Jerusalem on a Plate

HE SHOUTS

This is Jerusalem, my home town.

The cradle of three faiths, and the heart of two nations.

Founded over 3,000 years ago, and repeatedly invaded and conquered,

Jerusalem has always been a city of immigrants.

This is where Muslim, Christian and my own Jewish cultures collide,

creating a melting pot of people unique in the world.

The food of Jerusalem is a perfect expression of this mish-mash of cultures,

and has produced tastes and sensations that have stayed with me and inspired me to cook.

This is za'atar.

This is, sort of, almost the reason for my name in the world is za'atar,

because I use it, not in this format, but as a powder, as a spice,

all the time, and just to arrive here and get this sort of whiff

of very, very herby, it's like oregano and thyme mixed together,

but there's something much more to it.

That's the smell of Jerusalem.

So good.

'I left Jerusalem nearly 20 years ago,

'and now create food in London with Sami Tamimi,

'a Palestinian chef who also grew up in Jerusalem.'

The food we serve together now draws inspiration

from our shared childhood memories of the city.

'I'm coming back to Jerusalem to see what's happening here.

'There's a real food revolution going on,

'and I want to understand where it's coming from,

'what people are cooking, and cook with them.'

-Beautiful.

-Yeah.

'I also want to brush up my palate and seek fresh inspiration.

'Maybe find some new ingredients and techniques.

'And with luck, come back with some wonderful recipes and new ideas.'

'To understand the unique significance of food in Jerusalem,

'you need to start with the food that everyone eats - street food.'

'Although I was born in the Jewish west of the city,

'I have come to one of my favourite haunts as a kid in East Jerusalem,

'the Arab area just outside the walls of the Old City.'

I haven't had this in years.

-Sahlab.

-Sahlab.

-What is it?

-Milk and...

-Cornflour.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

And what do you put on top?

Cinnamon, ginger.

Walnuts.

-Coconut.

-Yeah.

-Many people like this?

-Yeah.

-It's popular?

-In the cold.

I used to come here with my friends when I was a teenager,

it was, sort of, a little bit of an adventure, because it's outside our comfort zone,

it's in East Jerusalem.

We used to come in the evenings, on Friday nights, when it's really cold, and get it.

It's really funny, because I would never assume -

in England, kids this age would go and get drunk,

but we used to have something so innocent as milk thickened with some rosewater.

We used to stand here and drink that.

Maybe have a cigarette or two.

Just to be naughty, but it actually is really, really nice.

'The best-asked food in Jerusalem, found on every street corner,

'is falafel,

'these ubiquitous little balls of deep-fried, crushed chickpeas.'

Can I have one?

Everything, thank you.

'Falafel was one of my favourite things as a kid.

'I used to buy it after school and walk home

'with the tahini dripping through my fingers.'

-How much is it?

-Six shekels.

Thank you.

It's funny, because now you see it on fancy menus in restaurants.

Versions of falafel, falafel of this, falafel of that,

but actually, all it is is crushed chickpeas.

But it's definitely part of the DNA of everyone that grows up here,

it's what you eat when you're out and about,

it's the typical street food of Jerusalem.

When Israel was formed, you know, when it started to build up as a nation,

there was really no sense of any sort of indigenous food that fits this climate,

and very early on, they needed to adopt something that is hearty

and they can feed themselves on, and falafel, funnily enough, you know, although it was an Arab food,

turned to be the first thing those Jewish immigrants grabbed.

'As well as forming the basis for falafel,

'the humble chickpea is also at the heart of hummus.

'Of all the Arabic foods that Israelis have made their own,

'this simple blend of chickpeas, garlic and sesame paste

'has become the Israeli national dish.

'I've come to a typical Palestinian hummus restaurant,

'here in the east of the city, to taste the Arabic version.'

So this type of hummus, you've been doing here for many years?

-More than 50 years.

-More than 50 years.

And do you find that the Israelis like different hummus than Arabs?

They know, like, this is, like, "our hummus." And they know we are talking about something...

-From their point of view it's called hummus, but it's not really hummus.

-Why's that?

Because they've discovered the real taste of the original hummus.

I can definitely see what you mean about this being very different.

Because, all the lemon juice, it's very sharp.

It's really, really, really nice.

And do you feel like, you know, with the Jewish people who come here,

there is a sense that they take the Arab food and turn it into their own food?

That's very funny...

THEY LAUGH

You don't want to get into the political explanation.

They took the whole land, and now you're talking about a dish!

'I grew up in the city, so it's no surprise to me

'that even something as simple as hummus can easily become political.

'I've always been fascinated by the tradition of food here,

'and the Old City is bursting with it.

'Within these walls, the city is divided into four quarters -

'Jewish, Muslim, Armenian and Christian.

'But it's the traditional Palestinian food in the Muslim quarter

'that I really love.

'To really understand the traditions that shape that food,

'I want to go behind closed doors,

'meet the Palestinian people that make it, and see them at work.'

-You bake all this beautiful stuff?

-Yeah.

-Every day?

-Every day.

I have a soft spot for pastries, because I can make myself, too,

-but I don't know if I can make it like you.

-In London?

-In London.

This is good.

Very, very nice.

-This pita...

-Yeah.

-..is very traditional Palestinian pita.

-Yeah...

-Is it...

