural resources. Ramat Negev R&D focuses on developing advanced agriculture in arid conditions, irrigating with brackish water. After a short explanation visit a greenhouse of unique vegetable varieties.

• Chemi Tzemah Kesem Hamidbar Kadesh Barnea - Here the arid desert, a miracle of agriculture takes place with cherry tomatoes. Meet the farmer and see what has been achieved through technology.

• What is an Israeli Cocktail? - At a local bar explore this intriguing question

• Dinner hopping in small groups - Delve into Israeli Street Food

• Overnight: Sam and Blondi Hotel

Activities:

• Partake in the Israeli Friday morning pastime of breakfast in a restaurant. - You'll be divided into smaller groups and sent to separate restaurants to feel like a true Israeli on Yom Shishi.

• Ronit Vered - Together with Ronit Vered, an Israeli food writer, editor and cook book author and an expert on Israeli and Jewish cuisine, survey the future trends related to food in Israel.

• Carmel Market - The Carmel Market (Shuk HaCarmel), is the largest market in Tel Aviv. Touring the market reveals the taste of the ages of Tel-Aviv in the youthful atmosphere of the city's central market. The Polish, the Persian, and the Yemeni...in this case, it is not the start of a joke, but the fascinating culinary traditions that mix in this place. The established market that was founded over 90 years ago, can now reveal its secrets, stories, and legends to you. Enjoy tastes throughout the tour.

• Summary- wrap up and talk about the trip

• Transfer to the airport or return to the hotel if you are staying for the Beresheet Extension