This year’s motif may be grains and baking, but the Mateh Yehuda Food Festival also offers cheese making, wine tasting, glassblowing and choice beef.
By MEITAL SHARABIDana Kfir's bakery in Givat Yeshayahu also operates a popular food cart(photo credit: MEITAL SHARABI)
Now that we are having such mild spring weather, this is the best time to get outside on the weekends and enjoy ourselves at the 17th annual Mateh Yehuda Food Festival.This year, the festival will take place May 12-31, with the concluding event winding up the festival on Shavuot. Due to the festival’s proximity to the Jewish harvest festival, this year’s organizers decided to choose grains as the festival’s motif. In other words, visitors can expect a wide assortment of delicious pastries and breads, as well as culinary workshops and baking lessons throughout the festival.Over the weekends, food and travel enthusiasts are invited to satisfy their appetites at the festival, which is located just a short distance from central Israel. They can visit monasteries and hidden caves, hike along the Israel Trail and meet lots of other interesting people from around the country. This is a great opportunity for participants to sample unique ethnic cuisine while enjoying the beautiful outdoors. And if you’re a wine enthusiast, there are plenty of vineyards in the area where you can pop in for a wine tasting.The main event, titled “Bringing bread forth from the Land,” is scheduled for May 29. It will commence at the Lehemle compound in Givat Yeshayahu, where visitors can meet the bakers in person.There will be freshly baked focaccia, injera, halla and brioche, and every hour visitors will be able to watch another demonstration of how to make the different breads. Then, at 10 p.m., Oren Shmueli will invite guests to join his baking workshop at Bradley Bakery.There will also be guided culinary tours every Friday during the festival, in which participants will be offered tastings of homemade cooking, beer at a brewery or wine at a winery, smoked meats, and lots of pastries and breads.Price per person: NIS 130. Preregistration required.Iza Pziza Agricultural tourism in Israel is flourishing for good reason. In an attempt to restore the glory as of old and remind us where dairy products come from, Alon Tzaban, the owner of Iza Pziza Dairy, welcomes guests to Moshav Tal Shahar’s visitors’ center. Tzaban, who is in charge of milking the cows and the production of all cheeses and dairy drinks, will be there to offer guests a glass of wine or cup of coffee, as well as an assortment of fresh cheeses and dips.The visitors’ center also carries out guided tours (preregistration required) in which participants learn how cheese is produced. The tour begins with a short film about the farm, then moves on to the goat pen, where guests can feed the goats.Next, guests can watch as the goats are milked, and have the option of buying an assortment of locally made cheeses. And if you’re an extremely curious person, you might want to stay on and watch how Circassian cheese is made or join a group going to harvest organic vegetables.Tours are available in Hebrew and English. All workshop participants will receive a certificate as an amateur cheese maker and be eligible for a 10% discount on products for life.Open: Sunday to Friday.Price: NIS 25 to NIS 30 for tasting tour, NIS 36 to NIS 45 for guided tour, NIS 80 for cheese-making workshop. All prices are per person (over age of 3).Preregistration required.Location: 17 Moshav Tal Shahar.Details: (08) 610-2876, 052-258-9900.Srigim Winery After eating your fill of cheeses at Iza Pziza, you’ll be ready for wine tasting at Srigim Winery, which is located in Srigim (Li’on). The boutique winery, which was established 15 years ago, produces 3,000 bottles a year.It’s extremely important to the winery owners to maintain a close connection with its customers, and so their wines are available for sale only on site.Each year, Srigim produces blends from four varieties of grapes that are grown in the Nir Vineyard: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot. The wines are aged in wooden barrels for between 18 months and four years, a relatively long period, which improves the quality and taste of the wines.Visitors to Srigim are treated to a tour of the winery, in which the vintner explains how the wine is made. Afterward, they are shown the barrels and catch a glimpse of the vintner’s private archive.Price: Tours are NIS 25, including a tasting of 3 different wines.Preregistration required on weekdays.Details: 050-623-4110.Dana Kfir Cheese and wine are a winning combination, but when you add bread, it turns into an unsurpassed experience. And so the next stop in your tour should be Dana Kfir’s bakery in Givat Yeshayahu, where you’ll find a small, intimate shop with a spacious courtyard where you can sit on sofas or at a vintage table and enjoy the delicacies with coffee or freshly squeezed juice.When Kfir was pregnant, she had intense cravings for home-baked bread, and so she bought a few books and began experimenting. Soon, she found herself selling loaves to the neighbors, then she added an espresso machine so people would have something to drink with their treats. Next, she bought a cart, which she still uses even three years later.Kfir specializes in spelt bread, sourdough, bread with pears, bread with nuts, and her Winnie (Mandela) Bread, which is rich with grains and contains a little honey and flour.Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.The RosenboimsOne of the most delightful aspects of the Mateh Yehuda Food Festival is being invited to eat in the homes of local residents.Yael and Avi Rosenboim, who host guests in their garden, have turned this invitation into an art form.The Rosenboims roast choice pieces of beef according to Argentinean tradition, and the results are fabulous, which is not surprising, since they are the previous owners of the El Gaucho restaurant in Jerusalem.While Avi is stationed at the grill, Yael is busy preparing scrumptious salads, roasted vegetables and desserts. A meal at the Rosenboims includes 300 grams of meat and costs NIS 150 per person.Reservations required: 054-598-7231.Ola Brenner Although the festival is mostly focused on food, visitors can also enjoy visiting artist studios and galleries.One artist, Ola Brenner, a Bezalel graduate, has a blownglass studio in Moshav Aviezer in which she creates sculptures, decorative objects and also practical tools.She offers small workshops for families and children (from age nine). In addition, Brenner holds 12-session courses for people who’d like to learn more about working with glass. In the 20-minute workshops, for up to 16 people, participants learn how to prepare a colored glass ball.Because the glassmaking process involves extremely hot ovens, each participant receives one-on-one attention. Once participants choose the colors and designs they want, Brenner helps each one at every stage of the process, including immersing the glass in paint and transferring it to the oven, where it will remain overnight. Brenner mails artworks to participants when they are finished.Price: NIS 130 per person. A 3-hour private lesson costs NIS 675. Course costs NIS 320 per 3-hour session.Details: 052-387-3185.Translated by Hannah Hochner.
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