-Uh... From Jerusalem, you know?

-Yeah.

-It's the best one.

-What's that?

-That's safiha.

-There's surprises everywhere.

-Safiha.

-Safiha.

-Yeah. Lebanese.

Meat, onion and tomato, and meat, onion and tahina also.

-And who buys this? Palestinians or tourists?

-Everybody.

-Everybody.

So you have everything going on here.

-You've got the Jews, you sell them what they want.

-Yeah.

-You've got the Christians, you sell them their Easter products.

-Yeah.

-And the Muslims, they buy whatever they...

-Yeah. It is not different.

-To me, and for him, and for everybody.

-Yeah.

Tell me, how did you become a baker?

-My father.

-Your father.

-My father before me.

-He was a baker?

-Yeah.

-He worked here?

About 35 years.

You have children?

-I have children.

-You think they're going to come to work here?

I like... I hope.

-This is the safiha with the...

-Tahina.

-Tahini.

Tahina and lemon.

-Thank you.

-Have a try.

HE GASPS

THEY LAUGH

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

I like this.

You know why?

-Why?

-Because you can taste everything.

-Yeah.

-You can taste the onion...

-Yeah, yeah.

-You can taste the meat...

-Yeah. Everything.

-And here you just taste the tomato paste.

-Yeah.

HE LAUGHS

-You get all the flavour.

-That's right.

This bakery is like no bakery I've ever been to.

It's... With the sort of ramshackle buildings with layers of history on the walls, you know,

we are underground, things could have happened here ages ago.

It's really remarkable,

because the stuff that comes out is really the real things people eat here,

it's not, you know, fancy stuff we get in London.

This is like people's food.

Which is really what this place is all about, you know,

when you go to the Old City.

It's not foodies' world, it's the world of the people

who live in the Old City and eat these things.

'A perfect example of this, that you literally see everywhere,

'is the bright red kanafeh, made from shredded filo or semolina

'and sheep's cheese, topped with pistachios and sugar syrup.

'I've always had a love-hate relationship

'with this Arabic dessert, but it's so popular here,

'it feels like a real national institution.'

-Everybody loves it here, right?

-Yes.

Yeah? You've got families coming and going, and children...

-This is the favourite Palestinian dish?

-Yes.

-Like it?

-I like it.

I like it, and I don't like it.

-Why?

-Because, for me, the flavour of the cheese is very strong.

This place, Ja'far, is very famous for the kanafeh.

And everybody comes here.

For me it's quite hard, because it's almost like eating meat,

because the flavour of the sheep's cheese is very, very strong,

so, I mean, the syrup is sort of diluted a bit,

but it's still very, very sheepy, it's almost like eating mutton.

Ah, the syrup. Six spoons.

-Seven.

-Seven? This is for you.

HE LAUGHS

I can't eat any more. Believe me.

-This is the stuff.

-Oh, wow. This is nice.

-This is for you also.

-Thank you.

HE LAUGHS

This is my stupid face.

HE CHUCKLES

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

'The owner was so proud of his kanafeh,

'he wanted to show me how they make it.'

This recipe is an old recipe from many generations?

-This is 60 years old.

-It's from your father?

Grandfather, father, and we have our children.

That's four generations now.

-To make this here?

-Yes.

-This is the national dessert.

-The Palestinian national dessert.

-Yeah.

-Kanafeh everywhere.

-Everywhere.

-Even Israelis, they love it.

-I know, I heard!

HE LAUGHS

-They like it.

-They come from Tel Aviv, all over...

-To buy your kanafeh.

-To buy our kanafeh.

-Like falafel, like hummus, it's kanafeh.

-Kanafeh.

'Someone who shares my fascination with traditional food is Sherry Ansky,

'a Jewish food writer and author of the most respected book on Jerusalem food.

'Having lived in the city all her life,

'Sherry knows places I could never find on my own.'

Mr Zalatimo!

'In his shop, that felt like a kind of underground cave,

Mr Zalatimo serves just the one dish.'

How many years has he been cooking those things?

HE SPEAKS ARABIC

His grandfather used to make it, but basically it goes back 150 years,

from his great-grandfather to him today.

-Exactly.

-And he's got all this knowledge in his hands...

-Yes.

-And in his head.

-Exactly.

Look at this pastry. I think the secret is that it's like silk.

Basically, it's like a sourdough.

'I knew I was lucky to witness such a perfect example of tradition at work.

'Pastry worked by hand this thin should be utterly delicious.'

Wow.

'It seemed as though a skill like this

'could only be passed down from one generation to another.'

He's like a dancer.

The whole body moves with the pastry.

You can see the marble through the pastry.

'It's just a simple folded pastry,

'filled with sheep's cheese and brushed with clarified butter.

'But it's considered such a unique delicacy

'that round here it's known simply as a "Zalatimo."

'While we were waiting for our food to cook,

'in a room adjoining Zalatimo's shop, Sherry wanted to show me something.'

Look. You can see the way Jerusalem is built.

-All the layers, the history.

-All the layers.

Because the city always goes up and up and up, they built on the ruins of the previous time, right?

-Yes.

-So this would be 1,000 years under the street.

We are on Golgotha Hill, and that's the place of the original church.

Where Jesus's tomb is?

There is no doubt that he was walking here.

