Five Great Dip Ideas
For those who like Middle Eastern restaurants, there is nothing like the moment when the waiter enters, laden with dips, salads and pita and proceeds to cover every available space on your table with a vast array of colors, smells, textures and tastes. It really sets you up for the evening ahead and for many […]
Outsourcing Salads and Dips
It is interesting to observe the huge variety of foods that are readily available to those who want choice. Walking through town you can travel all five continents as you pass different restaurants, with their very different cuisines. The “World Food” aisle in the supermarkets is far larger than it ever was and products that […]
The Pastry Revolution
So many of us have fond memories of standing in our grandmother’s kitchen, as she made apple pie. As we all know, there is absolutely nothing that comes close to grandma’s apple pie! When we talk about her making apple pie, she did absolutely everything from scratch, she combined the ingredients to make pastry, rolled […]
Bourekas – What do you like in yours?
Stroll into any bakery in Israel and you will be welcomed by the site of counters ladened with bourekas of all different shapes and flavors. The variety on show can be quite overwhelming and trying to choose which ones to take with you on your way can be a real challenge! Bourekas are pastry pockets […]
Cosmeceuticals – the line between cosmetics and drugs
There is an astounding array of skincare products on the market, all making various claims about what they are able to do and how they do it. Some will make your skin look younger, some cleaner and some softer. Some are based around traditional remedies going back generations whilst some are based round the most […]
Runners, look after your feet!
More and more people are taking on running as a pastime. Some are doing it purely to lose a few pounds and some to increase their fitness. Whilst running marathons was once reserved for a few highly dedicated individuals, it seems that more and more ordinary people are pounding the sidewalks for hours as they […]
What On Earth Do You Do With A Kumquat?
They look so pretty growing on their little trees in China or warm climates such as the USA and Israel. Kumquats to most people are an absolute mystery. They are small, have a beautiful shape and a vibrant orange color but if you try to eat them like any other citrus fruit, you will be […]
The Amazing Health Benefits of the Kumquat
The kumquat is a remarkable food that originates from China but is now grown in the warmer states of the USA and Israel. Kumquat means golden orange and when you look at its amazing shape and shiny peel as they sit on their perfectly formed trees, they really do look like golden nuggets. Kumquats lack […]
Tastes from Around the World
In Medieval Britain and for many years after spices from around the world were sought after by the rich. Spice traders would risk their lives and pay high prices to bring back spices from around the world. The rich would pay a huge sum for them not just because they made their food taste better […]
Picking the Perfect Spices
It seems that wherever we look we are bombarded by culinary inspiration. The choice of cuisine we have provided for us when going shopping is staggering. We can buy dishes ready made, partly made and it has never been easier to source exotic ingredients for exotic dishes. The choice of eateries in our towns allows […]
Adding Color to Your Balcony
One of the more positive results of the Corona epidemic is that we have started to value our outdoor space more. Lockdowns meant that we were unable to go out quite as much and so we tried to get out whilst staying in. People living in apartment blocks found themselves rediscovering their often bleak and […]
Flatpack Gardens
On a sunny day we all like to get outside, kick our shoes off, settle back in a comfy chair and take in a few rays. With more people working from home than ever before, people have started to spend more time in their outdoor spaces whether they be an expansive garden with a luscious […]
Is Outsourcing Your Snack Production a Wise Move?
The snack market is currently valued at a colossal $43 billion just in the US and is growing at a staggering pace. Not only is it growing, it is also diversifying and companies that produce or offer their clients snacks are being forced to keep up or get left behind. Whilst a small packet of […]
Snacking the Healthy Way!
Don’t snack between meals! I remember as a kid constantly being told not to snack or I wouldn’t eat my supper. I tell my kids not to snack too close to supper and when their craving becomes too intense they should nibble on healthy snacks such as fruit and veg. Perhaps being puritans about snacking […]
Naturally Healthy Hair and Skin
Our quest for healthy hair and blemish free skin can make us believe all manner of claims that are placed before us by advertising gurus in the names of scientists. They can persuade us to part with huge sums of money so as to plaster ourselves in chemical concoctions so that we can look our […]
Can You Be a Beer Connoisseur?
