English impressions - real or TV reality?

 

I have no first-hand knowledge of England. My short jaunt to London during my tour of Europe some 45 years ago is irrelevant. On the other hand, I have watched BBC television for many years now, mainly programs featuring food, travel and house searches. To explain, watching the news in Israel can be quite stressful and generally produces an urgent need for escapism. From all these programs, I have created a certain picture of English life in terms of food, houses and language. However, I am uncertain to what degree this TV picture of life actually reflects reality.

The English attitude towards meals as shown on BBC programs seems a bit extreme. First, it seems that the UK hosts a cult of worship towards ham and bacon, with each person having a strong opinion on the best combination of ingredients, shape and cooking. The English, including Scots, seem to be rather particular about the breakfast meat and view it as a required element of any proper breakfast. The closest equivalent that I have ever observed is the Iraqi obsession with perfect rice and how to properly prepare it, with each grain having to be separate. By contrast, UK diners view vegetables as guests that are only present because of noblesse oblige. The only plant-based materials, aside from potatoes, that grace an English plate are a few green peas, some lonely lettuce leaves or a few controversial Brussels sprouts. A tomato and cucumber salad is exotic in the UK, apparently, not to mention any side dish made from eggplant or zucchini. The final idiosyncrasy, at least as compared to the Middle East, is the reluctance and discomfort of UK diners to eat with their hands and actually touch their food. Whether in the Middle East or  Ethiopia, grabbing a piece of bread and scooping some dip is an act of community bonding. Apparently, such sharing is considered barbaric farther north. It seems that English dining is a bit rigid in content and manner.

UK houses also seem to have certain characteristics. First of all, most residences in the UK shown on the BBC have narrow entranceways, barely wide enough for one person to stand, let alone allow two people to pass each other. They remind me of the Spanish kitchens typical of the vacation flats that the UK holidaygoers seem to fancy. Another desired feature of UK housing is this space called a “solarium”. First of all, it seems a bit absurd given how few days a year the English sun deigns to appear. In sunnier climates, such a room becomes a gigantic oven in short time and is useless. However, maybe I am missing something. Moreover, according to the programs I view, open wood beams in the ceiling are considered “character” and a positive feature. At a glance, I would consider them an ideal place for dust and spider webs. Most interestingly, on the real estate programs, many British house seekers insist on having a pub nearby.  It seems hard to believe the Brits and Scots actually seek these features.

Of course, UK language is different from that of the United States in terms of both words and style. I simply am unsure how much people actually speak like the characters on the BBC do. Americans would never say the words posh, high street and mate, using fancy, main street or name brand and friend or man, respectively. Even more striking is the English avoidance of direct speech. Regardless of the situation, it is apparently acceptable to begin a conversation with “nice weather”. Even more peculiar in my eyes is how far a BBC character will go in order to avoid saying that something is derogative. Such discretion is so unreal and actually may be unreal.

I have no idea how much any of these random impressions of life in the British Isles are true or representative. It is quite possible they do reflect the habits of some of the population just as the content of The Housewives of Atlanta or any similar program does carry a grain or two of truth. I imagine that I would need to spend some time there to better ascertain whether BBC programs reflect reality or pseudo-reality. In the meantime, I can only speculate and be amazed.

The koshering of Israeli restaurants – the challenge of finding a “bite” on Friday night

 

In the last few months, I discovered a major change in the status of restaurants in northern Israel: almost all of them are closed on Shabbat, Friday night through Saturday night. In the past, all the great fish restaurants in Tiberia on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (“the Kinneret” to Israelis) were open 7 days a week as were the many eateries in my not-very-religious hometown of Karmiel, in the Galilee. To understand this change, it is vital to understand the complexity of religious observance in Israel, the matter of Kashrut and the effects of the events of the last 5 years on the restaurant sector in northern Israel. In terms of my emotional reaction to this change, my thoughts are also far from black and white.

To state that Israel is a Jewish country is as meaningful as saying that the United States is a Christian country, i.e., “yes but”. 73% of the citizens of the country are Jewish, meaning that the remaining percentage is Muslim, Christian, Druze and other religions. Even among the Jewish population, 45% identify themselves as secular; 33% are “masorti” traditional, 10% consider themselves religious, referred to as national religious or “kippa sruga”, the knitted kippa; and 10% are ultra-religious, Haredim, of various kinds. The significance of this spectrum is that there is a wide variance in the attitude of various populations in Israel to the keeping of dietary laws, to be explained in the next paragraph, and religious rules in general. Of course, in traditionally religious cities, including Jerusalem and Tzfat, as well as Bnei Brak in Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh, homogenous religious communities, Jewish rules of life and behavior are strictly followed, as compared to Tel Aviv, which is essentially secular and western in thought and deed. Thus, the daily reality of Jewishness in Israel is all over the spectrum.

