Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

No Shakshuka For You, Donald!

When the American First Family dined at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence on Monday night, Israeli celebrity chef Segev Moshe made sure the menu would appeal to President Donald Trump’s all-American tastes.

Among the safely familiar offerings were hamburger sliders, steak with barbecue sauce and molten chocolate cake (sprinkled with edible gold-leaf). Israeli food might be trending in the United States, but the Israelis decided to give Trump what they knew he’d enjoy. (In Riyadh, the President was fed steak and ketchup, while also being offered a choice of local dishes.)

Meeting of minds? For dessert the two leaders could gaze at their own profiles, which were fused as the backdrop for pralines shaped like chess pieces. Image by Courtesy of Haaretz

“It was important to the Netanyahus that the president feel at home,” Moshe said, according to a report in Haaretz.

The slider course was called “A Taste of America” on the printed menu. It was followed by a course called “A Path To Peace,” which consisted of salmon with a miso-caramel glaze. Next was “Lifting the World,” a choice of fish or fillet of beef with barbecue sauce.

In addition to the chocolate cake, dessert included apple pie as well as baklava and a rose-scented rice pudding called malabi — finally, a touch of local flavor.

Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @LifeDeathDinner

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.