Derech Ha'ochel "The Way of Food"

ABOUT DERECH HA'OCHEL "THE WAY OF FOOD"

Derech Ha'ochel is part documentary, part cooking show and all entertaining. In every episode, hosts Israel Aharoni and Gavri Banai open the door to one of the many ethnic groups that make up the people of Israel. The kitchen becomes the excuse to portray the family experience through the ritual of food, one of the strongest connections to roots and ancestry. We are introduced to people struggling to become "Israeli" while still preserving the unique and indigenous ethnic identities of their original culture.

ABOUT ISRAEL AHARONI AND GAVRI BANAI

The wit, charm and talent of the hosts only add to the entertainment value of the program.

Israel Aharoni has made dim sum and foie gras household words in Israel. Brought up in a Bucharan family in Haifa, Aharoni's first exposure to ethnic cooking was through a girlfriend's family, sinologists who cooked Chinese food at home. Aharoni fell in love with both the cuisine and the art of cooking and took off for 18 months to study classic Chinese cuisine in Taiwan. When he returned to Israel in 1979 to open his first restaurant, Yin Yang, in Tel Aviv, it represented a revolution in the Israeli restaurant scene. With time Aharoni opened a number of other Chinese restaurants around the country - Tai Chin, Pat Qua, Xiao Lin - but it was his legendary French restaurant, Tapuah Zahav "The Golden Apple" (named the Best Restaurant in Israel by Gault Millau) that introduced Israel to the world of classic French Cuisine and altered the Israeli perception of food forever. As Maariv's food writer puts it, "He is the one who connected Israeli cooking to the cuisines of the world…and completely changed food in Israel". For almost 20 years Aharoni has been writing popular cookbooks along with operating his restaurants. The television series Derech Ha'ochel "The Way of Food" is an outgrowth of his book "The Melting Pot: Cooking of Ethnic Groups in Israel".

Gavri Banai, the co-host of Derech Ha'ochel "The Way of Food" is probably best known as a member of the legendary comedy group, Hagashash Hahiver, which won the prestigious Israel Prize for Life Achievement in 2000. For close to 20 years, the Hagashash has been Israel's most popular trio of comedians, thanks to its creation of a new language which successfully combined Biblical Hebrew with Israeli slang. Some of Israel's greatest authors and playwrights prepared material for the trio including Gavri's brother Yossi, himself a former recipient of the Israel Prize. Independently of The Hagashash, Gavri is well-known as a film and television actor and, of course, as a member of the Banai family, which includes Orna, Evyatar, Ehud, Haim, Yuval, Meir and Yossi, whose enormous impact on the Israeli entertainment industry is immeasurable.

ABOUT THE EPISODE ON DRISHAT SHALOM VOLUME 2:

Aharoni, himself of Bucharan ancestry, takes Gavri for a visit to his roots. They visit with a Bucharan family that receives them with warmth and love. Yosef and Sofia immigrated to Israel 11 years ago. In Buchara they were successful artists, Sofia as a singer and an actress, Yosef as a Chang player with the Uzbekistan National Broadcasting Authority. Sofia’s mother, Breno Yitzhakova, was a famous singer known as the Um Kultu'm of Buchara. Immigrating to Israel turned all three of them into anonymous working class citizens; however, even while struggling to make a living they hold on to their art.

They take Aharoni and Gavri to the modest but amazing neighborhood bakery where they watch the baking of a variety of Bucharan breads. Back at their home, the family teaches them the secrets of Buchara cooking. In the evening, members of the Nava Ensemble, an authentic Buchara musical group in which Sofia is the soloist and Yosef the Chang player, gather for a meal.

To get the recipes in Hebrew Click Here (View PDF File)

To get the recipes in English Click Here