One of the essential pillars of the traditional Jewish way of life is kashrut, whose specific details are an extremely complicated subject way beyond my knowledge. However, in simple terms, “kosher” refers to the nature of the ingredients of the food, how it is prepared and, most importantly for restaurants, when it is served. Kashrut laws specifically forbid the use of certain foods, most noticeably pork and shellfish, possibly originally due to health issues involved in storing and preparing them. It also specifies the characteristics of animals that can be eaten, whether meat or fish. Kashrut also relates to the preparation of food in terms of how animals are slaughtered and the strict separation of milk and meat. Yeah, no butter on steak in kosher restaurants. Thus, kosher homes and restaurants most have separate dishes, silverware, sinks and even dishwashers for milk and meat. Finally, as it is forbidden to light a fire on Shabbat, people keeping full kosher do not cook food on Saturday but may keep food that is prepared beforehand warm on a hot plate. Therein lies the dilemma for restaurants: if they are open from sundown on Friday night to sundown on Saturday, they are not kosher.

The events of the last five years have changed the equation in restaurants’ decision on whether to be kosher or not. Before Covid and the Gaza war, foreign tourists flooded Israel, including the northern part of the country. In 2018, 4.12 millioin foreign tourists visited in Israel and needed to find a restaurant on Shabbat. In 2024, only some 800,000 came. They certainly did not visit the north because rockets and drones were firing off alarms several times a day, not to mention the fact that most of the nature sites were closed due to the war. Yet, tourism did not completely die as Israelis, finding it ridiculously expensive to fly abroad as the foreign airlines suspended their flights to and from Israel, chose to visit relatively safe places, such as Tiberias on the Sea of the Galilee. A very high percentage of these people were religious at least in terms of keeping kosher, meaning that they would not eat a non-kosher restaurant. The few open restaurants, struggling to survive in this difficult situation, apparently had to become kosher and close on Shabbat. Thus, today, for secular people looking to “go out for dinner” on a Friday night, the best option is an Arab restaurant, which generally offers excellent food and service at a reasonable price.

I personally have very mixed reaction to this situation. On the one hand, having had to work weekends in my younger days and knowing how hard restaurant work is, it may be a blessing for all those in the industry  to spend Saturday together with their families. On the other hand, these restaurants lose an important part of their income in a traditionally difficult industry to survive. Furthermore, as a secular person, I find it disturbing that Israel is becoming more religious. By the way, far more Muslims fast during Ramadan than they did 25 years ago. For those that desire an Israel that is more faithful to the religious laws, I imagine that this change is good news. On the longer term, it will be interesting to see what happens when the pre-corona tourism levels return and more restaurants reopen.

In the meantime, it is interesting to watch what kind of new Israel will arise from the ashes of Covid and war years. It is certain the food, which is already  excellent, will improve even more. For those that don’t want to cook Saturday lunch, it make take more effort to find an open restaurant. May that be the least of our problems.

In praise of disorder – the joy of Mediterranean messiness

 

[cluttered desk]

Some 40 years ago, I took the train to Rome after having spent a month in Germany. I vividly remember the feeling of chaos at the Rome train station, the confusion due to the lack of signs and my discomfort with the chaos of the city.  Still, I said to myself that I would love to have the German transportation in Italy and enjoy the best of two worlds. A few months ago, I flew to Nurenberg through Heraklion, Crete. This trip made me realized how much today I prefer the chaos of the Mediterranean to the orderliness of the northern Europe.

To paint a picture, Heraklion is similar to many other urban areas in the eastern Mediterranean in terms of aesthetics and manner of living. The sidewalks are often partial; the parking is improvised; trashcans, not to mention recycling bins, can be few and far between, with the results evident in the gutter sometime. The occasional rain turns some streets into Venetian canals. In terms of sounds, loud car honks and louder conversations are the norm, creating an interesting cacophony, exaggerated for those that do not speak Greek. As for signing, the panels at Knossos (for those that did not buy the video player) left much to the imagination. By the way, the Heraklion airport deserves its awful reputation. On the other hand, the food was rich and tasty, featuring fish, meat and vegetables. The desserts were tasty. The people were friendly and helpful, happy to share their culture even in non-tourist areas. In summary, Heraklion, like Cyprus and Israel, was loud and genuine, for better or worse.