HE LAUGHS

'After a few minutes in the oven, the Zalatimo is ready.

'It's simply finished off with sugar syrup and icing sugar.'

Aah.

Oh, my God.

You know, it smells so good.

Oh!

I've really never had anything like that.

-Never?

-Never. You cannot recreate this.

It's really good.

You didn't get yours yet.

We will wait. It takes time!

So you've been coming here for a while?

Oh, from when I was a little kid.

I always came with my mum and my dad,

and when I was married, I came with my husband,

-and my kids, they are...

-Ah!

-..also with me.

But not many people know about Zalatimo.

-Here in Palestine, everybody knows about him.

-Everybody knows.

-Yeah.

-So when you were a little girl, he was cooking it for you?

-Yeah, yeah.

At the same place, the same walls, everything is the same.

-Do you cook a lot at home?

-Yes, of course.

-What do you make?

-Every Thursday, a traditional Arab food.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Do you think maybe you can teach us something?

What do you think?

THEY SPEAK ARABIC

-OK, I will give you my number.

-Yeah?

You can call me, and we can arrange it.

'The prospect of going to see traditional cooking in a Palestinian home

'was really exciting.

'All the traditions I was finding here in the Old City

'seemed to be kept alive within families,

'and passed on from one generation to the next.'

Oh, my God.

'Even the spice shops seem unchanged.

'I remember seeing these pyramids as a kid.

'They're made from the powdered form of za'atar.

'On the little steps are sesame seeds,

'and the purple spice sumac, made from berries.

'These are then sold together to make a wonderful spice mix,

'also known as za'atar, which I use all the time.

So I will tell you what is the difference

between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The reason we love za'atar, the reason we love hummus,

is because it stayed so good that we are taking it to be ours.

-Yes.

-But the old secret is that they are doing it the same way.

They don't change the recipe of their father.

That's their honour.

And we are always changing the recipes

of our mothers and grandfathers.

-We always think we can do better.

-We always think we can do better.

'There's certainly some truth in what Sherry's saying.

'But I'm also aware that there are very strong traditions in Jewish food.

'The question is, why don't we feel bound by them in the same way?

'To answer this, I need to come to the west of Jerusalem,

'to the Jewish area outside the walls of the Old City.

'Here, there's always been a complex mix of cultures.

'But this soup of people thickened dramatically in 1948,

'after Israel was created.

'Entire Jewish communities were transplanted from all over the Diaspora.

'Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe and Russia

'brought a taste for gefilte fish and goulash,

'while the Sephardi Jews from the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans

'brought a taste for herbs and exotic spices.

'Now, most of the people here have parents and grandparents

'drawn from the four corners of the world,

'all with entirely different culinary traditions.

'I've come here to meet a friend of mine, Anat.

'She's a passionate cook, and she wants to show me

'one of her favourite restaurants in West Jerusalem.

'Called Azura, it's been serving traditional food

'for nearly 60 years.

'But recently, their classic Sephardic dishes

'have begun to appeal to younger Jerusalemites.'

-You know this place?

-Of course.

-You come here?

-Every two weeks.

-Every two weeks?

-Yes, with all my family.

'The chef, Elran, comes from a Sephardic family of Jewish Kurds.

'He's famous for his kubbeh,

'a sort of meat-stuffed dumpling cooked in a soup.'

Wow.

This is kubbeh hamusta. This is a Kurdish soup.

If there is, like, a Jerusalem dish, this is a Jerusalem dish.

This is your typical... Everybody eats this, especially on a Friday, right?

Yes.

Everything comes from a different Jewish community.

This would be the Kurdish stuff, this is Yemenite,

-this is sort of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestinian...

-Yes.

And, you know, the tahini is very local.

-When we were growing up, we were not interested in that.

-No.

We wanted to eat, like, pasta and French food and American food, no?

-Yes.

-I think so.

The Americanised food came when you were young,

I was a little bit, uh...

SHE LAUGHS ..older.

But right now, all the young people like the traditional food,

-and it is like reviving...

-A revival.

Revival of these tastes.

Like, years before, they were trying to say, "OK, this is not our culture..."

-Exactly.

-And now they're claiming back their country.

You have to speak with my mother. She is from Hungary.

She can't stand...

65 years in Israel,

she's insulted when my children like this type of food

and not her type of food.

-Which is goulash?

-Yeah, goulash, and all kinds of...

Eastern European stuff.

I will ask her, "Come with us to eat here," she will never come.

They start work incredibly early at the Azura because most of

the dishes are slow-cooked for hours over traditional oil-burning stoves.

I've tried many times to make kubbeh like Elron

and never got it right.

Hi, Elron. 'So, I've persuaded him to show me how he does it.'

It's early in the morning, but I'm here.

-What time did you start?

-Four.

-Four o'clock?

-So, you're here one hour already, I'm late.

-Yeah, a little.

When I arrive, Elron's Palestinian sous-chef, Bassam,

is finishing making meatballs.

-So, what's this he's mixing?

-It's a secret, you know.

Just... So, tell me some of the things.

If I married your sister or something, we'd be family,

then I can tell you what I put inside.

OK, I'll talk to my sister and see what she says.

She might leave her husband for you!

'When I had made the kubbeh before,

'it was the dough that I'd always failed to perfect.'

