Roger Sherman On His Documentary 'The Search For Israeli Cuisine,' And The Trip That Revealed A Food Revolution

"I wanted to go to Paris," says Roger Sherman. "I didn't really think about Israel as a destination. But my friend Joan Nathan, who writes Jewish American cookbooks, called and said 'I'm leading a food press tour and somebody cancelled, you should come.'"
 
The documentarian — the same filmmaker who profiled Danny Meyer in The Restaurateur — went to Israel for the first time four years ago.
 
"I was knocked out by what I saw, what I ate, and how gorgeous the country is. Israel has a food scene that I had no clue about, a restaurant scene that rivals New York or San Francisco; it has mountains and desert, and a beach that runs the length of the country.
 
"Israelis don't know from locavore; that's a foreign word. What they know is that everything is two hours away. They have every vegetable, because every 20 kilometers is a different microclimate. Everything was caught yesterday. 
 
"When I came back, people laughed when I said Israeli cuisine was this big thing — 350 international wines, cheeses you thought you could only get in Italy or France. I thought, 'This would be a great film.'"
 
What came out of the trip, eventually, was Sherman's documentary, The Search for Israeli Cuisine. The film is in the final stretch of its Kickstarter campaign, which is raising funds for editing in anticipation of its premiere on PBS.
 
 
Sherman's guide to Israel was Philadelphia chef Mike Solomomov, chef at Zahav and half of the Cook & Solo restaurateur team. Sherman and Solomonov began meeting the country's chefs and food producers, many of whom operate family businesses that have existed for hundreds of years.
"Everybody in Israel is proud of his or her heritage. That doesn't mean 'where were you from?' It means 'where are your grandparents from?' It also wasn't until the 1980s that Israel became a First World country, and food was something they finally began talking about. Before, it was about survival. 
 
"Israel agriculture started that way — people who came from Europe and were not farmers, who had to become farmers."
 
In the 1950s, Israeli engineer Simcha Blass developed the method of using a plastic emitter in drip irrigation, allowing water to be used more efficiently.
 
Israelis are behind the cherry tomato, the seedless watermelon, soon, a seedless lemon. They raise Alpine goats in the desert — with their long legs and short hair, the goats stay cool easily even in the 130-degree desert sun. Every goat has a chip in its leg that can be scanned for its name, parents, genealogy, diseases, and feeding regimen. Later, the goat enters an automated feeding machine, and is automatically fed a precise diet. Israeli tech has been amazing for its food culture.
 
"People started to leave the country for a period of time after their mandatory army stint. They would go to Southeast Asia or South America, where they were exposed to new tastes and flavors. By the 1960s, this trend was accelerated when, all of a sudden, it was so much easier to travel.
 
"People started saying, 'We need these flavors.' People who wanted to cook started saying, 'We need these flavors, and I'm going to add my grandmother's cooking to this.' The chef who first brought international food to the country was Israel Aharoni (below), who went to Taiwan and came back with Chinese food." 
 
 
Aharoni, who opened his restaurant, Yin-Yang, in Tel Aviv in 1981, is often credited as the chef who ignited Israelis' appreciation for Chinese food. Stateside, you may recognize that connection around Christmastime.
 
"Chefs have only just started sneaking Ashkenazi food into Israeli food, which didn't work when they first immigrated in the previous 100 years. Chefs with Ashkenazi heritage are starting to do things that take seven hours. One of the reasons this wasn't attempted before is because everyone in Israel describes themselves as fast — they don't know what tomorrow will bring.
 
"Israel is one of the most dynamic food cultures in the world. It was influenced by at least 70 cultures in the last several hundred years — just now, Nigerians are fleeing to Israel and opening little restaurants, yet the next big thing may be Georgian food. When you ask someone in Israel, 'What is Israeli cuisine? What is it going to be?' nobody has an answer. But all these cultures will have an effect."
 
Roger Sherman's Kickstarter campaign, The Search for Israeli Cuisine, ends Sunday, April 5.