By contrast, Germany, like Holland, was clean and orderly but socially structured. The streets were sterile, with not only trash cans but also recycling bins in all public squares. The signing was complete and without translation errors, not a given in the world. (FYI, translators love discovering amusing translation errors.) The buildings were impressive and well maintained. As for the food, in that part of Germany, it was primarily meat in various forms, with a few vegetables, primarily the potato in French fries (chips). The bread was as heavy, albeit tasty, as the meat. The beer was plentiful and justified its reputation. On the other hand, people spoke quietly and interacted with foreigners and, as it appeared in some restaurants, even among their family, formally, without great emotion. I understood that clear limits of public expression existed. Northern Europe is clearly an calmer place to visit.

As I boarded the plane for Israel on my way home, I remarked that if I could not live in Israel, I could imagine myself living in Crete. To quote Baloo, they have the bare necessities of life down pat, i.e., good food and real social relations. As for the administrative chaos, it can be amusing, even an advantage sometimes. By contrast, I could not see myself fitting in Germany, Holland or any other northern European country as, after 35 years, I do not want to play by strict rules set by others. As Jacques Prévert wrote, je suis comme je suis; je suis fait comme ça – I am what I am; I am made like that. I not only enjoy the food of the Mediterranean but also relish in the dramatics of its human interactions. Some 40 years ago, the disorder was too much for me. Now, at this stage of my life, I prefer my society to be like my desk, a bit messy.

The importance of proper menu translation or why laughing last is not always ideal

 

[blank menu*]

Translators’ forums are filled with highly amusing menu translations from restaurants around the world. While linguists may find these funny, restaurant owners should not. In fact, menu translation often is an essential part of a restaurant’s success, needs to communicate many messages and should be handled with care and attention.

The menu, including in translation, is a key element in a restaurant’s image. First, customers judge a restaurant not only on the merits of its food but also its dressings. Restaurant owners thus invest incredible amount of capital in plates, silverware, glasses, tables, chairs, wall coverings and menu design. They sometimes forget the fact, especially in non-English speaking countries, the translation is the only menu seen by many diners. Given the impact of tourist spending in the restaurant trade, a proper translation creates a good impression while spelling and vocabulary errors lead to, at minimum, laughing. Some potential diners may not enter a restaurant if the menu in their language is laughable.  Since the investment in translation is essentially a fixed cost that can be spread over many years even taking into account occasional updates, proper translation is a worthwhile and cost-effective investment for restaurant owners.

Proper translation involves the weighed choice of vocabulary and clean text as well as application of marketing language. Choosing the correct word for an ingredient or type of sauce involves understanding whether an equivalent term exists in the target language and if the foreign term will be understood to the average customer that would dine in that restaurant. An example is with gravy or au jus. The translator needs to choose the word that most of the diners will understood while projecting the desired image. Of course, thorough QA is required to eliminate all obvious errors of spelling and grammar, including homonyms (e.g., sea and see) in order to render the menu a guide to the food, not a source of amusement. Finally, the language chosen should be specific and enticing enough to cause the diner to want to order the dish. For, example, grilled marinated chicken accompanied by spiced rice sounds much more tempting than chicken with rice. Menu translation is the elegant dance between earth and sky.

Restaurateurs should seek a translator that has the required subject knowledge, ability to produce marketing language and communication skills. Clearly, the ideal translator must be thoroughly familiar with both the names of ingredients and dishes in the target language. Applying that knowledge, the linguist needs to create descriptions in line with the restaurant image and customers, going beyond merely statements of the dish and feeding the desire to order it. In many cases, it may be necessary to communicate with the chef or restaurant manager to add or confirm details, which entails dialogue on both sides. In any case, restaurant owners should hire only translators with the proper set of skills working in their native language even if they are more expensive as menu translation is far from simple. Google translate is not an effective solution, however tempting it may appear.

The dining experience ideally is about the food and company. The goal of all restaurant owners is for the customer to leave with the memory of the meal and the desire to return. A poor translation of a menu spoils that effect by making the menu memorable not because of its culinary content but its linguistic issues. This situation is easily avoidable by simple paying for a professional translation. Restaurant owners should remember that he who laughs last does not necessarily laugh best.

* Place picture captions to help the blind accesss the Internet.