Basically, it's semolina and crushed wheat that's mixed

with some beef fat just to give it some richness.

You know, you're adding more and more semolina, it gets harder,

and I don't think we let it go to this stage

when I was trying in London.

It was very hard to shape them to the shape that you wanted.

But I think if it goes as hard as this,

maybe it's possible? I don't know, we'll see in a second.

-Are you happy?

-Yeah.

This is the sort of thing you don't know until you actually

work with someone who knows with their hands to feel it.

-It's good?

-Yeah.

-It's perfect.

OK, next... So, this is the bottom of every kubbeh.

So, we've got minced beef, paprika, tomato, onion, pine nuts,

and that's it.

Yeah, it does look really rich. It's almost glistening from the tomato.

It's beautiful.

-Then, you seal the sides with the...

-Cup.

-Shall I put it in?

This is a Kurdish kubbeh.

So, Kurdish Jews brought it with them from Kurdistan

when they came here?

Turkish Jewish. The soups.

I think only the Jewish make it.

For this version of the dish, the giant kubbeh are served

in a traditional soup made with chickpeas and spices.

This is turmeric. Not a lot.

Flaked chilli.

Coarse salt.

-This is a Yemenite spice mix, right?

-Yeah.

-Can you tell me a few things we have there?

-Cumin.

-Cumin.

-Black pepper.

-Black pepper.

-Yeah. And...

-Eh?

Mainly it's turmeric and cumin. Maybe some curry, yeah.

It's nice, huh? So, this is the chicken stock.

-OK, so, we take the kubbehs we made.

-Yeah.

And you throw it in.

HE SPEAKS IN NATIVE TONGUE

Now, this is the...

So, you want it to boil so hard like that because then it goes thick?

Yeah.

Then, do you put a lot of soup or just a little bit of soup?

Some people like it with soup and some people like it like this.

Just a little bit of paprika, some chickpeas.

HE SPEAKS IN NATIVE TONGUE

OK.

This is a nice one.

-Beautiful!

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-You like it?

-I love it.

-You did a good job.

-Absolutely.

Elron's cooking is proof that traditions in Jewish food

are just as strong as those that are found among the Palestinians

in the Old City. But there is a crucial difference.

Just a ten-minute walk from Azura,

Cafe Kadosh feels like a little slice of Europe.

But the tradition here has Ashkenazi roots from a completely

different part of the world.

Cafe Kadosh has been serving the best Viennese pastries

in Jerusalem for over 40 years.

But all is not quite what it seems.

The owner, his Itzik's father, who started the patisserie in 1967,

is not Ashkenazi at all, but from a Sephardi family,

who've lived in Jerusalem for generations.

Tell me about your father, was he born in Jerusalem?

He was seventh generation in Jerusalem.

-And he was born in Machane Yehuda.

-Ah, where the market is.

-Yeah.

Originally, they came from Spain, but they went through Morocco

-because...

-They were expelled from Spain.

-They went through Morocco and ended up in Jerusalem.

-Yeah, in Jerusalem.

-And your mother?

-No, my mother is something else.

-She was born not in Israel, but in Yemen.

-She's Yemenite.

-Yemenite.

When she was a half a year old, she came to Israel.

My father spoke like, six languages. He spoke Yiddish...

Like, if you spoke with him, you thought, like, he's Ashkenazi.

They grew up in a yard. They call it chatzerot.

Yeah, a little courtyard, where they used to eat challah, hamin.

Yeah, everybody was together, so they learned from each other.

The Sephardi learn from Ashkenazi a few things, dishes.

The thing was, like, mixed together.

So it would be quite natural for your father, who was Sephardi,

seventh generation, to associate with the Ashkenazi

and learn all the things that are really not from his old tradition,

but, like, from the new tradition, from Jerusalem.

Of all Itzik's pastries,

it was his Kranz cake I was really interested in.

It's a hugely popular traditional cake

that can be plaited into different shapes with a variety of fillings.

Jerusalemites are addicted to it.

-This is completely new to me.

-This one?

Yeah. I have tried making the Kranz cakes at home,

but nothing like this.

-They're really better...

-I'm curious to see how it works.

This is cheese.

-This is a cheese Kranz.

-Yeah.

This is one of our specialities here because the cheese is the most

selling cake here on Saturday and Friday.

Oh, wow.

So it's very, very typical to the rituals of Friday

-and Saturday here, in Jerusalem.

-Yeah.

OK. This is the bit that I really didn't have a clue about.

-Shall I do one?

-Yeah.

-So...

You have to close it real good, so there's nothing that's going

to come out, because I put in the oven and everything will grow up.

So, I have to close it very good.

-Do I do it OK?

-Yeah. Try that there's not going to be holes.

I am definitely not getting this right.

Ah, you start really, quite... No.

-Sometimes, you see, you put two.

-OK.

It doesn't matter.

You can definitely see the difference between yours and mine.

You can.

-This is poppy seed.

-OK.

-This is something that my father used to do also.

-I'm sorry about that.

-No, it's very good.

-It's not.

Cafe Kadosh is a perfect example of what I love about this city.

The fact that the Sephardi family could end up perfecting

the European art of Viennese pastries feels like something

that could only happen in Jerusalem.

'My friend Anat strikes me as someone who typifies this

'particular Jewish Jerusalem mix...' Hello. '..with her Viennese mother and Moroccan husband.'

