Michelle Bowman, ARC/GNY Assistant Director of Training and Logistics, writes about her historic trip to Israel to work as an MDA Ambulance Responder.

After returning from northern Israel, we expected to start work immediately, but there was a slight delay with our uniforms. Therefore, we had two final days to enjoy the city before starting full-time work. The four of us finally had time to run errands, get some exercise, and see some of the sights in Jerusalem without worrying about studying. We also had time to fully embrace Israeli cuisine.

Any discussion of Israeli cuisine in my opinion has to start with cafes, as they play a rather prominent role in life here. Cafes have become our destination of choice for reading, lounging, using the Internet, and many meals. For those of us used to a Starbucks-dominated café scene, it is refreshing to be in a country that boasts a diversity of high-quality cafes. Cafes here are slightly more comprehensive than most in the US; they generally have table service and indoor/outdoor seating, and almost all serve full meals in addition to beverages. One of my favorite meals has become the Bulgari Salad (a large bowl of salad covered with fried chunks of white Bulgarian cheese and a side of scrumptious bread). Yet nobody seems to mind when I set up my laptop at a table, order one cup of tea, and sit for two hours. Cafes are relaxed, friendly and inviting; this is one area where New York definitely could learn some lessons.

Of course, sitting in a café does bring up the omnipresent worries about terrorism. We were recently having dinner at Café Hillel when someone in the group asked casually, "Isn't this the café that was bombed a few years ago?” Maybe it is, but like most Israelis we have quickly learned that you can"t live your life in fear. Therefore, in our days off we spent hours sitting at a café, enjoying the scene.

Although café food is delicious, we have also tried to sample some of the other cuisine options. As we were told before departing, Israel has a wide variety of cuisines available, but a few are more prominent than others. In Jerusalem, the vast majority of the restaurants are kosher, meaning that they serve either dairy or meat (but not both together) and they do not serve pork or shellfish. There are a few additional restrictions that I have yet to fully understand (some dishes have to be prepared under rabbinical supervision) but these are the rules that have the greatest impact on our culinary options.

Therefore, seemingly familiar food takes on a distinctly Israeli twist. Israel has a lot of Italian food, but the dishes have either meat or dairy/cream sauce. We can stop by Big Apple Pizza, but we won’t find a slice of pepperoni; it’s all vegetarian. The sandwich shops offer an amazing variety of choices, including lots of eggplant, tomatoes, and cucumbers, but you can’t get a ham and cheese sandwich. One restaurant right downtown has two sections—a meat section and a dairy section—divided by a large wall. Even McDonald’s doesn’t serve cheeseburgers in Israel.

The vast majority of the time, this allows us to enjoy the new and interesting food combinations based on kosher guidelines. I never knew there could be so many types of vegetarian sandwiches. However, for those of us who do not observe kosher dietary restrictions, we are sometimes tempted to break the rules. Therefore, we have discovered at least two restaurants in Jerusalem—a Chinese restaurant and a Korean restaurant—where you can find pork and shellfish.

We have also discovered a variety of interesting snack foods. Israelis have two local snacks that rival Americans’ love of potato chips—Bissli and Bamba. Bissli is a crispy, salty snack that comes in a variety of sizes and flavors. Originally our favorites were the grill-flavored corkscrews and the falafel-flavored shreds. However, after living off nothing but Bissli during our long car ride up north, we have sworn off the snack (at least for a couple of days). We haven’t taken so well to the other Israeli favorite, Bamba, which can best be described as a peanut flavored Cheetos. Francis bought a bag and was kind enough to share it with the group. Kathryn and Paul tried one bite and refused to eat it ever again. Francis and I tried a couple of pieces and decided it was an acquired taste: horrible initially, but then not that bad. However, I don’t think I’ll be buying another bag another time soon.

Although we have been attempting to try the full diversity of Israel foods, our favorites have to be the traditional Middle Eastern stand-bys, falafel and shwarma. For ten shekels you can get an enormous pita bread filled with piping hot falafel or shwarma and your choice of toppings including hummus, tahini, French fries, and a variety of salads; it can’t be beat. So far, King Shwarama and Falafel is our favorite, but I’m sure the competition will be stiff after eight weeks of eating out in Jerusalem.