Picture credit:Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/prawny-162579/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1206941">Prawny</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=1206941">Pixabay</a>

Ode to the Mediterranean diet - Portion, proportion and price

                                           (Eggplant and tahina as prepared by my wife)

I just returned from a three-week trip to the United States. I was happy to return to my bed, cats, computers and, no less importantly, my diet.  It was not that I ate badly on my trip.  I ate solid American food, fancy French food, tasty Asian food and good basic Mexican food, to name a few.  I certainly did not go hungry.  Still, it is a relief to go back to my Mediterranean diet, filed with lots of vegetables in dishes and salads, a reasonable amount of protein, fresh fruit and nuts.

At each of the restaurant types I dined in, something seemed off.  Typical American fare, such as deli sandwiches, pancakes and American breakfast, is tasty and filling but the portions are simply too big.  The feeling after the meal borders and even sometimes crosses over to heaviness. While it is possible to order smaller portions or split dishes, the eyes are much bigger than the stomach.  The food on the plate only turns out to be too much when after you have finished eating it. I really can live without American food.

I also enjoyed several Asian restaurants.  I relish curries and spicy food. The issue is the matter of proportion.  Hot is as hot feels. Everybody has a different comfort zone but a restaurant can only cater to it to a limited degree. I always felt that I wanted it a bit hotter or milder. Having eaten Chinese food in China I understand that there simply is no single standard of spicing.  The process of trial and error is a long process. Also, the proportion of meat to vegetables is low by Western standards. That is probably good for the body but not always enough for the soul. For me, Asian food is a treat, not an everyday meal.

I also dined a several very fine French restaurants.  The portions were right for middle-aged persons and left me with a nice feeling of having eaten enough but not too much. The taste was rich with complicated sauces complementing the well-prepared meats.  The problem was that the price was rich also.  Comparing the price and the amount of food it purchased, something seemed off. While I was satisfied in terms of quantity and quality, the cost seemed exorbitant. French restaurants are an expensive diet.

Now I am back home with my eggplant, chopped vegetable salad, tahina, shakshuka, falafel, kabab and humus, not to mention lamb, chicken and fish.  The portions, even in restaurants, are sufficient but not exaggerated. The flavors are balanced.  If I want it hotter, I can add some sahug, a hot pepper condiment. The prices are quite reasonable by local income standards and more than reasonable for tourists. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I would say it also has the same effect on the taste buds and stomachs.

Foodly illogical

Words are rather elusive objects. People tend to apply them in contexts so far from their origin that any connection becomes obscure. As an example, the word mouse most commonly refers today to a computer accessory that spends most of its time in the office or salon, not the kitchen or shed. Aside from computers, no area of activity has perverted meanings of words more than food. Those who either do not cook or watch cooking shows can find themselves clueless to what certain terms mean.

There is nothing sadder than the look of confusion of the first-time buyer of wine. While the taste of sweet wines is clear, that of dry wines is perplexing. It is clear that there is a liquid in the bottle, which mean that it is wet, not dry. Alas, the fact that all of the sugar has turned into alcohol is not evident at all.  Likewise, as everybody starts off unexperienced, virgin olive oil sort of makes sense. However, extra virgin olive is rather obscure, even considering extreme religious purity movements. For those not in the know, it means that the oil has gone through cold processing only, without any heating to remove impurities. Locally, in Israel, the major term for better and more expensive produce is the Arabic baladi. It is interpreted to mean homegrown or even sort-of organic and serves as a justification for higher prices and/or less attractive produce. What most Hebrew speakers do not know is that it merely means excellent in Arabic. For the cook or the store, it is not clear.

Cooking processes also have their tricky terms. Baking and cooking programs refer to clarified butter, which may imply that everybody understands that the product is butter. Alas, the clarification refers to the color produced by separating the butter into its components and using only the butterfat, not the solids or liquids. I hope the term is clarified now. As for poaching, it may seem strange that poaching animals is illegal and even is even causing extinctions, but many a brunch offered by respectable restaurants openly offer poached eggs and poached salmon. In this case, the products were not stolen but cooked in water although I imagine that in a few cases both meanings could apply. In regards to crime, many would say that the devil is quite busy sowing evil in this world, but it is hard to understand his obsession with eggs. Why he would think stuffing hard boiled eggs with mayonnaise and other ingredients, deviled eggs, could lead to sin is beyond my understanding.