I want to see what ingredients she plays with,

in particular, a dish she once made for me with whole wheat,

Swiss chard and pomegranate molasses.

I've never been able to get it out of my head

and I want her to show me how to make it.

So, you take one glass of wheat.

I better write it down.

-Pomegranate molasses, this beautiful liquid.

-Concentrated.

It's pomegranate juice that's been concentrated and caramelized

and turned into a very sharp and sweet syrup.

-Leeks.

-Like this.

-Not too chefy.

-SHE LAUGHS

I'm not a chef, I'm just a housewife, you know.

-Yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought.

-When I feel like it.

That's what I thought.

So, the leek goes with the butter and the oil.

-Now you take the...

-Swiss chard.

Yes.

I see you separate the stalks from the leaves.

Because this has to be approximately with the leeks

and the green leaves will come a little bit later.

-Because they don't take so long to cook.

-Yes.

-It's a good pot for this.

-Yeah.

I'm going to put the wheat

-after I cook with green leaves.

-Hm.

And now the fun part starts.

-OK.

-When you put the pomegranate.

I'm trying to estimate how much pomegranate molasses you've got.

-I say two tablespoons, something like that.

-No, I...

-More?

-Look...

-Maybe more like five tablespoons.

-I am very...

-You're very generous.

-Generous. Very. And then I put a little bit brown.

-Brown sugar.

-And now you're going to give me...

-One cup of stock.

-Two!

-White pepper.

-White pepper, very little. Just for the aroma of it.

And that's it. Now you can cook it till the pomegranate and the sugar...

-Start to caramelise?

-Yeah, exactly.

-A-ha.

And that leaves the wheat to cook for just over an hour

until most of the stock is absorbed.

-OK, you want to see if it is ready?

-Yeah.

When you see, it is brown under.

-It, like, starts to stick and it caramelises.

-Yeah.

-That's what is tasteful. The brown caramel.

-Wow.

-Good? It's good?

-It's quite crunchy.

Yeah, and it is not, erm, sour enough.

-I tasted a little bit.

-Not sour enough, no.

-So, you can put more of this.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-I think you put about half a bottle already.

-Yeah.

Pomegranate molasses is also another ingredient

that people use non-stop here.

I think the Lebanese Jewish kitchen uses it.

-Uses that pomegranate molasses?

-Yeah.

-And because I always get it in Lebanese shops in London.

-Yeah.

Mmm.

-Wow. This is really nice.

-This, I like.

-This is the way you like it?

-I like sour.

Mmm. I had this dish the first time when I came to Anat, here.

I immediately felt those flavours that are typical Jerusalem flavours.

It's so sharp and sweet,

and both from the pomegranate molasses but also from chard,

and this dish, although it doesn't have a name

or it doesn't have a very specific background,

it is completely the flavours of Jerusalem

and that's what I love about it.

I want to publish your recipe in my next book about Jerusalem.

How much do you want to pay me for it?

Er, I give you a little credit, "Thank you to Anat."

Can I eat with this?

THEY LAUGH

Are you hungry?

-But you are hungry?

-Anat?

-Do you think I can ask your mother about what she likes in food?

-Yes.

Yotam wants to ask you something.

I want to ask you about the food that you like the most.

I like goulash, Hungary.

-You're from Hungaria?

-Yes, yes.

And paprikash, all this...

-Wiener schnitzel.

-Wiener schnitzel, yes.

I am from Vienna, from Austria.

And after the Germans came to Austria,

we escaped to Hungaria, yeah? Yeah.

And my family cooked just Hungarian.

But the falafel and all this oriental... I cannot eat.

-Your son-in-law is from...

-Yeah, and the family... And his family.

-They're Moroccan.

-Yeah, Moroccan, yeah.

Do you like Moroccan food, now?

Er... Not... Not...

SHE LAUGHS

-Still not 100 per cent.

-Yes, yes, yes.

'Anat's cooking is inspirational.

'She's not constrained by any particular tradition.

'She takes ingredients and flavours from a range of different Jewish and Arabic cultures

'and creates something entirely new, but entirely Jerusalem.

'I still have an appointment to keep in At-Tur,

'a suburb on the eastern edge of the city.

'I'm on my way to see Ruba,

'the Palestinian woman I met at Zalatimo's.'

I'm going deeper and deeper into a part of Jerusalem

that I've never, ever, ever been to before.

This is a very Muslim part of the city,

and, you know, growing up, there was actually no interaction. You know, it was us and them.

The only places we did interact was in restaurants or cafes

or bakeries in the Old City,

but I've never been to a Palestinian house before.

Because of history, because of the recent history

and the animosity and the hatred

and even if I don't know where I'm going, I never feel...

By definition, I never feel welcome.

You know, you're almost scared for your life

because there's all these years of images of hatred and wars etc,

that when you actually go there...

Rationally, I know it's completely safe,

but emotionally, it feels slightly terrifying.

There she is. Hi.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-I'm fine, thank you.

-Hello, nice to meet you.

-This is Fareed.

-Welcome.

-Nice to meet you. Hi.

-This is my sister-in-law.

Wow.

What do we see there in the horizon? That's...

-At-Tur.

-At-Tur?

-Yeah, it's all At-Tur.

-All At-Tur, here?

