Well it’s quite funny actually… After many years in the corporate world, it was time to branch out and go it alone. I now needed my own laptop. As an exercise to get up to speed with the features of my new laptop I decided that it was a good time to go through my well used recipe box – to throw away faded old handwritten recipe cards and to sort the wheat from the chaff. I typed up those recipes that I knew worked perfectly, discarding those that were deemed superfluous, too complicated, or simply not relevant. As a result, I found myself with a well organized collection of tried and tested recipes that were all delicious (obviously!), but also quick and easy to make. This led me to start thinking about how I could combine these with another love of mine – the frenetic city of Tel Aviv. And thus Tel Aviv FOOD came into being.

Here it is de rigeur to serve several different salads with every meal. One veg, one starch, one protein simply does not hit the spot. A variety of salads is always called for, and may also be served as a starter. There is nothing like livening up your favourite main course by serving it with different salads. Salads can add colour to your table and can be savoury, sweet, or a combination thereof. I personally love experimenting with new salad combinations, and this is indeed reflected in the book.

Tel Aviv is home to some amazing bakeries as well as several countrywide bakery chains. The quality is outstanding and the variety is endless, reflecting different tastes and cultures. Baked goods are perhaps the single reasonably priced item available countrywide. So although I have included a few failsafe, tried and tested recipes, it is generally more economical (in both time and money), to simply buy cakes and other baked goods. You can always tell your guests that you bought it all by yourself!

Fresh produce is easy to come by. If you take a walk down the tinned goods aisle in your local supermarket, you may indeed be spoilt for choice. Here we have a much smaller selection of tinned goods, and these are often used for camping trips or stored in your pantry “just in case”. The selection of tinned fruit is very limited, and olives, pickled cucumbers, sweetcorn, crushed tomatoes, sardines and tuna pretty much cover the “essential tinned goods” list. That’s not to say that other items are not available in specialty stores, but the average supermarket trolley will be made up of 90% fresh produce.

Don’t sweat it. Exchange a spoon of silan (date honey) for regular honey, brown sugar for white sugar, and balsamic vinegar for grape vinegar or even apple cider vinegar. Be creative. You may just stumble upon an amazing alternative for tried and tested combinations. In short, live dangerously! The same goes for cuts of meat, although you might want to consult with your butcher first. Here it is quite usual for a butcher to ask how many people you are cooking for, how you plan to cook the meat and to offer insights as to how he, his mother, his grandmother or his brother-in-law usually make it. Such advice is always dispensed with good intentions, but it is up to you to decide what you do with it.