Products can also be a bit bewildering. I watched Gumby as a kid and know that clay characters have a life of their own. So, when I first heard of kissing dough, I felt a bit animated. Then I realized that the kiss here refers to connecting of two items of baked goods. This is not so romantic, as Roseanne Roseannadanna  would say. Now, the title Baron brings up the image of middle-aged men with gout or even the World War I flying nemesis of Snoopy. However, in the (culinary) meat market, it is a large piece of meat consisting of two sirloins attached at a joint. Finally, if your egg or baked dished is van dyked, it does not mean that it has a bad fake accent (as in Bert in Mary Poppins) or even a mustache. This artistic term only implies that it has been cut in zig zags.

As they say in the translation business, there is nothing more dangerous than a little bit of knowledge. We may think we know what a word means but are completely unaware that it took a long detour into the world of food and came out something entirely, even unrecognizable, a bit like the ingredients in a fancy French dish. As Spock said, “Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

The good old, old days

In Michael Crichton’s book Timeline, one character, Andrė, decides to remain in the past, specifically the year 1357, because he finds life then much more to his taste. Many readers probably identified with the longing for idyllic past with all of its simple charm and without any of modern life’s stresses. Alas, life in the pre-industrial age was not a bowl of cherries.  It may be that it was slower and less stressful but it involved much hard work and many limitations unimaginable today.

Let us discuss the basic needs for heating, cooking and light. Pre-electricity means wood or charcoal stoves, which often served all three functions. Someone, generally a lower-class woman, had to get up before dawn and get the fire going. Depending on the size of the house and its design, this limited heat did not necessary get to all of the rooms. Cooking and baking on a wood stove is an art that takes year to learn in terms of controlling the temperature. As for light, aside from the fire, people only had relatively expensive candles to extend their day.  To give a perspective, for the wedding of the daughter of the French King, Louis Phillippe (the Bourgeois) in the early 19^th century, the cost of lighting the ballroom was higher than the cost of the bride’s dress.

On the subject of clothes, pret-a-porter had not been invented, meaning you could not just go to the store and buy a pair of pants or a dress, not to mention underwear. Someone, a tailor or seamstress, had to make it specifically for you.  Each item was expensive, meaning that even the wealthy had very limited wardrobes.  As for cleaning it, without any washing machine, each item had to be taken to the river and cleaned by hand.  Talk about time-consuming and strenuous work.

The other great necessity, food, was also rather limited.  Food transportation was by wagon or boat only. Anybody distant from the few good roads or a body of water lived on what was locally available, which could lack variety and even quantity depending on the area and season. It is no surprise that most local peasant recipes involve maximum effort to attain the most benefit from any locally available food.

Of course, money solves most problems, even then. Unfortunately, money was also an issue.  The pre-industrial age was a time without bank credit, credit cards, checks or even paper money. Money was all about valuable metals and weight. Spain became rich because it plundered lots of millions of pounds in gold and silver, literally.  However, given the limitations of weight, transportation and raw materials, peripheral locations often lacked the money to conduct basic financial transactions. Those fur farmers in North America in the 17^th and 18^th century even traded in buck skins to complement the limited number of British, Dutch, French and Spanish coins they could get their hands on.

So, I personally am less excited about living the cold, dark, dirty and difficult life of 400 years ago. I am willing to put up with cell phone calls at inappropriate times, around-the-clock emails, bank account vigilance and even smog for the privilege of feeling warm, clean and fed and being capable of buying almost anything and going anywhere in this world. 2018 ain’t so bad, really.

Usual sights

Israel is a unique country in many ways, including typical behavior.  The following is a short list of rather commonplace phenomena that visitors might see in Israel that would surprise them but attract no notice by the locals.

Looking around, it becomes obvious, especially in certain cities, that Israelis love children.  It is not extraordinary to people out and about with four or more children in tow and a baby in hand.  The religious and Arab populations in particular tend to have large families but, in general, the more the merrier applies to children here, including two rounds of them in order to avoid empty nest syndrome. Also, numerous people, not just soldiers, pack guns openly here.  My father was rather shocked at the amount of weaponry among the guests at my first wedding.  I stopped noticing this long ago.  In terms of shopping, security guards and bag checks are routine and standard at every store and mall. Women automatically direct their bags for a check. As for fashion, due to a noticeable religious presence, some level of “modest” clothing is the norm.  In other words, a woman walking with her breasts exposed tends to attract much attention, most of negative.

