Tel Aviv – the trendiest city in Israel, which has lately been chosen as “The world’s best gay city”, a city of decadence and fine restaurants is going through a change these days, a “Kosher” revolution.
What does Kosher mean in Tel Aviv?
Kosher in general – is a set of Jewish dietary laws which forbids some foods and allows most. For instance – seafood is not kosher, while fish with scale are kosher. Pork meat is not kosher while chicken and beef are, and it’s also forbidden to cook chicken or beef with milk in the same pot or eat them at the same time.
There are a number of organizations that issue Kosher certificates worldwide – and make sure that the food is made of only Kosher ingredients.
When issuing Kosher certificates In Israel – there is one more parameter that is considered, and that relates to work being done on a Saturday. Since the workforce in Israel is mostly Jewish – a kosher supervisor has to make sure that the examined factory or restaurant does not “do business” on Saturday.
Therefore, Tel Aviv restaurants that want to issue a kosher certificate – have to give up one day of the week, and stay closed on Saturday. Since Saturday is a very strong day for restaurants, the strongest day of the week, this is a very hard decision for restaurant owners.
Nonetheless – more and more new places in Tel Aviv do decide to keep kosher, which brings up the question..
Why are more Tel Aviv restaurants going kosher?
There are a number of reasons that all come down to one bottom line: it’s worth it for restaurant owners. Here’s a short list of all important reasons I have encountered in recent years while working with some of Tel Aviv’s finest Kosher restaurants:
1. The regular audience
There have always been religious people in Israel who only eat kosher food, but in recent years there has been a shift in many religious people’s socio-economic situation, and nowadays there is a large and growing part of the religious population who can and want to eat out.
2. Rest on Saturdays is good
Restauranting is an exhausting line of business, especially in Tel Aviv – the city that never sleeps. Most restaurants are open 16 hours a day, and the work never ends.
A restaurant owner who wants his place to work well has to be there, and no one can work that many hours, not even if you have a partner.
Therefore, many restaurant owners find the forced rest on Saturdays as a big relief, one that if you can afford, changes your lifestyle for the better.
3. Jewish tourism
Due to security reasons and more, in recent years there are more Jewish tourists in Israel, who prefer Kosher food. Those tourists may or may not eat only Kosher food back where they live, but they definitely prefer Kosher food while visiting Israel.
The reason for that is that their visit to Israel is usually done for a spiritual reason or a religious event, and they do try to make the entire visit more “Kosher”, or Jewish-like.
4. A matter of courtesy
Israelis like to eat out with friends, and when trying to find a place to eat for a bunch of friends – a Kosher place makes the task much easier. No one wants to have only some of their friends to eat.
As a restaurant lover, who has many friends from all parts of society – I find the last reason to be most important.
Enjoy your visit, and eat well!