Israeli cuisine in Paris has become the gastronomic trend of the past year
As RFI notes, two restaurants (Tavline and Balagan) have already entered the Michelin guide, and new addresses are preparing to open. From street food to restaurants with more refined and developed food, Israeli cuisine with its Mediterranean soul is declaring in Paris its culinary techniques, its openness to the world, and its attitude to the table, cheerful and relaxed.
What is Israeli cuisine like?
First of all, it is young. Like Israel itself, which will turn 70 this year. Like modern Israeli chefs, who reinterpret grandmother's recipes in their own way. Over the past twenty years, Israeli cuisine has built its own identity, while it lovingly treats different cuisines of the world, whose traditions have woven into its own. And the world responds with the same love. In 2014, the American magazine Saveur named Tel Aviv the world's top gastronomic destination, Israeli cuisine restaurants are opening in New York, Madrid and London.
Moreover, it is, of course, a cuisine of fusion – of ingredients and habits from at least thirty cultures represented in Israel: traditions of immigrants from Morocco, Russia, Iraq, Hungary and other countries. Next to Polish-style beets on the table sits chicken in tahini (sesame paste), and Eastern meze coexists with lightly salted cucumber.
On the international level, the harbinger of this worldwide trend was London-based chef Yotam Ottolenghi, born in Israel. Since 2002, he has opened five addresses in the British capital and published three books, later translated into many languages.
Products
Meat and fish lovers will find their own happiness in Israeli cuisine, but first of all, it is, of course, suitable for vegetarians. Cauliflower and sweet potato, eggplant and artichokes – the combination of different vegetables is countless, but all are necessarily seasonal and local products.
Among the techniques that Israeli chefs have brought with them to Europe, one is quite unexpected for the Parisian gastronomic landscape. Vegetables are served "burnt", that is, raw but subjected to extreme temperatures for a short period.
In Paris, all products in Israeli restaurants are French, only spices are brought directly from Israel. One of the founders of the restaurant Tavline, Keren Benichou, says that every two months she brings 30 kg of spices, such as sumac or za'atar, from the famous Tel Aviv market Shuk Carmel, because "you can't find everything in France, and it's terribly expensive."
Wines, as Mireille Israel-Lang, a specialist in the cultural history of Israeli wines, says, are not always kosher, but cellars usually have a few kosher bottles, particularly at the restaurant Miznon. "Among the best wines is the Castel winery, and in particular their wine series La Vie. In Parisian restaurants you can also almost always find Gamla, a wine from the Golan Heights," she says. "The fame of Israeli wines began to grow after one of the wines received a score exceeding 90 on the Parker scale. And in 2016, the American magazine Wine Spectator devoted an entire issue to Israeli vineyards."
Paris, of course, has long been familiar with Jewish cuisine, but not with Israeli cuisine, and from a gastronomic point of view, they are not the same thing. No, Israeli cuisine does not consist solely of falafel from Rue des Rosiers, and its products are not necessarily kosher. The only exception is Miznon.
"The level of kashrut in France is much higher than in other countries," says Chloe Saada, author of the book "Paris – Tel Aviv." "So Miznon could not get a kashrut seal because its famous recipe includes cauliflower that is cooked whole. But all the rules are followed."
Olivier Bon, founder of the restaurant Balagan, who together with two classmates founded the hotel group Experimental Group, believes that Paris was ready for a new trend: "Earlier there was a fashion for Mediterranean cuisine. Europeans began to explore cuisines they didn't know very well before – the reason being, most likely, a much larger population. There was also a real wave of Middle Eastern cuisine. And in France, there has always been cuisine with similar tastes and aromas – Moroccan, Lebanese. And we must not forget that Israeli cuisine has absorbed the cuisines of so many peoples, we find in it the aromas and ingredients of all of Europe."
Currently, ten Israeli restaurants are operating in Paris. Each has its own face. "When I want tasty hummus, I go to Soum Soum; if I want to feel like I'm in Tel Aviv, then to Miznon; when I want to spend an evening with girlfriends, then to Balagan; and if I just want to eat tasty Israeli food again, then to my favorite Mulko," says Chloe Saada.