Feeding the soldiers: A national mission

My son Netanel, who finished the army just a few months ago in a commando unit, is, like many others, back in uniform. He is a serious foodie and was often my companion during food reviews. He’s been pretty good about calling us often, as he did last night.

“Mom, I’m fine, don’t worry, and I’m eating food from Eyal Shani,” he told me, referring to the celebrity chef famous for tomatoes and serving food on cartons.

Eyal Shani? Really?

If an army marches on its stomach, then the Israeli army is marching quite well. There has been an outpouring of donations and food reaching all corners of Israel.

“We’ve gotten restaurant food almost every single night,” he said. “In fact, it’s become such a norm that when we didn’t get it one night, some of the guys were complaining, and I had to remind them that we’re supposed to be eating canned food or army rations.”

Kashering a restaurant for IDF soldiers

One of the biggest operations has been run by a restaurant called Ha’Achim in Tel Aviv. A well-known foodie destination, it was not kosher. As soon as the war began, says Shalom Elbert, a well-known chef and partner at OCD, they removed the shrimp and other non-kosher items.

But knowing that many of the soldiers keep kosher, owners Assaf and Yotam Doktor turned to the Tel Aviv Rabbinate, which came and koshered the restaurant. Now they have become the headquarters for dozens of restaurants and chefs and are churning out 25,000 to 30,000 meals a day.

There are between 600 and 800 volunteers, says Elbert, and they have partnered with 1,000 volunteer drives from Brothers in Arms to deliver the food and coordinate the requests. Most of the food is donated by Israeli supermarkets and companies like Rami Levy, Shufersal, and Sugat.

“There were more than 300,000 reservists called up and the army wasn’t organized for it,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “It’s crazy that civilians need to take care of this, but that’s this country. People see a need and want to take care of it. I think it gives people a purpose to feel that they are giving a soldier a warm meal instead of sitting home and watching the news all day.”

An example of a recent menu was smoked rainbow trout with a spicy Thai curry, and chicken with apple curry. There were also hamburgers.

“We had really good burgers one night,” Netanel said. “I know burgers and I’ve eaten burgers all over the world, and these were excellent classic burgers on fresh buns. Someone said it was from one of the restaurants that went kosher.”

There are also smaller private operations. Motti Haim, who is the head chef of Osem Haim Professional, has been traveling around the country with a few friends and his Traeger smoker, doing barbecues for hundreds of Israeli soldiers at a time.

One day this week they were in the North, he said, serving pulled beef on a bun to hundreds of soldiers. Another day it was dark meat chicken in the South.

He told the Post that when the war began he called the army and tried to volunteer, but they said they didn’t need him. So he began this project.

“I think it makes the soldiers feel good that people are thinking about them and appreciate what they’re doing,” he said. “They left their homes, their families, and their jobs, and they are fighting for their country.”

I’m sure you’ll all wondering what was Netanel’s favorite part of the Eyal Shani meal.

“There were really good meat patties with couscous,” he said. “But my favorite part was the orange vegetable soup. I love soup and we have chicken soup every Friday night at home. So for me, soup connects me to home even though I’m so far away.”