An Israeli breakfast is a style of breakfast that originated on the Israeli collective farm called a kibbutz, and is now served at most hotels in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and many restaurants. It is usually served

buffet A buffet can be either a sideboard (a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve ...

style, and consists of fruits, vegetables, salads, breads, pastries, dairy foods, eggs and fish. Meat is never included.

History

During the early days of the state of Israel, residents of a kibbutz ate their meals in a communal dining hall. It was common for the residents to eat a light snack early in the morning, and then work in the fields for several hours. Then they returned to the dining hall for a hearty mid morning buffet meal, similar to a

brunch Brunch is a meal eaten between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., sometimes accompanied by alcoholic drinks (typically champagne or a cocktail). The meal originated in the British hunt breakfast. The word ''brunch'' is a portmanteau of '' breakfast'' ...

. By the

1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...

, Israeli hotels were promoting the "Israeli breakfast" in a style similar to the kibbutz meals. In 1979, members of the

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Hotel Association and the Israeli Hotel Owners Association decided to phase out the full Israeli breakfast as a part of their basic hotel room rate, substituting it with a more modest

Continental breakfast Breakfast, the first meal of the day eaten after waking from the night's sleep, varies in composition and tradition across the world. Africa Breakfast in Africa varies greatly from region to region. Algeria Breakfast in Algeria is heavily influen ...

instead, in order to reduce costs. The effort was not successful, and the tradition of a hearty breakfast

continued.

Characteristics and typical dishes

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

in Israel, the Israeli breakfast is commonly presented as a

self-service Self-service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when making purchases. Aside from Automated Teller Machines, which are not limited to banks, and customer-operated supermarket check-out, labor-saving of which has been described as self- ...

. In smaller restaurants, a more streamlined menu may be presented through sit down

table service The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...

. The Israeli breakfast never includes meats such as

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...

and bacon, which are common on breakfast menus in many other countries. In accordance with the Jewish laws of Kashrut, meat and dairy ingredients are never served together in a meal and pork products are forbidden. The Israeli breakfast is a dairy meal, and a variety of cheeses are offered. Fish is considered

pareve In ''kashrut'', the dietary laws of Judaism, pareve (from yi, פאַרעוו for "neutral", in Hebrew , and also parve and other variant English spellings) is a classification of edible substances that contain neither dairy nor meat ingredients. ...

and so is permitted with a dairy meal, and herring is frequently served. Other smoked or pickled fish dishes are also common, including

sprat Sprat is the common name applied to a group of forage fish belonging to the genus '' Sprattus'' in the family Clupeidae. The term also is applied to a number of other small sprat-like forage fish ('' Clupeoides'', '' Clupeonella'', '' Corica'' ...

sardines "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

and

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

Egg dishes This is a list of notable egg dishes and beverages. Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have been eaten by humans for thousands of years.Kenneth F. Kiple, ''A Movable Feast: T ...

are almost universal, which may be pre-cooked or cooked to order. The

Maghrebi Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alge ...

egg dish shakshouka (shakshuka), brought to Israel by

Tunisian Jews The history of the Jews in Tunisia extended nearly two thousand years and goes back to the Punic era. The Jewish community in Tunisia is no doubt older and grew up following successive waves of immigration and proselytism before its develo ...

, is a common choice, comprising

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

poached in

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

. Other Middle Eastern dishes may include Israeli salad, hummus, tehina,

halloumi Halloumi or haloumi (, el, χαλούμι, haloúmi; tr, hellim}) is a traditional Cypriot cheese made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk. Its texture is described as squeaky. It has a high melting poi ...

ful medames Ful medames ( ar, فول مدمس, ' ; other spellings include ''ful mudammas'' and '' foule mudammes''), or simply fūl, is a stew of cooked fava beans served with olive oil, cumin, and optionally with chopped parsley, garlic, onion, lemon juice, ...

baba ghanoush Baba ghanoush (, ;"baba ghanouj"
(US) and

and the strained yogurt known as labaneh. Fresh vegetables such as

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es, cucumbers, green peppers,

radish The radish (''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'') is an edible root vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that was domesticated in Asia prior to Roman times. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, being mostly eaten raw ...

es,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

s and shredded carrots are common, as are olives. A variety of

salads A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

are available.

Coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as ...

s, fresh fruits, bread and

pastries Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ...

complete the menu.

Gallery

File:Israel Batch 2 (241).JPG, A breakfast buffet at a hotel in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, Israel File:The 7 Breakfasts Badulina.jpg, An Israeli breakfast File:The_7_Breakfasts_-_Café_Café.jpg, An Israeli breakfast with eggs, Israeli salad, bread and various accompaniments

References

External links

The Israel Breakfast- Best in the World
{{Breakfast topics Breakfast Israeli cuisine

History

Characteristics and typical dishes

Gallery

See also

References

External links