Bathed by the Mediterranean, the lively Israeli city of Tel Aviv is a place of hope right from its very name, which in Hebrew means "hill of spring." It is also known as the White City, due to its more than 4,000 buildings built under the precepts of Bauhaus architecture, functional, geometric, austere and with basic colors, here softened by Mediterranean elements and in striking contrast with the skyscrapers.
This style, which emerged in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century, reached our destination in the 1930s, at the hands of Jews fleeing from the Nazis. Among the exiles were a number of German architects and designers from the Bauhaus school, and their influence spread as the new city grew.
In Tel Aviv everything is young, or very very old. It was founded in 1909, as a suburb of the more than three thousand year old port of Jaffa, in need of space for its growing population. The settlement prospered, joining Jaffa in 1950, two years after the creation of the State of Israel. Immediately, it became the focus of modernization for a country that had to be built from scratch.
Today, Tel Aviv-Jaffa is the most modern Israeli city, an oasis of tolerance in the Middle East – just ask its large LGBT community – full of possibilities for its 430,000 inhabitants, and an increasingly appreciated tourist destination, among other things for its lively street life, of which its bustling markets are an important part.
The Carmel market (Shuk HaCarmel in Hebrew) is open every day, except for the Sabbath (Saturday), the traditional day of rest for the Jews. It is the largest in Tel Aviv, and in recent years it has grown a lot; There is no longer just room for food, you can buy affordable clothing, flowers, household items, souvenirs, handicrafts, antiques, gourmet products and many other things. Like almost everything in this city spread out parallel to the sea, it is located a step away from the beach, which the people of Telaviví use to play sports, walk and meet friends.
You have to wander through this open-air market with your eyes, ears and nose wide open: the colours, aromas and the chatter of customers and vendors make up a scene through which Orthodox Jews unfamiliar with the modernities of the locality and the variety of its people, comparable to that of any Mediterranean European city.
Leading local chefs fish at their stalls, and it smells of freshly baked bread, burekas (triangular cakes made with filo pastry or puff pastry, filled with cheese, vegetables, or whatever you can think of), pickles, fresh seafood, and spices, many, some unknown to outsiders.
It is the perfect gateway to the magnificent variety of Israeli cuisine, an amalgamation of Arab, Jewish, Mediterranean, Balkan, Turkish and even Spanish products and recipes – let us remember the Sephardim – or from Central Europe, from where so many fled Hitler with put it.
In the Carmel market it is common to eat and drink while walking, or stationed in any corner, with your eyes jumping from one stall to another. That's why fresh juices triumph (watch out for the one from Granada); the falafel; the prodigious hummus, in different variants; the kebabs, or sandwiches like the sabij, from Iraq and essential in the country's street food.
It always includes pita bread, fried eggplant, and tahini, a paste made with ground sesame seeds. From then on, everyone uses their formula: some add salad with cabbage; others, zhug, a spicy sauce of Yemeni origin; those from beyond, hummus, or the classic Israeli tomato, cucumber and parsley salad. Tasty in any version, and suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
In this bazaar of flavors we also find places where you can eat sitting down, more calmly. And in the nearby streets, bars and restaurants have proliferated, in the wake of the tourist attraction that Carmel has become. Wherever it is, you should not miss trying a few very local dishes.
Here is a sample trio: shakshuka, poached eggs on a base of tomato, onion, garlic and various spices. The mujaddara, a side dish that is eaten hot or cold and consists of a base of lentils and bulgur wheat or rice, seasoned with fried onion and olive oil. And the jraime, which is made with fish cooked in a tomato sauce, garlic, oil and spices. It is very typical to eat it on the sabbat.
The side alleys of the market are a continuum of bars and restaurants with terraces, and cafes from which to watch the bustle of life go by, recommended to start the day with a powerful breakfast and an eye full of stimuli. In Israeli confectionery –as in the rest of its gastronomy– we can trace Lebanese, Iraqi, Yemeni, Turkish and Mediterranean traces, among others.
Halva is a sweet dough similar to nougat, in which sesame paste plays a leading role. As in the case of the Spanish Christmas cake, numerous ingredients can be added, among which pistachio occupies a leading role. Something cloying, it is not to be eaten in large quantities.