-Yeah.

-There's no Jewish people living around here.

-I don't think so, no.

-This is a completely Muslim area.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-So, who's cooking for us today?

-Today, my mother-in-law is cooking for you.

I want her to cook for you because she is the perfect cooker, I know.

I want to learn something to do with my hands.

You can do the sweet with her, because you are a sweet chef.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a pastry chef.

Maybe you will take it to London and make it.

-I want to take something with me.

-OK.

So, everything she wants, I will do.

SHE SPEAKS IN HER NATIVE DIALECT

So, all the food that you're cooking today

is from your mother or grandmother?

She taught it from her father, who's dead now.

-She... Yeah.

-My father.

-Told you how to make kulaj?

-Yeah.

-Wow.

-And she's the only one from his daughter and son...

-Who knows.

-..who knows how to do it.

-So, the family secret went to...

-Went with her.

-Ah!

-So, this pastry is called kulaj?

-Yes.

-And it's like a very, very, very thin pita or flatbread.

-Yes.

So, I can smell the butter already.

-And this is sheep's cheese?

-Yes.

Fareed's saying we have to know which area you did!

THEY LAUGH

I'm sure you will!

I'm sure you will.

Sami's going to be very excited when I tell him that I made kulaj.

I'm sure he knows it.

You put the cheese, I'll put the nuts.

-So, it's like a big pie?

-Yeah.

-I finally understand what I'm doing.

Finally!

Because before, I didn't know what I...

-I don't know where we were going!

-You have to learn, so you will wait and learn.

I know, I need patience, that's what you're telling me. You're right.

So, everybody here is from Jerusalem, or where do...?

All the people in the house?

We are from a village called Kalunya. It's near Jerusalem.

-Were they also living there in Palestine many, many generations...?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Forever.

-Yes, forever.

-They had to leave in 1948?

Yes and my family went to Bethlehem.

Uh-huh. Do you ever go to restaurants?

-Yes, of course.

-You go alone?

-Yes.

In Jerusalem?

Eh, sometimes in Jerusalem, sometimes Ramallah and Bethlehem.

-You ever go to Tel Aviv?

-No, never.

-No?

We go to Jaffa to Tel Aviv to the sea,

-but we don't go to restaurants.

-In Tel Aviv?

-No.

-Because you don't feel welcome?

-No. No, not like this.

No. We don't know the food, really.

And they... They will... All of them will stare at you.

-You will feel...

-Yeah.

-So, we go to Arab food, Arab restaurants. It's OK.

-No. Well, it's fine.

-Do you want to see the kulaj?

-I have to see the kulaj.

-Ah, it starts to get coloured.

-Yes.

'Ruba's mother-in-law had prepared the main course earlier.

'A traditional Palestinian dish called maftoul -

'a giant couscous, served with chicken and lamb.'

Erm, Rami? This is very good. Yeah.

I like it because you can really taste the...

All the spices.

-So, this is, like, your Friday night meal?

-Yes.

Very, very nice.

-We will eat the kulaj.

-I can say I had some part in this.

Yeah.

Thank you. I will start with the cheese.

Oh, my God, this is so good.

-I eat the nuts, always.

-You always eat the nuts?

-I think we like the same food, Ruba.

-I think so!

'I was very touched by the warm welcome from Ruba and her family.

'I had now seen examples of home cooking

'in both Jewish and Palestinian households.

'But ten miles outside Jerusalem, in the Judaean Hills,

'there is a restaurant run by a couple who transcend the religious

'and cultural divide.

'In the small Arab village of Ein Rafa,

'a Jewish woman and a Palestinian man

'have opened a restaurant in their home.

'Yaakov takes care of front-of-house

'and his Jewish wife, Michal, is the chef.'

So, you're the only Jewish in this Arab village?

Yeah, and I'm still Jewish.

SHE LAUGHS

-Yaakov's family is from here.

-Yes, all the family.

And I ask if I can use the land for parking and...

The restaurant was a bit noisy. They said, "Of course."

Everybody came, they give me present and say,

"Good luck, succeed, we'll help you any time."

And it was a good, you know, push.

-So, he's the ambassador and you make the food.

-Yeah.

-That's a good combination.

-I do what she wants.

THEY LAUGH

So, you have the Arab food?

-They want us to cook Arab food.

-You know, we start...

-Who is they? Your customers?

Yes, they said, "We come to eat Arab food.

"Where is the Arab food?"

They want the authentic. They want the... And I said,

"OK, let's think." I ask my workers, "How do you make this?

And they said, "OK, let's see", and they teach me, you know?

-But you didn't change your menu to only Arab food.

-No.

-No.

-You mix things.

-She mix it together.

This place has got all the cuisines

of the Jewish Diaspora and Palestinian all under one roof.

We also have, you know, chrain? It's called chazeret.

Yeah, horseradish.

We put it on every dish, you know, and people like it.

And it's ridiculous because it's from the ghetto in Warsaw.

This is the madness that you get here.

'The restaurant is closed for the night,

'but Michal is cooking a meal for her staff and some friends.

'It's a chance to see some of her Arabic-influenced dishes first-hand.

'She's made slow-cooked lamb and chicken stew,

'with green olives picked by Yaakov.

'She's also preparing shrimp falafels with chrain,

'the beetroot and horseradish relish

'she'd made so popular with her customers.'

