LE PHOTOGRAPHE DU DIMANCHE

LIFESTYLE • FRENCH DELIGHTS

The thousand and one

flavors of Israeli cuisine
By Léo Pajon

Published on June 11, 2023, at 4:12 pm (Paris)

6 min.

Subscribers only

INVESTIGATION | Several Parisian restaurants are championing –

and updating – recipes from the Levant, honoring fresh
vegetables and delectable spices.

About a decade ago, a book was published singing the praises of

olive oil, burnt eggplant soup and stuffed artichokes. Jerusalem
was a bestseller, bringing together two authors, chefs and buddies:
Yotam Ottolenghi, from the Jewish part of the city, and Sami
Tamimi, from the Palestinian part. Today, Ottolenghi heads a
clutch of seven restaurants in London and has become one of the
most popular chefs in the world. The publishing house Hachette
claims that his books have sold 10 million copies and 500,000 in
France alone (leading the list is the best-seller Simple, published in
2018).

From books to TV shows, the British-Israeli has demonstrated that

vegetables can stand on their own and has popularized
ingredients that were previously rare in Western cupboards, such
as zaatar (a spice blend made from thyme) and tahini (a creamy
sesame-based condiment). His name has even become an
adjective for fans who like to explain how to prepare "Ottolenghi
eggplant."

With the return of a seasonal approach to cooking, one might have

thought that the craze for Israeli cuisine, full of sun-drenched
ingredients, would deflate like a soufflé caught in the cold. Not so.
Today, Ottolenghi's "children" have been carrying the torch, like
Julien Sebbag, for whom the book Jerusalem remains a major
source of inspiration.

The young chef with a studied look, somewhere between a Christ-

like figure and a rock devotee, has opened three new locations in
recent months. At Micho, on Rue de Richelieu in Paris, Sebbag
creates highly savory sandwiches using seasonal vegetables
(currently artichokes and wild garlic pesto), priced between €13
and €16 each. At Forest, a chain in Marseille (Joliette district) and
in Paris (at the Museum of Modern Art, Avenue du Président-
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