Israelis in public tend to be quite friendly.  They routinely say shalom to people they meet, including strangers. Curiously, even non-religious Jews use Shabbat shalom in Friday and Saturday communication.  If someone needs directions, Israelis are very helpful if not always so knowledgeable. It is not an accident that Ways was invited by an Israeli.  He was probably tired of receiving incorrect directions. If someone collapses in an Israeli street, people drop everything and try to help.  The odds are that at least one of them is/was a medic or medical staff member. It is well known that Israelis are so happy or relieved to land safely (or return) that they often clap after the plane lands. This is a perfectly normal thing to do, right?

Alas, not everything is rosy. Israelis, like most people in the Mediterranean basin, tend to be aggressive drivers. Woe to the sleepy driver at light that turns green.  A sharp honk is quick to come. Also, the parking shortage in many Israeli cities brings out the worst of its hypertense residents as expressed in countless shouting matches for precious parking spots.  Age and gender have no impact on the ferocity of these territorial battles. On a more dangerous note, certain groups for ideological reasons periodically express their opposition to others by throwing rocks at passing vehicles.  The most notable perpetrators are the ultra-orthodox on holidays on any car that dare disturbs their peace, including ambulances sometimes, and radicalized Muslim Arabs, generally youth, that want to emphasize their non-Israeli identity by punishing cars with Israeli license plates.  Fortunately, this is not common but still somewhat expected at certain times of the year.

I wish to add a few words on behavior.  In terms of food, Israelis find it perfectly normal to eat vegetables for breakfast and a large lunch, not dinner. In terms of main dishes, alongside the usual carnivores, Israel has the highest percentage of vegans in the world, which is good news for travelling vegetarians. In terms of travel, due to the limited size of the country, even those who own cars often choose to travel to another city by bus if not train.  Intercity flights are generally not practical. Israelis, even those try to ignore it, are addicted to the news.  No news is truly good news here but unfortunately all too rare. Hebrew being of limited value outside of Israel and a few spots in the United States, Thailand and Turkey, just about all Israelis know English, albeit not quite as well as they think they do. They happily apply this language skill in helping stranded tourists and ordering items from the Internet.

Granted, some countries share part of these behaviors but Israel is still a unique experience for a visitor.

Spot the difference

The Galilee is the home of many cultures, interacting and even living together. These cultures include Jewish of all types, including Ashkenazi, oriental, Yemenite and Ethiopian, as well as Moslem and Christian Arabs, not to mention Circassians and Druze.  The terms “Jewish” and “Arab” almost lose their meanings given the constant mixing of value that occurs here.  For example, Israeli “Arabs” can barely speak pure Arabic, interspacing their mother tongue with Hebrew on a regular basis, while Eastern Jews are proud of their food and music traditions that are very similar to the ones of the Arab countries from where they families came from. Appearances can be very deceiving.

In term of culture clash, a trip to Acco is most educational.  Jews, Muslims and Christians have lived together in Acco for generations, thus providing a great view of this cultural mix.  One of the interesting cultural aspects involves the manner of dining and celebrating. When dining in a Jewish owned restaurant, everything is more restrained. The music may be “Arab” but the volume is kept low. The people enter and greet each other quietly, without great ceremony. Men and women generally sit together and talk quietly.  Also, the ban on smoking in public spaces is enforced. The atmosphere is quiet.

By contrast, going to an Arab restaurant is a public celebration, even if the actual table is private. The music tends to be louder; the greetings noisier, and signs of affections, real or otherwise, more dramatic. When large groups or families gather, you can often see seating by gender and/or status. A meal is intended to be a happy ceremony and is so performed. It is an occasion to express warmness and affection.  Smoking hookahs is often tolerated, making such restaurants a bit challenging for those used to a smoke-free environment. Diners enjoy their food, essential the same food as in the Jewish-owned restaurants, but are much less restrained in their expression of the social pleasure.

Given that all human beings, regardless of their faith and culture, view eating as a central part of their social life, a dinner in Acco is a wonderful opportunity to view the different styles of public dining. Which is better?  Chacun à son gout.

Not your grandmother’s Poland

My wife and I just returned from a week’s trip in Poland, taken for the purpose of my attending a Law and Language conference in Bialystok (see previous post). I have to admit that I had never felt as uneasy before a trip as I did prior to this trip.  I could not put my finger on what exactly was disturbing me but told myself that I would take things as they are in the present. That said, I made a conscious decision to travel on my Israeli passport and speak Hebrew. The greatest response to past anti-Semitism and mass killing is to return as a proud Jew.  I did not regret that decision and was quite surprised by the reaction. Not only were there no negative reaction or incidents, people expressed interest, with one person, in his 40’s, apologizing for the actions of the Poles in the past, something we did not expect or request.

