I Interviewed My Israeli Father-In-Law About Food On A 1950s Israeli Kibbutz

Yaron Anitai, my wife's father, is one hell of a guy. He's industrious, kind and lets me ride on the back of his motorcycle. Despite the fact that he was once a tank commander in the Israeli army, he's more the gentle giant type and really easy to talk to. And, often, we get to talking — thankfully with Fox News on mute in the background. When he was born in Israel in 1950, two years after it was recognized as the State of Israel, the country was primarily an agrarian society, with many of its residents living within the vast network of kibbutzim, the communal live-work farms that serve as a grand marriage of socialist and Zionist ideals.

Yaron — I call him Aba — lived on a kibbutz for most of his childhood and recently we got to talking about the food he grew up with. With today being a day dedicated to the food of Israel — now a breathtakingly modern society with one of the most advanced food cultures in Middle East, if not the world — here's a little bit about Israel in the early days when times were different.

Tell me, what was food like growing up?

In 1954, we lived on a kibbutz and money was very tight and Israel was very poor. You would never throw away bread. In fact, when bread was unused during the meal it was taken back to the kitchen, toasted, and placed in these large barrels. My biggest thrill was to place my hand into the barrel and grab a handful of bread to snack on. That was a treat.

Those are some hard times there.

All the kids slept together in one house, separated from parents, and as a kid you ate in the kids' dining room. The adults would eat after the children and I remember smelling what my mother was eating and being very curious.

What food would you have in the house?

We didn't have any. There was breakfast, lunch, dinner and no extra food. I do remember there being these large clay pitchers of cold water.

What would the men working in the fields eat?

They would come in for lunch and pick up these aluminum containers filled with their lunch, and head back to the field. There was lots of fruit, always.

And when you were a teenager you moved to Shavei Tzion and the food improved a bit, no?

There was no electricity, but we had iceboxes and blocks of ice would be transferred in twice a week.

What would you keep in the iceboxes? Cheese, labneh?

Nothing. I mean, not much. I remember my mother used to make fresh salads all the time, but I don't remember eating meat or chicken or anything. There were no steaks or any seafood. I once dropped a block of ice on my sister's foot.

OK, but things got better in Israel in the 60s, right? What were you eating then?

My mother was a very good cook and baker and made the best chicken schnitzel and cheesecake. My grandmother was German, so some of those recipes were passed down. And then processed foods started to appear, and frozen fish was available. We also ate grapes, figs, tangerines and mandarins.

And what about restaurants?

We didn't really go to restaurants. And if we did, it was always a Mediterranean-Arab restaurant. The only fast food you had was falafel, nothing more than a pushcart. They cooked it right there on the street and you had to be very careful when they fried it because the hot oil would splash in your face.

What was the food like when you served in the army?

I was always hungry in the army. Always. They served us this canned corned beef that I think came from Brazil. We'd heat it against the muffler, punch a hole in the top of the can and eat it that way.