If the experience of eating meals in Israel had to be boiled down to a single word, it would be FRESH! Whether your Israel team is eating at scrumptious and bountiful hotel buffets, or we are headed out to a local restaurant or a corner grocery store, the fruits and vegetables are fresh, colorful, and full of flavor. Breakfasts are dairy-based meals, including great rich coffee, fruits and juices, pastries, breads, dozens of cheeses from sliced to spoon-able farmer's cheese with flavors of herbs added, fresh yogurts, salads (bet you didn't see that one coming!) of roasted pepper mixes and various other veggies, and usually some scrambled eggs for the American tourists. You might find tuna or some other fish available, but there are no other meats on the buffets (so the hotels can keep a kosher kitchen and not have milk and meat consumed in the same meal). You really won't miss it after the first day. For lunches, we will usually stop somewhere along our journey, and you'll have a chance to shop off a menu or enjoy a set-menu/price meal. This is when you'll want to try all the different toppings for falafel and schwarma and decide which is your favorite. Our dinners at local restaurants, you'll have time to peruse the menu for a meat or dairy meal, depending on what we are hungry for. Salad entrees are huge and rarely contain more than 10% lettuce, they are filled with all kinds of vegetable mixes, nuts, cheeses, seeds, and more. Meat or dairy entrees filled with flavor come in Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Thai, Ethiopian, and every other regional food. We might even be able to find you a hamburger if you're really craving one...but it won't be a cheeseburger. Dinners at hotels are also buffet style like breakfast so you can try all kinds of items. Salads and hummus, with beef, lamb, and/or chicken are available every night, fresh bread, and desserts apleanty! One thing to note at dinner when we are having meat: dairy is unavailable. There is a margarine available if you need it for bread, but if you generally enjoy a coffee with cream chaser after dinner, cream will not be an option--except in your room. The desserts are going to look as though they are full of dairy, but the chefs use coconut milk and almond milk to prepare everything! (It is shocking what they can do with coconut milk!) Every time I describe the food in Israel to teams, I am worried that I'm over-selling it. Then I arrive in the land, and I realize I'm not. For those with specific food allergies they are concerned about, we can ask about ingredients anywhere we go.
