Adventures in Shuking

One of my most favorite parts about living in Jerusalem is my weekly trip to Machaneh Yehudah, Jerusalem's outdoor market, also known as "the shuk." The Shuk is the best place to get all kinds of food, including the most amazing produce, fresh breads, a dozen kinds of nuts and dried fruits, israeli salads and spreads and CHEESE! As a former lactose-free girl I'm re-learning how amazing cheese is, and getting to eat some of the best Israeli cheese around. These photos are from my last trip to the shuk with Lauren and Neil- it's a peek into an important part of Israeli culture (and my life!)

The first thing to know about the shuk is that most people go every week. This allows you to buy everything you need in a small quantity- just enough to get you through Shabbat and the week. The shuk gets *crazy* on Thursday afternoons and Fridays, so the best time to go is on Wednesday or early Thursday.

The next thing to know is that to have a "real" shuk experience, you need a shuk cart. A shuk cart is what you sometimes see older people taking their groceries home in the states, but here, everyone uses them! They are essentially a canvas bag on wheels- molst people have plaid bags in different colors- below you can see Neil and Lauren modeling their shuk carts as well as Neil and I posing with ours (Lauren said we looked like a little shuk-going couple!)


I've developed a little shuk routine here. First I get my vegetables: a few tomatoes, an avacado or two, some cucs, peppers, onions and some lettuce if it looks good.

Then its on to fruit- kid you not, fruit here is amaing, fresh and CHEAP! I usually get grapes, cherries, melon of some kind, peaches, nectarines and mangos if I can find them. All in all, it usually only costs me about 40-50 NIS ($12-$15) I'm already feeling spoiled by the produce here and know that I will really experience some culture shock when I get back to the states and pay $6 for a container of strawberries!












After fruit comes salads and cheese. The above picture is from "the cheese guy." I don't know his name, but he'll let you sample any cheese you want before you buy it. He'll also reccomend what he thinks you might like. The same store sells over 20 kinds of salads incluing hummus, techina, babaganough (eggplant), roasted garlic cloves (yummm), purple cabbage with mayonaise (I'm not personally a fan, but Israelis love it), cous cous salad, all kinds of veges in oil and oilves. This guy also will let you taste anything you want including his killer grape leaves.

Finally, no trip to the shuk is complete without running into someone you know. Can you believe I've been here long enough to be able to do that? I lived in New Jersey for 11 months and never saw anyone at the grocery store! Anyway, Lauren, Neil and I ran into our good friends Rena and Michael who live down the street from us! We ended up shopping with them for the remainder of our trip and stopping for falafel before leaving the shuk. This place (just called "falafel") is the absolute best falafel I've found and its the perfect meal or snack after a couple hours of running around the shuk. Also, you only need one hand to eat it, since you also need to pull your car home.

Shopping at the shuk is one of the best parts of the week for me, and something I look forward to- I'm sitting in front of my computer at this very moment munching on grapes and pumpkin seeds that I bought at the shuk this past week. Sometimes it's easy to only see the not-so-great things here (political strife, terrible drivers, stray cats, 100 degree weather) and other times all it takes is an hour in the shuk to remind me how much I love living here and what an amazing, unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience I'm having.

Thats all for now. Week #3 of ulpan starts tomorrow and I need to start my homework. I miss you all- feel free to email and tell me all about your lives mailto:krperolman@gmail.com Love to all who are reading! Shavuah Tov- Have a wonderful week!