I've been home for a while now and Israel is visible in my room. Maps of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa hang limply on my door as if to remind me that, though they are not the real thing, if I can close my eyes, I can still see remnants of my time in Israel. Experiencing the culture of Israel gave me a chance to reflect on the positives and negatives of America. Now, don't get me wrong. I love America and am very lucky to be born into such a great country (especially now when there is chaos all over the Middle East), but there are certain things about Israel (like besides everything) that I like better and Israel. For example, the food. There is no way I can eat American pita, hummus, or surprisingly, cottage cheese.
While Israeli pita is sold in supermarkets, it is still not the same. It doesn't have the fresh smell of flour and yeast that wafts not only up and down the aisles, but also lingers on your hands for hours afterwards. My nose doesn't tingle with delight when I choose a bag of pita in the supermarket. As I pick up the pita, I can't feel the heat as it warms up my hands. The pita is not fresh and does not beg to be eaten at that moment. There are no the dew drops on the bag thus instead of ripping open the knot, you place it neatly into the carriage. You don't hear Americans yell "Wow! 5 sheks (roughly $1.50) for 10 pitas?" In America, you can't taste the oil and the floury thickness of the bread. You taste a flat round pancake that is easily severed in two. So, I am stuck with a circular piece of bread. And to dip in what? The hummus in America is not even close to the taste of hummus in Israel. There is an ingredient missing. Lemon juice? Garlic? Tahini? I don't know, but either way I refuse to eat it because the taste is so dramatically different. My tongue tell me that I am eating an entirely different condiment. In order to remedy this problem, I have resolved to make my own, which tastes 100 times better than American hummus and while it is not close to Israeli hummus, it's more of a chickpea concoction than the Sabra brand is. And then there's the cottage cheese, or as they say in Israel, Coh-Tij. I don't know what it is, but the cottage in Israel is...creamier. Milkier. Just more...edible.
Ok, so maybe I'm snob when it comes to food (I am certainly enjoying my Starbucks now), but you don't know the differences until you have tasted them. It's like eating American cheese all your life and then going to France and eating Brie. You can never go back. Or like eating supermarket brand chocolate and discovering that Hershey and Nestle exist. Or even pizza. Store bought pizza is ok, but Italian pizza is the real prize. The food is better an ocean away because it isn't processed as much and no one cares about eating healthy. Ok, that sounds wrong. What I mean is that people eat based on what their body tells them, not society. They will eat white bread, 3% milk, 5% yogurt, cottage cheese and sour cream, 25% cheese. Yet despite what may seem like unhealthy food choices, there are very few overweight people in Israel (and in the Eastern Hemisphere, in general). When I first arrived in Boston, one of the first people that I saw was overweight. It's kind of a shocker you don't realize. People in Europe just aren't fat. And it's because the food is more natural in those countries. If I really knew what I was eating in the US, I'm pretty sure I'd throw up Though Food, Inc. and Supersize me did a good job on that too. C'mon, America. Isn't it time to start eating organically and not the GMO crap?
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