There are many oenophiles in the world, some have actually trained in all the fine details of wine appreciation and some are just self proclaimed oenophiles. They talk about the fruitful flavour and the bouquet. When it comes to whiskey there seems to be no shortage of whiskey sommeliers, though in my experience most are […]
Keeping the Business in the Family
It seems that we are slowly coming back to where we were a century ago. Once upon a time, all businesses were small one man shows or family run. You would know the proprietor by name, when they retired at a ripe old age or passed on, their business would pass to the next generation […]
Three Food Trends To Watch Out For In 2022
2021 was a hell of a year. With lockdowns, working from home and health scares, people have adjusted their lives and that includes how they eat. Here are some of the likely food trends that we will see in 2022. Plant Based Meat The plant based meat sector is seeing an amazing boom. The amount […]
How to Cheat When Cooking
There are so many phobias, most of the popular ones have been named, some still haven’t. There is one that many, many people have yet seems not to have a name; the fear of recipes! Let’s face it, we watch a celebrity chef cook the most beautiful looking meal with amazing color, we download the […]
Five Delicious Ways to Use Olives
It is believed that the cultivation of the olive grove goes back thousands of years. Throughout history people have been very fond of this naturally inedible fruit. To get any benefit from them they need to be processed which is time consuming. They can either be pickled in brine for eating or pressed for their […]
Are All Fruit Drinks Equal?
As people become more conscious of what they eat and drink, many are shunning carbonated beverages and are instead reaching out for fruit based drinks. It is estimated that the fruit drink market was worth a colossal $39 billion in the US alone in 2020. But are all fruit drinks the same? The first important […]
Great Israeli Snacks
There are two phenomena that you will find wherever you travel in the world, that people love to snack and each country has their own snacking preferences. On YouTube there are a number of short movies showing people trying snacks from another country for the first time. Israel of course has been featured, and by […]
The Pretzel Revolution
The pretzel revolution has begun! Will you join or resist? When you mess around with a humble pretzel, does it enhance the pretzel or destroy it? At what point is it no longer a pretzel? Does shape define a pretzel? Does it have to be twisted? Do the ingredients have to remain simple and pure? […]
The Olive Tradition
Olives have been a staple in many parts of the world for 1000’s of years. Whether they be in whole form, oil or as a beauty or health product. The fact that we eat them at all is amazing. Think about it for a second. When you take an olive off a tree it is […]
Getting a meat fix without the meat
The world of food has changed dramatically in the last hundred years. A century ago there was a lot less convenience or processed food available. Our grandmothers or in some cases, great grandmothers used to make most of their food from scratch. Walk down the aisles of a supermarket today and the vast majority of […]
Keeping healthy, naturally
We only live once so it is important that we keep healthy so that we should live a long and healthy life. We want to enjoy our life and provide for others for many, many years. With this in mind it is important that we do everything we can to look after ourselves. To keep […]
Pasta Doesn’t Just Have to be Italian!
Fettuccine, penne, spaghetti, lasagna, and the list goes on. There are approximately 350 different varieties of pasta around the world. The basic ingredients of pasta are flour, water and egg but the variety of flour can change and other things can be added to an extent, normally to change the color. The real difference between […]
The Dirty Secret of a Good Dessert!
For many the highlight of a good meal is dessert. That sweet taste that lingers in your mouth way after you have finished your meal. For many it is their guilty pleasure, they know they shouldn’t but they just can’t resist but making the perfect dessert often requires skill and time, something that many people […]
The Greatness of the Medjool Date
Many people refer to the date as nature’s candy. When you take a bite into a date you get an amazing sweet sensation, unparalleled in any other fruit. Infact, in the Old Testament the Land of Israel is said to be blessed with many things including honey. This is not the honey made from bees […]
The Benefits of Natural Juice
Coffee is currently the most popular drink in the world. Many people claim that they can’t do anything before they have had their coffee and people do not skimp when buying coffee machines or popping into a coffee shop so that a barista can make them coffee to their exacting standards. More recently, juice bars […]
The History of Falafel
Many countries and cultures like to claim falafel as their traditional food. This issue came to a head once at a London university. An event was organized in order to bring various cultures together. They were each asked to bring with them a sample of their traditional food. The Jewish Society decided to bring falafel […]
Dealing With Pests in Agriculture
Only perfect fruit and vegetables are good enough nowadays! No matter what crop the farmer is growing they know that if they don’t produce perfect produce, they won’t be able to sell it, or if they can, it will be at a considerably discounted price, potentially making them a loss. There is also the worry […]
Do you feed your baby peanut products?