The Poland I saw in that week, granted a short time, is a complex society. It consists of three distinct generations: pre-war, Soviet and modern Polish. The first is hard to see as that few of that generation is still alive and most of the buildings of that period, at least in Warsaw, were destroyed by the Germans. Yet, it is engrained in my mind from stories and movies. The second was symbolized by the Stalin’s gift to the Poland, the imposing cement Palace of Science and Culture in the city center. No less reminiscent of that era is the stone-faced “charm” of the border guards and train clerks, who do their job in the proper Soviet manner. The current generation is more European and western. On the train from Bialystok to Warsaw, delayed by two hours, we spent a magical 4 hours with five 18-year olds returning from vacation. Aside from the respect they gave us, we were amazed by their knowledge, curiosity, English and goodness. We talked for four hours without effort and did not regret the train delay in the least. If this group is the future of Poland, I am very optimistic. This interlacing of different educations does not lead to easy conclusions about the past, present or future but makes for a fascinating trip.

In terms of the Polish language itself, I left with the impression that in six months I could be functioning quite well in it. It took some three days to figure out the pronunciation/spelling matrix. However, once I understood how to say the words, it was wonderfully (to me, not the Poles) similar to Russian, which I know, and therefore easy to understand. I was amused by the Elmer Fudd letter, specifically Ƚ (an L with a cross in it). I learned that is pronounced wa, reminding me of Elmer Fudd saying, “I am going to shoot that Wabbit.” I mean no offense to the Polish but often use humor to help remember.

The food was generally excellent. There was an abundance of non-mainstream meats, including duck, bison, venison and wild boar. The Polish are justifiably famous for their perogi with various fillings, with our favorite being those filled with blueberries in a sauce of sour cream. I loved the herring, especially in cream and served with onion, a taste acquired from my mother. On the other hand, Poland lacks the fresh vegetables so common in Israel. The one “Israeli salad” we saw (at the hotel breakfast) was so small and minimal that it engendered pity not desire. The service in restaurant was prompt and professional at least until the main dish was served. At that point, for reasons we never understood, the waiter would disappear as if he did not want to disturb us from digesting our food. At least twice we gave up on the dessert as we had become somehow invisible to the server. Admittedly, not eating a dessert is not a tragedy, at least at our age.

I must say a few words about hair.  The Middle East is known for dark, often curly, hair for women and the non-hair for men. Many of my students, in their 20’s, already have expanded foreheads. In Poland, the large majority of women were blonds, most of them natural. Curly heads must be considered very exotic. We also noted that they were much more elegantly dressed than in Israel. As for the males, they must either have the right genes or lead peaceful lives as even older men had full heads of hair.

In short, my trip to Poland, regardless of my anxiety beforehand, was extremely memorable and worthwhile. I do not claim to have become an expert on the country but at least I gained some insights on modern Poland and my grandmothers’ Poland. To any Jew considering a visit there, I would recommend it, but doing so neither forgetting the past nor ignoring the present. 

Wedding Season

Summer has arrived in Israel with all its attendant events.  These include summer camps, shopping in the mall, water parks and, gasp, weddings.  

The latter tend to bunch up in the summer months for several reasons.  First of all, Jews cannot get married from Pesach to Shevuot (except for Lag Veomer, but that is a long story), a period of seven weeks in the spring, and the three weeks before Tisha Be'av, which is in the summer. So, the Jewish couple wishing to get married looses almost two months, creating a bit of a log jam on the wedding halls.  Arabs, whether Moslem or Christian, do not get married in the winter.  The reasons for this are more practical than religious.  The wedding celebrations tend to be several days long and involve large amounts of people, requiring outside space.  Therefore, rain and cold wind would be a real downer to the event.  The result of these circumstances is that the average Israeli, even the not notably social ones, is invited to a series of weddings.

Attending them is not such a simple matter.  First of all, there is the matter of the size of the gift.  Several methods exist for determining it. The simplest, based on what the person can afford, is only allowed for those truly in financial need.  The modern system is to check any of many sites in which you enter in the important details, which will then inform you of the size of the proper gift.  The more traditional way, still quite prevalent, is to check the list recording the amount which that person given by the family of the bride or groom when your son or daughter got married. Whatever the method, it is clear that several summer weddings can wreak a lot of damage to the budget.

