The Land of Milk and Honey

Ok lets start with a few things. I am a graduate of Nutrition awaiting the day I will receive a dietetic internship and get my darn RD certification. (Its only been 3 years its ok) But that's another story for another day for another post. All I'm sayin is that I have some knowledge of what I'm talking about...but only some :)







I thought for my first country I would start with the first place I have ever visited. Israel. 









                                                           The beautiful Bahia Gardens




Since my family is from there, I have probably been there close to 13 times. The culture is diverse with Jews, Christians and Muslims all living together just to name a few. So clearly the cuisine is diverse and there is a lot to chose from.The great thing about a country like Israel is that the diet is a Mediterranean one. The food is fresh, centered on fruits and vegetables, fish and dairy. 




So lets start with breakfast. Israelis love breakfast, unlike most of Europe where breakfast is usually something small Israelis like to eat well.  Definitely a coffee with toast, some kind of dairy whether is be yogurt or some kind of cheese. They love their dairy! I mean this is the land of milk and honey.

A typical breakfast

 Also eggs. They love eggs. With breakfast is always some sort of salad. Usually consisting of tomatoes, cucumbers and onions drizzled in olive oil. So clearly its very easy to eat a well balanced healthy meal for breakfast. I mean every where you go this is what breakfast will most likely look like.
The most well known breakfast dish aside from the above. Is shakshuka, a spicy egg dish cooked low and slow in a pan with peppers and onions. 

Doesn't that look so good?!

Its easy to stay on track for breakfast. First, chose your protein, most likely an egg dish of some kind.  Then add some dairy, it can be yogurt (most likely a Greek style yogurt) feta cheese, etc. Add in some Israeli salad and some freshly baked whole wheat bread and you have a complete meal hitting all the major food groups. If you like a sweeter breakfast they mostly eat toasted bread with jam. Not really a pancake kind of place. :)

Next post....lunch and dinner!