Betzavta - an Israeli dining experience

-


I've raved about TripAdvisor before, but TA is  definitely responsible for this part of our trip. Following links can be quite serendipitous at times, and this is no exception. I clicked on a link in someone else's post and discovered Betzavta - an opportunity to dine with an Israeli family.

After reading about the concept, and reading other people’s reviews, we decided this would be a great opportunity to go beyond the tourist options and get to know Israeli culture and society from within. So we booked a Betzavta dinner with a family in Haifa, and that’s where we spent yesterday evening.

Our hosts, M & Y, and 3 of their 4 children (aged from 28 to 14), welcomed us into their home for a delicious meal and a wonderful evening of conversation and lots of laughs. The family describes themselves as “reformed Jews” - culturally and ethnically Jewish, they know the Torah, but they are not overly “religious” and believe that there is more than one way to work out faith in life. We had many questions for them about life in Israel, what it is to be Jewish (or not), the culture, traditions and foods, the different ethnic groups in Israel, and they happily and generously shared their life experiences with us.

The food was amazing. We started with a delicious lentil and vegetable soup, which on a cold night was just perfect. Then the photos above and below show the spread for the main part of the meal - chicken cooked in Arabic spices, green beans, salad, spiced rice with almonds, hummus (of course), baba ghanoush, a spicy tomato sauce, olives, and fennel salad. Then we followed with an apple crumble, ice cream, and Arabic biscuits with mint tea. Delicious!!



We asked about ptitim and they produced a packet to show us and explained the history. Why ptitim, you might ask. Well on one of the YouTube clips we watched last week, this was mentioned as a traditional Israeli food, often served to school children for afternoon tea. We’d looked for it in a supermarket, and found packets that hubby (with his superior knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet) was pretty sure were ptitim, and it turns out he was right. Go honey! We also asked about bamba, another traditional Israeli snack food. They didn’t have any (it’s a bit like asking an Australian family if they have Twisties in the house - they might, but probably not), but confirmed that it is something Israeli children grow up with, and they recommended we ask in a supermarket so we can try it!!

Two of their children have completed their compulsory military service (2 years for girls, 3 for boys) and gladly shared their thoughts about that. Their youngest daughter is a budding artist and showed us some of her impressive work.

It was a delight to see them interacting with each other - often in Hebrew, especially to interpret for each other when we’d used a word or expression in English that was not readily understood - and with much laughter and love. Their English was really good (as opposed to our non-existent Hebrew)!!! We learned so much about life in Israel, and in return we taught them about Vegemite, Australian Rules football, kangaroos, and other true-blue Aussie icons.

All in all a wonderful way to spend an evening in Israel, and we highly recommend Betzavta if you get the chance!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking tour in Athens

-
Image
Back in Athens. More walking!! More steps!! But not as many, and not as steep as some of our walks on the islands. Still, Athens is quite the hilly city. We arrived last night, after an enjoyable and smooth three and a half hour ferry trip and an uneventful taxi ride to our Airbnb apartment, where we were met by our host Helen, who was lovely and helpful, full of great suggestions, gave us a great map and marked some of the sights on it for us, and then left us alone to get settled. Our apartment is in the Makrigianni area, a hop, step and jump from the Acropolis Museum, and just a short hike up a sloping street to Dionysius Areopagitou, the pedestrianised street that runs along the southern border of the Acropolis site, so it’s a very convenient location for us. This morning we joined a walking tour of Athens, which was a great way to get our bearings. The pre-arranged meet-up was at 9.45am at the Ekklisia Agii Asomati ke Agios Georgios, a teeny weeny Greek Orthodox church in
Read more

One Athens museum

-
Image
This morning we walked to the National Archeological Museum of Athens. It wasn’t a short walk, around 40 minutes, but eminently do-able, and the worst of the few hills were right at the start as we ascended to the Acropolis and around. Our walk took us through what seemed to be the business district, which was an interesting change from the more touristy areas of town. We have a new favourite coffee place, which we discovered yesterday morning - called Coffee Island - and their coffee is even better than Gregory’s. So it’s off with the old, on with the new, and we were looking for another Coffee Island this morning, and ignoring all the poor old Gregory’s along the way. Oh well, needs must, as they say. The National Archeological Museum is the largest archeological museum in Greece, and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to Ancient Greek art. It was founded in 1829 to house and protect antiquities from all over Greece, displaying their historical,
Read more

Hermoupolis in the sun

-
Image
We weren’t at all sure what kind of weather would greet us in Syros, having just experienced stormy Naxos and cold, windy Paros in the last couple of days. But the day dawned bright blue and blazing with beautiful sunshine for our first full day in Hermoupolis, the main town and the capital of the Cyclades islands. The early morning view from our teeny weeny balcony promised the beautiful day that was ahead of us. It seemed to me like a perfect day for walking, in fact. And so that’s what we did. We started out easy, walking along the port promenade to a local cafe for breakfast overlooking the water. We followed that with a walk further along to the end of the groyne, or whatever they call it in Greece. The view of both sides of the town was lovely. We continued on and into the town, wandering through the narrow (yes, really), marble, pedestrianised streets, coming first to Miaouli Square, and then to the Apollon Theatre. Then we ventured further, a
Read more