Food is very important to Israeli culture. Because Israeli culture is a mixture of eastern and western cultures, many "israeli" foods are actually the same as other Mediterranean countries. In addition, some of the most well-known "Israeli" foods are actually foods customary for Jewish holidays such as: Latkes, Matzah Ball Soup and Hamatashin.
The strong integration between customary Jewish foods and Israeli food can be seen in the end of the following video. The Israeli is trying to explain why Jelly Donuts are special to Jews and he mixes up all of the various special Jewish events trying to tell the story of Jelly Donuts (which, are customary in Israeli during Hannukah, the festival of Lights). I remember at the end of EVERY holiday service or special event at synagogue we would say "They tried to kill us, they didn't, now let's eat!". To me this symbolizes that no matter what happens, Israelis and Jews always think with their stomach :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoILVn43Lnw
A customary dish to make with friends in Israel is Shakshookah. This dish is a breakfast dish and "is not mean to be bought at a store, but to be experienced and made with friends." said my Israeli tour guide, Nadav. The dish itself is not the most amazing, but it is the experience of making it with friends that makes this food so important to Israeli culture. The experience of cooking together brings people together.
The following link gives some amazing recipes to some of these dishes.
http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Israel.html#b
This link is great, even though the lady is not home making Shakshookah, it gives some insight as in to how it is made and a little bit about eating in Israel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGFaAvv69PY
A major difference from American culture when talking about food, is that Breakfast and Lunch are the most important meals of the day. Dinner is customarily a small meal and consists of hummus and a vegetable salad.
The following link is about making Israeli Salad:
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