Israeli Soul

This deeply affectionate tribute to Israeli street food, neighborhood restaurant fare, and outdoor cooking enthusiastically embraces the nearly staggering array of intersecting culinary influences at work in the country. It also celebrates the cooks who work in crowded markets, on bustling sidewalks, or oceanside at the beach. You'll find recipes here for falafel, hummus, and pita bread; for shawarma, schnitzel, and pilaf; and for salads from Morocco, Turkey, and Libya. Many of the recipes are notably informal, which is fitting given just how much variation there is between cooks in Israel—and how much intuition experienced cooks bring to their work: if the mint is a little weak, they add some more, or favor cilantro that day.

And if your experience of Israeli food has been limited to what gets marketed in the United States, then you'll find a real adventure here in the like of ground veal grilled on cinnamon sticks, Libyan squash salad with lemon and paprika, and Druze mountain bread. Important books about national cuisines provide an undeniable sense of place, and that is just what Israeli Soul does.

Hardcover. Color throughout.