No peanuts or peanut based products please! We have all seen this request, whether it be in our children’s schools or elsewhere. Gone are the days of sending your kids into school with the hastily prepared peanut butter sandwich for their lunch. The question is why, over the last few decades have we suddenly discovered […]
Crafting a Great Beer
It could be said that beer, which used to be the default go to alcoholic beverage for the working class, is becoming the drink of the connoisseur. It seems that many people are experimenting at home and have started to brew their own amber nectar whilst others are shunning the well known beer labels for […]
Old Wive’s Tale or Scientifically Proven?
Every family has spurious remedies for this, that and the other, passed down from some ancient aunt. They swear by them but others dismiss them as mere old wive’s tales. By definition an old wive’s tale is a spurious truth or a superstition generally passed down the maternal side of the family from mother to […]
Be Kind to Your Pet, Get Rid of the Pests!
In 2020, in the U.S. we spent a massive $103.6 billion on our pets. To those people who do not own a pet, this kind of spending must seem preposterous but to those of us who own pets we know that they are a part of the family and are worth every penny. Some of the money […]
The Convenience Food Revolution
After a busy day at work we often lack the physical or mental energy to start conjuring up a delicious meal. Add demanding kids into the mix and we soon find ourselves reaching for something that we can just shove into the oven with little thought. Convenience foods are foods that need minimal or no […]
Vegan Diets 101
Veganism can be traced back to at least 550BCE when Pythagoros talked about not eating meat, Budda also extolled the virtues of a meat free diet at the same time. Whilst there are some religions that believe in a vegetarian or vegan diet, the decision of people to take on a vegan diet purely for […]
You Can Print on Anything!
Look around you, wherever you are, take a walk and look. Did you notice that so many of the surfaces around you have been decorated? There are pictures, patterns and oh so many messages. One of the noticeable changes in the last 100 years has been the printed world around us. You no longer buy […]
A Wipe for Every Occasion
Not that long ago, if you wanted to wipe something, you would reach for your chemical and a rag. Spritz and smear! Smear in the literal sense because your rag, whether it be a kitchen cloth, floor cloth or any other kind of cloth had probably been used before and although you may have rinsed […]
Nature’s Most Powerful Medicinal Plants and the Science Behind Them
More and more people are turning to, or perhaps more correctly turning back to herbal remedies and medication to maintain the health of their body and heal minor ailments. Many of the remedies that they are using have actually been passed down from generation to generation. Whilst some of the ancient remedies that are passed […]
Keeping Our Pets Itch Free
There is nothing worse than watching our four-legged friends habitually scratching. We really feel their discomfort and at the same time, we are on edge that perhaps they will transfer whatever is making them itch to our other furry friends or even to us or our homes. Gaining control over this problem is very important. […]
Less in More When Bulk Packaging!
There is a quiet revolution taking place in the packaging industry. The way goods are being packaged is changing, this time for the better. Better for the consumer, distributor and also the manufacturer. Some of the changes are a wink at practices from days gone by and some are simple but revolutionary changes. The purpose […]
The Benefits of Using Organic Skin Care Products
Some people like to say that beauty is only skin deep. Perhaps, that is a superficial thing to say because when we look good, we feel good, when we look younger, we feel younger, when we look healthy we feel healthy. We are bombarded by advertisements on all kinds of media extolling the virtues of […]
The Beauty of the Olive
Olives have been collected for over 10,000 years and it is possible that they were cultivated on the island of Crete 5000 years ago. Their uses then and now remain the same. Through the generations people have used olive oil as a healthy and tasty cooking ingredient but it is also arguably the oldest homemade […]
Catering for Vegans and Vegetarians
Until about twenty years ago you were looked upon suspiciously if you claimed to be a vegetarian, as for being a vegan, people were absolutely clueless. Today it is considered to be quite normal if you are vegetarian and as for being a vegan, that is still considered a little different but at least people […]