What’s for Lunch? Schnitzel

A Story Unfolding Across Timelines

Current Time.

Don’t ask me why, but schnitzel is more of a lunch choice than a dinner choice. I mean, we do eat schnitzels for dinner, but more often, we will eat them for lunch. Schnitzel is an easy protein option for a quick lunch, whether made from scratch from chicken breast or bought ready for the oven or air fryer. It is usually served alongside a side dish and eaten with ketchup, mayo, mustard, or - the Israeli twist - tahini.

In a rush, we often eat schnitzel in various types of sandwiches. The most popular Israeli choice is schnitzel in pita bread, followed by schnitzel in a baguette. It usually comes with hummus, Israeli salad, matbucha or harissa, and French fries. While writing these words, I remembered that the sellers had a melody in their voices when they offered customers side dishes of hummus, fries, and salad. It sounds like a chorus of a song.?

Schnitzel in Israeli-Arab Cuisine

The Israeli-Arab-Palestinian community has also embraced schnitzel, and today, you can find schnitzel in restaurants that serve local oriental food alongside hummus and kebabs. Oriental Arabic restaurants in Israel make excellent schnitzels! In my opinion, Oriental restaurants’ fries are the most delicious in the world and far better than any fast food restaurant out there. With various dressings such as ketchup, mustard, mayo, tahini, hummus, or a slice of lemon, schnitzel is the star of the table for Jewish and Arab communities in Israel. Yes, we can live on schnitzels for a long time.

If you aspire to visit Israel and the culinary experience is a high priority on your list, I strongly recommend Israeli-Arab restaurants. These restaurants serve excellent food, and the highlight of the experience is the variety of opening salads alongside pita or laffa bread that just came out of the oven. Last but not least are the unique sweet desserts, the most popular of which are baklava, muhallebi, and knafeh.

However, the uniqueness of these restaurants is not only in the experience of the delicious food but also in their ability to demonstrate the shared fate and mutual life of the Jews and the Muslim Arabs in the State of Israel. This coexistence demonstrates the friendship that has developed between the two nations over the past 76 years, thanks to the culinary experience. Israelis love oriental restaurants and frequent them in droves. If you raised your eyebrows in surprise when reading this paragraph, I invite you to visit Israel and see this with your own eyes.

Food Connects Us

One of the main causes of the bond between Jews and Muslims in Israel is food. Food serves as a bridge to build connections between people. Currently, about 2 million Palestinian-Arab Muslims and Christians live as Israeli citizens. We live next to each other and have developed profound friendships between the Jewish communities, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and other minority groups. Food connected us and made us friends.

Food is a key factor for collaboration and in building friendships. Over the past 76 years, we have built friendships and business relationships between various communities in Israel thanks to cultural and religious dishes. We respect the holidays of all religions and know what dishes each religion eats, on which holiday, and which ethnicity makes it. It might come as a surprise to people who don't know that 20% of the Israelis are Palestinian-Arab with full rights as Israelis. Moreover, we live together in peace and respect each other.

So why did nobody tell you that secret? Well, it’s not a secret. 20% of Israelis are Palestinian-Arab. Remember, news shows do not report on good, normal, routine lives because there is no money for them. Their business model is reporting on the extreme and the bad. They make a ton of money reporting on wars rather than showing you stories of collaboration and friendships.?

Israel offers a unique high-level culinary experience in various cuisines, from local, oriental, and Mediterranean to French, Japanese, Indian, and Thai cuisines and up to the traditional Jewish cuisines of Moroccan, Iranian, Yemeni, Russian, and many other ethnicities. On your next visit to Israel, I recommend tasting everything you can. Start with hummus places, Oriental Israeli-Arab restaurants, and any street food that serves food in pita and laffa bread.

My family loves oriental Arabic restaurants with all our hearts, and we usually go there on the weekends. However, if we don’t feel like going out, my father usually picks up food from restaurants in neighboring towns, Shfar'am, I'billin, or Tamra. I’ll repeat this: the Israeli-Arab community makes the most delicious local oriental food I have ever tasted, and it is different from any Arab restaurant I have tried in the US. The oriental Israeli-Arab restaurants are undoubtedly the best in the world. Yes, the best restaurants in the world! I can guarantee you that the flavors from their food will remain with you forever. Trust me, I’m an engineer.

Please fasten your seatbelts and subscribe.

With all my love and gratitude,

Liat

Unlock my potential to write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told. Your support on Substack or Patreon would make a big difference in taking this journey to the next level.

Follow me on My Journey to Infinity to find out. It will be more beautiful than you could ever imagine.

Liat