Hi,
This is the start of “On the fire” season. In Hebrew we say Al Ha-Esh, which literally means ‘On the fire’. And no, not vegetables or soy susegges. And not Potjike which is a meat stew on campfire which popular here. But meat, and a lot of it.
The season starts with Passover, which is one of the Regalim – 3 times a year the Jewish people in Israel used to pilgrim to Jerusalem and to sacrifice. And that sacrifice is of course meat 🙂
But for religious or traditional Ashkenazi Jewish, you can merely eat anything but meat and potatoes in passover. Oh… and of course Matza 😋. Ima once complained about passover and said it is the hunger holiday. Nathan (my younger brother) explained her it is just the holiday of meat (when Ima was younger, eating meat everyday wasn’t an option). On the other hand he and Nili spent Passover couple of years in Italy. While Nili enjoyed Pasta an Pizza and Nathan “suffered” from endless amount of steaks.
After Passover you got Independence day. Eating meat on the grill in this day is an Israeli tradition.
And from that point on, during all the summer you can Israelis wave over the grill – On the fire. For the Israeli grill cannot be electrical nor on gas, only carcholes. You need to lit yourself, as a sign of manhood you are belong to the Israeli tribe.
Atzva and I reduced our anounts of meat. We trade our chopped meat for soy. We do eat more chicken. But during last two weeks we ate more meat than whole last year.
Take care
Gad
The grill
The buffet salad table – On the fire