Israeli--you guessed it--food

[Amy Z]

Yael:

> You do not have good Israeli food. Believe me, I've tried. 

What =is= Israeli food?  I've been to Israel and I still don't know.  
Except for falafel, of course, which I could live on (and die happily 
of clogged arteries) but which will do nothing to advance an argument 
that Israelis eat more healthfully.

I have seldom seen an Israeli restaurant in the US--usually the key is 
to go to a "Middle Eastern" place, where the proprietors are likely to 
be Lebanese or Syrian and serve a wide range of what might loosely be 
called Middle Eastern fare, including Greek and Turkish.  There I will 
sit and eat falafel and hummus and be a very happy camper.  It's 
probably bland and inauthentic in the extreme.

The stereotypical American food is definitely unhealthful and more or 
less flavorless (unless salt is a flavor).  This is what you'll 
encounter if you go to a big public event like a ballgame, and lots of 
Americans along with any unsuspecting tourists complain about the fact 
that there's nothing healthful to eat at these events.  You just have 
to eat at home first (or sneak it in, since the evil vendors often 
have a rule that you can't bring your own food!).  But my point is 
that you can't judge a nation's food by what it sells at sporting 
events.

Amy Z