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33 Flavors at the Mahane Yehuda Market – Part II

Read part I of 33 Flavors at the Mahane Yehuda Market here

By Deena Levenstein

We walked through the seemingly secret door and up the stairs to Tali Friedman’s beautifully designed studio with a kosher state-of-the-art kitchen in the heart of Jerusalem’s flagship outdoor market. By then we had tasted no less than 19 foods and drinks throughout Mahane Yehuda, everything from a puffed pastry dish with tehini, spice and pickles (it’s better than it sounds) to natural no-added-sugar cold fruit teas.

Upstairs in the studio, we were given an overview of the 10-dish meal we were about to prepare from the freshest market ingredients. We were each given tasks and we got to work.

Yossi, Tali’s wonderful sous chef, immediately turned on invigorating up beat music and sailed around the kitchen directing us as needed.

Touring Israel - Yossi, Tali's sous chef turned on invigorating up beat music and bounced around the kitchen directing us.
Every ingredient was prepared according to the precise instructions.
Touring Israel - ...Chopped parsley the finest we'd ever chopped it (like sand, I was told)...
For example, I chopped parsley as fine as sand. Yes, that’s what Yossi requested. No, I didn’t know that was possible.
Touring Israel - cooking with tali in the mahane yehuda market june 2015 by deena levenstein (2)
Everyone enjoyed the process and felt proud of the ingredients they had prepared for the meal.
Touring Israel - ...And ended up with dozens of fresh ingredients ready to be thrown together perfectly.
When we were done, dozens of fresh ingredients were ready to be thrown together in perfect harmony.
Touring Israel - At that point Tali began to put together the dishes. Here she was preparing ceviche.
At that point Tali began to put together the dishes in front of our very eyes as she explained every step.

Each course was served as fresh as it comes. The dishes were bursting with flavors and even the pickiest young eaters among us loved the meal.

Here are a few examples of our meal:

Touring Israel - Ceviche salad
Ceviche salad with fresh radishes and mango
Touring Israel - Roasted baladi eggplant with fresh tehini concetrate and tomato
Roasted baladi eggplant with fresh tehini concentrate and tomato
Touring Israel - The most beautiful fish served in small pans with an exciting mix of vegetables and flavors
Beautiful fish served in small personal pans with an exciting mix of vegetables and herbs
Touring Israel - The apple blintze has olive oil instead of margarine and a homemade apple filling with the most delicious apples you can get.
Apple blintzes prepared by the kids with olive oil instead of margarine and a homemade apple filling.

All that food along with arak (a local alcoholic drink) and two bottles of wine – one red, one white – meant we had the most wonderful feast for the taste buds, the stomach and heart. Everyone left happy, with a sense of accomplishment and contentment.

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Author

Deena Levenstein

Deena Levenstein is a writer and social-cultural entrepreneur in Jerusalem. She creates and hosts events and runs "Things to do in Jerusalem," a Facebook group of handpicked cultural events in the city. In her spare time she blogs at http://deena.co/.

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