When the salesman started to exclaim in Arabic, I was walking down Machane Yehuda Street in Israel on a Friday in July of 2019. Although this is something the man does day to day, I was hearing it for the very first time. Everyone was walking around me, as if they hear all of this yelling and screaming all the time. “I only came for some fruits and vegetables,” I said to myself as I am looking around at all the different options. Machane Yehuda Market is so much more than just fruits and vegetables. It is filled with restaurants and culture.

Although the Arabic man’s voice pierced through, there was a symphony of background conversations that just sounded like one consistent stream of commotion. Customers had their conversations, whether that was between the people they came with or someone they randomly saw in passing. The vendors would attempt to yell louder than the others in order to attract customers.
All of this noise and commotion was a part of the culture. Look to your right, you see one vendor screaming his head off to try to make a living. Look to your left you see another vendor attempting to scream over the other vendor just to bring food home to his family. Look in front of you and you see hundreds of people clustered on one street. Take a breath and you smell the delicious fragrance of freshly baked bread. All I could think was, “How could these vendors continue yelling all day?” Then I realized, it was the passion that drove them.
This is what the Israeli culture is. Passion. Someone can see this passion through not only the vendors, but also the commitment of the customers who come to the market to get the best product possible. Fruits, vegetables, aromatic bread, delicious homemade dips and spreads that are traditional to Israeli culture. All for their Friday night dinner spread. In Jewish culture, especially in Israel, Friday night dinner is sacred. The whole city closes down so that the Sabbath can be observed by every family. Not only is family time important on this day, but the food is something even more sacred.

The passion and sacrecy that all these people have for the Sabbath and the food that is served is inspiring. Personally, as I was walking around the market, seeing how much passion the vendors had for their products, I thought about my own relationship with food. I thought back to all my culinary experiences in and outside of culinary school. Every time I make a dish, I am instantly so proud of what I accomplished, from the taste to the plating. Because of my experience in Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda Market, I will forever remain passionate about my career and the goals that I accomplish whether big or small.

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