Israeli chefs bring a taste of home to displaced Israelis

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, some 200,000 Israelis from northern and southern Israel have been evacuated from their homes and are being hosted in hotels across the country.

The Media Line visited three of those hotels, where it was immediately evident that these displaced people are yearning for home comforts – especially homemade meals.

At the Ibis, the Lady Stern, and the Herbert Samuel hotels, all in West Jerusalem, the chefs are dedicated to offering menus and meals that evoke the tastes and memories of their guests’ home cuisines.

Khalil Adila, the Lady Stern Hotel’s head chef, honed his culinary skills through the Hilton program, spending two years at the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem and an additional two years in Dublin, Ireland, before returning to Israel.

Comfort food

Adila told The Media Line that among the displaced people in the hotel are many of Moroccan Jewish descent. He said he learned to prepare their comfort meals, particularly emphasizing the significance of fish made traditionally for their Friday evening meals.

“Especially on Fridays, and according to their religion, they must eat fish,” he said. “They have a type of fish called Mizrachi fish, and we used to make it our way, but then they gave us their recipe for it, and we made it their way. The oriental sauce they use, which I use to this day, is coriander, onion, parsley, paprika, carrot, lemon, salt, and oil, and lastly, we put in tomatoes and put it in the oven to cook.”

Khalil said the guests showed heartfelt gratitude when they received their familiar dish.

“When we made the recipe for them, they ended up clapping for us, and they felt like they were home for once. You can say they were very satisfied with the meal,” he said.

Noam Nitzan, executive chef at both Ibis hotels in West Jerusalem, received his culinary education at the Dan Gourmet Chef School in Haifa and has dedicated himself to his vocation ever since.

Nitzan told The Media Line that the hotel needed to prepare three meals a day for more than 160 displaced people.

“The base includes couscous, fish balls with oriental sauce, and shawarma,” he said. “They crave a diverse array of dishes, not fixating on one item, but schnitzel, our chicken cutlets, is a consistent favorite. It undeniably stands as their go-to comfort food.”

Other displaced people not being accommodated in hotels can also obtain comfort food personally prepared by chefs from around Israel.

David Kichka, chairman of the Israeli Association for Culinary Culture and a prominent figure in the Israeli food scene, said that since the war began, the association has been collaborating with the Attilio cooking school in Or Yehuda and personal chefs in a project to bring catering and homemade meals to people who have been displaced, have suffered bereavements, or are dealing with having relatives held hostage in Gaza.

“We have this value of only buying local vegetables from the country to give people a home-cooked meal feeling. We try to be sustainable and concerned about food waste,” he said.

Anas Abu Sneineh, a chef at the Herbert Samuel Hotel who also trained at the Dan Gourmet chef school, told The Media Line that when the war broke out, hotel bookings began being canceled, leaving the hotel with surplus food supplies.

“In the first week, we had an abundance of food originally intended for customers who canceled reservations. We distributed these meals to soldiers and others in need,” Sneineh said.

Emphasizing the significance of comfort food, Kichka detailed the creation of traditional Sabbath food boxes for families.

“On Friday, just before the weekend, we make a huge box of food for Shabbat, and we bring challah bread, cholent, and a little bit of Shabbat into the home-cooked meals. We even put in a bottle of wine and a flower. It is important to bring identity into the food we give,” he said.

Lana Ikelan is a recent graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an intern in The Media Line’s Press and Policy Student Program.