The guests also contribute time and sleep.  Weddings can be quite pricey, especially in large cities.  So, many younger couples search for more affordable wedding halls, often in very interesting locations.  These often involve a long drive over curvy, dark roads.  Adding in some rush hour traffic, getting to the wedding can easily involve two hours.  Even if the couple picks a convenient location for most of the invited friends and family, some unlucky guests will find themselves with a long drive because they live far away. You can’t please everybody, right?  Often the biggest cost is paid on the following day.  According to Judaism, there are no weddings on Shabbat (Friday evening to Saturday end of day).  At the same time, Sunday is a regular work day.  The consequence is that unless the wedding is on a Thursday night, all of the guests have to get up and go to work the next day.  What we do for our friends and family!

The wedding itself can be enjoyable or boring, depending on the individual circumstances.  Yet, certain negative effects are unavoidable, especially for us older folk.  The music will undoubtedly be too loud, often to the point of driving people to sit outside or even bring earplugs. A pleasant conversation without screaming is a dream.  Secondly, Jewish and Arab weddings must have a cornucopia of food. The guest with a limited appetite (especially at 9:00 in the evening or later) would easily have enough to eat with the initial buffet, generally quite excellent and varied in Israel.  Unfortunately, the initial appetizers are followed by fish, meat, vegetables, potatoes, rice, and copious salad, not to mention a parve (non-dairy) desert. It takes a strong will not to overeat. A summerful of such meals can be a weighty issue.  So, attending a wedding sometimes results in ringing in the ears, a hoarse voice and a feeling of being stuffed. 

Still, all this irrelevant since the only important point of a wedding is that the couple getting married have a good time, with all their family and friends to share their joy.

NB: I got married for the second time a year and a half ago in February (not summer) and celebrated with 20 friends and family in a nice restaurant in Zichron Ya’akov, with very low background music.  It was the best wedding I ever attended.

Food conclusions

Translations without cultural explanation can be deceiving even for the casual tourist.  While food items may seem simple to guess or find in the most basic pocket dictionary, naïve readers may be unaware of what they will be getting.

For example, most cultures have meat as an essential part of any serious meal.  However, the term meat left unspecified has a clear significant for the locals that may not be known to visitors, mainly based on the most economic and prevalent form of it.  For example, in countries with significant quantities of land water, beef is the common main course of a dinner.  By contrast, if the media inn Israel talks about families that cannot afford meat during the week, it is referring to chicken, which is affordable to most families, as compared to beef products, which are expensive and not especially good (granted with a few exceptions).  New Zealanders, outnumbered by their sheep, do their best to reduce the quantity of the latter.  The Chinese, often living in cramped conditions or poor land (a high percentage of China is actually mountain or desert), assume that pork is on the menu.  Some countries, such as France, are blessed with a rich variety and quality of land. For them, meat is meat, i.e. derived from an animal source and needing to be specified. 

In the same vein, it is common to eat a salad with that meat but it is not always clear to visitors what they will get.  In the United States, lettuce with a few tomatoes is the standard fare.  In the Middle East, lettuce is exotic but finely diced tomatoes, cucumbers and parsley are served everywhere.  Europe tends to have sliced vegetables, including the basic crudités in France, which means the raw variety. South Korea is famous for Kim Chee, a fermented cabbage based dish. For that matter, steamed or pickled cabbage is the basic green in China (historically because the use of “night soil”, i.e. human feces, rendered eating raw vegetables quite dangerous).

We need our daily bread, or so it is said, but the form of that bread can vary from country to country.  The United States generally services some kind of white flour roll unless you are sitting in an upscale or foreign restaurant.  The baguette rules in Italy and France, curiously enough even in Chinese restaurants.  By contrast, good brown bread is available in Germany and Holland, but has to be ordered in the former.  Local Middle Eastern food, especially humus, is automatically accompanied by pitta, a pocket bread, except during Pesach where even Arab restaurants have matzo, unleavened bread, available for their somewhat observant diners. India is famous for na’an and other flatbread.

Finally, locals tend to drink different beverages.  The French love their wine with any meal, claiming with some possible justification that it leads to better health and sex.  The Chinese are famous for their tea.  In Eastern Europe including Germany, beer is inexpensive and good though I am not quite so confident of its positive effect on life expectancy and intimacy.  Americans, being the land of plenty, drink everything, including milk. Once soft drinks were once the norm in Israel, but the Russian immigration has brought with it greater consumption of alcohol of all kinds, for better or worse.