-Nice.

-Really?

-Yeah.

'And kubbeh nayyeh, a traditional Lebanese dish,

'usually prepared with raw meat, but here,

'made by Michal with raw fish.

'I'm making some salads.

'Baby aubergines roasted with Moroccan spice mix

'and then topped with sweet couscous and yoghurt

'and sprinkled with sumac.

'I'm also preparing a leek and beetroot salad

'with a sharp walnut dressing.

'It was a proper multicultural feast.'

THEY SPEAK IN THEIR OWN DIALECT

-Yay!

-Bravo!

APPLAUSE

Actually, this meal is in itself a huge proof of what's going on here

that is really remarkable,

because the relationship with Michal and Yaakov that crosses religion

is considered here a huge taboo. It's a massive, massive thing.

I don't think anyone from the outside can realise how big a thing it is.

And the fact that we have a table here

that really has Arabs and Jews sitting together.

Waiters, cooks,

Michal and Yaakov herself, his family,

that sit together and really enjoy,

and there's no sense of division, it's just completely natural,

shows that food can really bring people together

in a way that nothing else could.

'I only have a few days left in Jerusalem,

'but there are two more places I have to see -

'contemporary restaurants where the cross-cultural food revolution is taking off.

'Arcadia is one of the city's finest restaurants.

'Its owner and chef, Ezra Kedem, is a pioneer of the revolution.

'In the '90s, when Israeli cuisine had turned its back

'on indigenous food and was looking to Europe for inspiration,

'he was one of the first to return to more traditional cooking,

'both Arab and Jewish.'

You know, when I went to the Old City,

you speak to someone who makes hummus or someone who makes tahini

or someone who makes kanafeh.

It's one generation to the next generation to the next generation.

Nobody thinks to break from tradition.

What went wrong with us that they had something so fantastic

and they gave it up?

They were ashamed to take traditional food

and to cook it in a chef's restaurant.

That's the problem.

When I started, you know, when I took lentils,

they said, "What is it? This belongs to the chickens".

But sometimes, I feel that tradition is a rude word in Hebrew

and I stick to tradition.

-OK. Let's go to...

-Do you think the aubergine is ready?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Bring him.

OK, so...

-..we need just to peel it.

-You would expect the flesh, now,

to have the very, very typical smokey flavour now.

-Well, it's beautiful.

-Smells so good. What you're doing now,

-how different is it from what your grandmother used to do?

-It's the same. It's the same flavour.

What I did is just to arrange things on the plate.

Then, you start to add a few things. Garlic is there and tahini is there

and olive oil is there and pepper is there.

-So, you have yoghurt?

-Yes.

-Tahini?

-Tahini.

-Raw. Just paste.

-Yes.

-Eh, some tomato flesh?

-Yes.

-And olive oil.

-Yeah.

-That's it.

-What's that?

-Lemon juice.

-Lemon juice.

-Yes.

-Walnut. OK.

-Walnut and aubergine -

-that is a combination from Iran...

-Yes.

-..Turkey...

-Yes.

-..Georgia.

-Yeah.

So, this is a modern baba ghanoush spread on the plate. That's all.

-So, we continue with...

-What do you mean continue?

-Am I not going to taste this?

-Ah, you want to taste this?

For God's sake, why am I here?

HE LAUGHS

-Wow.

-Yeah?

Yeah. The best baba ghanoush, seriously, I've ever had.

-I could eat the whole thing, but I won't do that to you.

-OK.

What else are you going to show me?

It's a jewel that I took from my tradition and I put it on the plate.

-OK. So, what have you got here?

-Potatoes.

'Ezra wants to show me his contemporary twist

'on the kubbeh batata. It's a potato cake

'filled with mince, pine nuts, cinnamon and cumin.'

-I'm OK so far?

-Yeah.

-Your mother or grandmother would approve?

-Huh?

They wouldn't approve of me, in general, but just about this.

-They would approve?

-Yeah.

-OK, good.

-A little bit less, but you're OK.

-And then, you close it.

-Yeah.

-This is exciting.

-Yeah, but then...

-But then?

-Take it here, and you start to...

-Ah, OK.

-To shape it.

-This is what I wouldn't know.

-Give it... And it's beautiful.

-This is nice and elegant.

-You make it in London.

-For sure.

And maybe I'll make it better than you, one day.

Insha'Allah, insha'Allah.

It seems like everything is kubbeh in this city.

-Er, this is the capital of the kubbeh.

-In the world.

-Yeah.

'The kubbeh, I dipped in beaten egg and then fried in oil.'

Voila.

Then, this is for you.

-What is it?

-The pollen.

-Ah, the fennel pollen.

-Yeah.

-Cool.

-OK.

-So, we're going to flavour the oil with it.

That's my little bonus for being so good.

-OK.

-Looks good.

-So, maybe we will make, like, a salad? OK?

-OK.

-This is fennel from your allotment?

-Yes, yes.

-Salad is my middle name. You can trust me with your salad.

-Salad is my first name.

-Oh, OK.

-So, you win, as usual.

-OK.

-So, I'm going to put the salad on the side of the plate.

-Yes.

-Cos, in the centre, I want the cake.

-OK. Beautiful.

-So, are we going to bring the, er...

-Potato cakes?

