מה אני אוהבת לאכול פה בישראל? זה משהו טוב ולא טוב?

1.) Nescafe - I never drank coffee before I came to Israel.  I thought it was gross and the only way that I would drink it was if it was loaded up with sugar to the point where I was basically drinking myself into diabetic shock.  THEN, by accident I had Nescafe here in Israel.  I was at the farm and יונה asked me if I wanted something to do with milk.  I said, sure? thinking "I haven't had a glass of milk in forever, why not?!?" yea... then I got coffee.  I didn't want to be rude, after all, I kind of asked for it.  So.... I drank it.  AND LOVED IT.  This one gets filed in the Bad For You category.  (-1)

2.) Avocado - 'nuff said.  Osi has it every week at her house and she is always wanting me to try something new when I am there.  A couple of weeks ago after I cut one open and realized they were actually pretty soft, I thought I would give it a go.  Osi was shocked this week when we sat down at Shabbat dinner and I took a good bit of Avocado and put it on my plate.  Not only that, it was the first thing that I went for!  She was so proud.  + 1 for the Good For You category.  

3.) Hummus - Undecided which category this falls into.  Lots of protein along with lots of fat.  But it takes the place of many other things that are bad for you?  You tell me, good or bad?

4.) Soooo many kinds of beer!  Originally I cited Goldstar as being a new discovery of mine.  Well, apparently that was just the tip of the iceberg.  Now I actually have decided that I prefer Carlsberg (probably the best beer in the world, their words - not mine), Tuborg or... if you wanna really bring out the big dogs, New Castle.  Yum Yum Yum.  Bad For You x2!! (-2)

5.) ORANGES!  Oh my... there are so many different types of oranges at the farm.  What am I going to do when oranges go out of season?  I especially love blood oranges.  The hardest to eat but really, they are the best! GFY +1

6.) Grapefruit - self-explanatory.  GFY +1

7.) Bulgarit cheese.  Especially on pizza.  For you Americans reading this you are probably wondering what I am talking about.  Only the best cheese on the planet.  Really, the best.  BFY -1

8.)  Pita - obviously BFY -1

9) Jachnun, a type of yemenite bread that is just amazing.  And loaded with fat.  -1

10.) Fresh chicken.  And I mean really fresh.  See previous blog posts for further information about how fresh chicken gets here in Ofakim.  On the bright side, it has NO preservatives! +1

11.)  Eggplant in many forms.  Some good, some bad... but eggplant really doesn't top the healthy veggies list.  We will leave this one in the neutral zone.  -0-

12.)  Eggs on burgers.  'nuff said.

13.)  All the sauces of Israel.  Really, there are so many.  It's awesome.  Sweet chile sauce, Thousand Island, Garlic Mayo and many many more.

14.) Shwarma.  Mmmm meat.  I even know how to find the good shwarma now which makes a big difference.  You have to find someone who has the heat on all the time.  It means that they are selling enough of it and it will be fresh.

The biggest thing that I am learning about eating in Israel is that you have to try everything once.  I have tried plenty of things since I arrived that I don't like.  At all.  Things wrapped in grapes leaves are gross IMO and I still hate cucumbers, pickles and bananas.  Also, beet juice is disgusting.  Truly, truly disgusting.  But, I would have never found all of these foods that I like here (even if many of them are bad for me) if I hadn't given them a shot and even after eating a bunch of different strange and sometimes gross foods, I am still here to talk about it so, I didn't really lose anything!  :)