About

me-w-cauliflower1
Welcome to my kitchen in Tel Aviv.

I like fresh food and my own cooking, I read the ingredient list on everything I buy, and I get excited by outdoor markets, cooking stores and cute dishware. The blog is a hobby. In real life, I'm an editor and an economist.

Cafe Liz is what my friends call my kitchen. There's no actual restaurant in Tel Aviv by that name.

Yes, that cauliflower matches my shirt.

Modern Israeli cuisine

I'm a home cook based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Many of my recipes could probably be categorized as modern Israeli. Modern Israeli cuisine is still developing and evolving, and falls into the greater category of what people call Mediterranean cuisine -- lots of fresh vegetables, and lots of olive oil. It's based on fresh, local produce -- Israel is an agricultural powerhouse -- with a local twist based in traditional ingredients native to the area. It's just beginning to receive international recognition, and you can read more about it at the Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New York Times and The Jewish Journal.

Find recipes that are vegan, parve, dairy and more

You can go through my posts based on photo thumbnails, or an alphabetical listing.

I'm not actually vegetarian, but my kitchen is. All recipes on my blog are kosher: Vegan, parve and dairy recipes are tagged accordingly. Posts with multiple recipes, or variations of one recipe, may have more than one tag (it's not a mistake).

Recipes that are kosher for Passover, Ashkenazi-style or Sephardi-style, are also tagged accordingly. Things that contain no chametz (grains) are listed under the Sephardi Passover recipes; while things that contain neither chametz nor kitniyot (legumes, legume derivatives, rice, etc.) are listed under the Ashkenazi Passover recipes. For the sake of simplicity, these categories do not include most recipes that could be easily altered to suit Passover.

A quick explanatory note about kashrut: Kashrut, meaning kosherness, doesn't refer to a specific cuisine, it refers to specific preparation methods that observant Jews have practiced over the centuries. The most basic tenets call for separating milk and meat, and not eating animals including pigs, shellfish, bugs and birds of prey. Plus, dishes that touched milk cannot be used on meat, and vice versa. Parve dishes contain neither milk nor meat, but can contain fish, eggs and honey, and thus are not necessarily vegan. The full set of rules is much more complicated. However, my basic point is that if you're looking to make food for a friend who keeps kosher, the fact that the recipe is kosher doesn't mean the food will be. You're best off coordinating with said friend.

What else can you find here?

Aside from recipes, I also have posts discussing various aspects of local food culture, including unusual products and vegetables, market tours, Tel Aviv highlights and restaurants. I also write travel posts when I get a chance to take a vacation.

Where does all the content come from? / Copyright stuff

The recipes are all my creations, unless I state otherwise. I frequently cite my source of inspiration. All the photography is mine as well, taken with a Canon Rebel XT. Most of my photos are achieved by shooting in daylight, and then touching up the colors in Photoshop. In restaurants and stores, though, I frequently use my phone's camera.

I'm thrilled if you want to use my recipes, but please cite me and link if you want to use any of my content on your blog; please ask (and receive) permission before reprinting anywhere else, especially commercial publications.

If you liked a recipe so much that you want to publish your own variation entirely in your own words, then legally speaking, you don't need my permission, but I'd love to hear about it. This article provides an excellent explanation about recipe copyright (under U.S. law).

You can contact me here.

Press / Featured posts

Cafe Liz topped PresenTense Magazine's list of the top 10 Jewish food blogs! (Here's the full list and article.) Individual posts have also been featured on Tastespotting and on Saveur. You can also find more information on the small English-language food blogging community at Flavors of Israel.

Technical stuff

The site runs on the WordPress.org platform and is hosted on a private server. The graphic design is based on Borja Fernandez's theme Pool; I've developed lots of technical stuff on top of that. The plugins I use include AZ Index, Clean Archives Reloaded, Comment Email Responder, Configurable Tag Cloud, Get Recent Comments, Raw HTML Capability, Yet Another Related Posts Plugin, and most importantly Akismet, since I've gotten nearly as much spam as page views (!!!). Akismet blocked nearly all of it.

Thanks

Thanks to Tal for lending me server space, and Eitan for the technical support and the constant willingness to do the dishes.

And, of course, my mother, for inspiring many of my recipes, as she keeps noting in her comments.

14 Comments »

Have something to say? Tried a recipe and liked it, or want to suggest a variation? You're invited to post it here. RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

  1. It I started cooking again, these would be some tasty dishes to try. I need you to be my personal chef. I can provide room and board, plus a small stipend.

    Comment by Lorraine — November 24, 2008 #

  2. What a fantastic website/blog! Very inspiring and you must be an extremely creative person. I will keep an eye with this place.

    Comment by Kiku — November 17, 2009 #

  3. Hi,

    Cool. Where in the carmel market is the guy that sells Thai stuff? Does he have morning glory greens?

    Just back from Thailand and I have such a yen…

    Shabat Shalom,

    Adam

    Comment by Adam — December 11, 2009 #

  4. Hey Adam, I’ve seen two stands that sometimes have morning glory. One is on the main market street, pretty much smack in the middle, and if you’re coming from Allenby, he’ll be on your left, a few stands after the guy selling grilled meat sandwiches and yelling “delicious” on Fridays.

    The other is on a side street. Again, if you’re coming from Allenby, it’s on the parallel street to the right of the market street. If you’re walking down the main market street, you turn right between the cheese-seller and the greens stand, across from the bedding store, and pass through the meat shops until the next street. The stand is across from “Eli Dagim” and is always busy with Asian shoppers.

    Good luck!

    Comment by Liz — December 13, 2009 #

  5. I love this blog, Liz. Lovely, original food ideas (that patterned spaghetti was breathtaking) and beautiful photos. I’m just…totally jealous. :)

    Mimi

    Comment by Mimi — December 24, 2009 #

  6. Thanks, Mimi! Looking forward to meeting you.

    Comment by Liz — December 24, 2009 #

  7. I found your blog via Mom in Israel. Lovely recipes. I’ll most certainly come back.

    Comment by Ilana-Davita — December 29, 2009 #

  8. Hi Ilana, thanks for stopping by!

    Comment by Liz — January 3, 2010 #

  9. I found your blog while searching for loquat recipes. You’re recipes look inspiring, so I’ve bookmarked you for future searches. Can’t wait to try out some of your creations!

    Comment by chris — March 12, 2010 #

  10. Great! There will be more loquat recipes soon, since they’re just coming into season here.

    Comment by Liz — March 15, 2010 #

  11. Hi Liz,
    Could I subscribe to your blog? I really like what I see so far and hope you do open a cafe in Tel Aviv.

    If I need a screen name to join – miamimango – is the one I use.

    Thanks for the vegan recipe for Pesach. My vegan friend will love it!!
    Kol tuv,
    Debbie

    Comment by Debbie Niskin — March 21, 2010 #

  12. Debbie, I’ve signed you up for e-mail updates, you’ll get an e-mail asking you to confirm it. Hag sameach!

    Comment by Liz — March 21, 2010 #

  13. Hello Liz,

    Found your blog when I was searching on Baklava (bird’s nest). It instantly became a bookmark & a favourite. =) Will definitely be coming back here often.

    Lots of love from Singapore!
    Rawdah

    Comment by Rawdah — August 22, 2010 #

  14. Hi Rawdah, thanks for writing! It’s always amazing to find out I have readers in far-off and interesting places.

    Comment by Liz — August 22, 2010 #

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