-Wow. They look good and they smell good.

-Yes.

You're going to make your mother proud.

-OK.

-OK? Maybe a touch of turmeric oil.

By all means. Nice colour.

-This is the first time in history that I dress a plate like that.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

-Maybe some ketzakh.

-Some nigella seeds.

This is fancy stuff for me. I normally throw stuff on the plate.

OK, and just for you...

The fennel leaves?

-Yeah.

-Oh, wow.

-That will give nice aroma.

-When you bring the dish to the table.

-I'm impressed with you.

-OK.

'Ezra's transformation of traditional dishes

'into fine dining is impressive.

'But I want to end my time here at one of Jerusalem's

'most talked about new restaurants, Machneyuda,

'in West Jerusalem,

'where they're taking an altogether more anarchic and creative approach.'

The restaurant is over here, next to the market and I live over here.

'I met the co-owner, Yossi, in the market,

'just a stone's throw from the restaurant.'

I start every day at seven o'clock in the market

to check what's new, fresh.

'Yossi's adamant about sourcing all his produce from here

'and using only local ingredients.

'He's going to let me spend an evening working in his kitchen.'

Yotam, Yotam Ottolenghi.

-Hello, Daniella.

-Hi. Hello.

As you see, this is your kitchen.

How early do they all start?

'I want to understand how the blend of traditional and modern cooking

'has made this Jerusalem's most exciting new restaurant.'

What makes, you know, modern Israeli chefs so creative,

so free in their ability to renew?

People in Spain, in Italy, in France, even Palestinians

have a tradition of hundreds and hundreds of years of cooking.

And they're cooking almost the same as their grandparents were cooking.

We? We are from different cultures, different places in the world.

We had to invent, we had to create something that's different,

that's new.

So, actually, with the food,

you're taking part in a bigger project,

-which is the project of national identity.

-Exactly, exactly.

We are trying to build, actually, a new culture, a new Israeli cuisine.

And I learn very, very much from my Palestinian friends,

and if you want to live here,

I believe that's the way to build something new.

I'm taking it one step further, that's the way to make peace.

'To experience this philosophy in action,

'I needed to immerse myself in their kitchen.

'Yossi had agreed to put one of my dishes on their menu,

'and I'm cooking it for service tonight.'

I'm making a crumble with almonds and pistachios

that's going to go on the desserts.

It feels very nice, because it's my old territory - pastry chef.

So, I think... I hope it's going to be good. We'll see.

'I've decided to make a dessert with nut streusel,

'fresh fruit from the market,

'and cream flavoured with herbs and spices.'

I'm learning from Tina. Tina suggested to add za'atar.

I want to add za'atar to the dessert.

She wants to do it with a sugar sieve,

I was going to throw it all in to the cream,

so it's interesting to see that I'm already learning.

It's a first for me.

These are the most amazing peaches.

We don't have peaches like that in London, I'll tell you that.

And they're really, really ripe. We're going to cook them into a...

Like a, kind of a compote that goes into the dessert.

And we've got caster sugar and we've got mascarpone here.

Za'atar, double cream and yoghurt. Not Greek yoghurt, Israeli yoghurt.

Tina? Tina, where did you grow up?

-In Russia.

-In Russia?!

When did you come here? How old were you?

Two years old. So, you speak Russian at home

-and Middle-Eastern in the street?

-Yes.

Be careful, man, she's a crazy woman.

THEY SPEAK IN THEIR OWN DIALECT

-That's very nice.

-It's nice.

-You taste the cardamom?

I don't taste the za'atar. I'm going to put some more za'atar inside.

-And some more cardamom.

-Some more cardamom?

It's really nice.

They told me, "Are you ready to get pushed and shoved around?"

I said, "Yeah, I'm happy to be pushed and shoved around,"

so, this is coming.

That's the peaches and the plum,

and they are cooked with some sugar and lemon juice.

That's my special cream. With the za'atar and cardamom.

A little bit more of that.

The za'atar is really, really good.

It was a bit off the wall, it was a shot in the dark,

but it works really well.

And then, I've got this nutty, crumbly streusel.

But that's basically my creation, here.

If you leave aside all the rules, which obviously, that's what happens around here,

because everybody's a bit mad, then you get really,

really creative results. It's irreverence.

You get polenta that goes in a kilner jar

with asparagus and mushrooms. All these ingredients could be in an Italian dish,

but this is not an Italian dish,

this is a Machneyuda dish because it breaks the rules.

It goes in a pickling jar.

They don't care what other people do.

They just do what they want to do and what's fun.

THEY SHOUT

This place is the pinnacle of the Jerusalem experience,

or the current Jerusalem experience.

It's got the Jerusalem feel, it's got the madness

that you see everywhere in small doses,

but this one's got it in massive doses.

It's just complete madness.

It's daring, it's ballsy, it's cheeky, its got chutzpah,

what Yossi's so proud of. It's irreverent.

YOSSI SCREAMS

You're fired!

'Ending up my journey here, in the midst of so much creative energy,

'gives me a real sense of excitement about the future.

'What Yossi, Ezra, Michal and others are doing

'is building on all the many traditions that exist,

'both Jewish and Palestinian, to make something new.

'A new kind of food that makes more sense here.

'That is better connected to this place.

'And, perhaps, that's reason for hope.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]