Kibbutz Haon Dining

Our fist meal in Israel was at the Kibbutz Haon Dining room where we would be eating breakfast and supper each of the three days we were there.  You know how I love food and especially trying different ethnic foods!  I could not wait to EAT in Israel! 

The beautiful fresh breads were the first thing I noticed.  There was great bread everywhere we went in Israel! 

Each night there was a hot bar with all kinds of delicious foods.  I wanted to try everything and wished each dish was labeled so that I knew exactly what I was trying. 

Each evening there was a salad bar that always contained some kind of fish that looked raw to me, humus, and olives.  I was especially excited about the olives as I always thought of Israel being rich with olives.  We are also huge humus fans so it was fun to have it in Israel.  It tasted very similar to the humus we eat in the US, so surprise there really, but it was delicious. 

This was my plate the first evening.  My first meal in Israel!  I HAD to try everything.  The sweet potatoes were spicy.  I had never had spicy sweet potatoes before, and I loved them!  It was the only time in Israel that I had anything like it.  I want to make some.  I wonder if the kids would object…

What was a huge surprise to me in Israel were the breakfasts.  They are HUGE!  I mean the Israelies REALLY know how to do breakfast.  First of all there were always rows of pastries and eggs, things one might expect.  I bit into one of the pastries however and…pizza.  It was a pizza pinwheel.  Yum, but surprised me! 

But I was shocked to find that salad for breakfast is very common in Israel!  Real lettuce salads with all the fixings including tuna salad!  It always looked so good, but I’m typically not a huge breakfast eater so I just couldn’t do salad for breakfast.  As the trip progressed I did notice more and more of our team going for salad.  It does sound very healthy! 

(See how beautiful the view from the dining room was, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.) What I loved was the array of cheeses available for breakfast every morning.  I was in cheese heaven!  There was also what looked like raw fish on the bar above the cheese every morning, another surprise. 

But my favorite thing that was on every breakfast bar in Israel was the Halva!  Yum, yum, yum!  I had no idea what it was for several days, but kept urging everyone I talked to to try it.  The closest thing I could think of was to say it was like a sweet peanut buttery thing!  Later I found out that it’s made of sesame.  I loved this so much; I had some every morning and even brought some home for my kids to try.