Food

Food Truck Serves Up Shakshuka — and Middle East Peace?

By Liza Schoenfein April 23, 2015

The Shuka Team (the three 20-something Israeli pals in baseball caps) says that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon (center foreground) just experienced his first taste of shakshuka — and loved every bite.

“The Shuka Truck will bring the PEACE to the middle EAST,” according to a , three Israeli friends who rolled out their food truck in New York City on December 1, 2014.

Listen, whatever works.

“@UN Secretary- General ‪#‎Ban‬ Ki- Moon is having his very First taste of Shakshuka from the @shukatruck and he LOVED it !!” the post continued.

The Shuka truck, which roams the streets of New York, sharing its location via Facebook and Twitter, was parked on 2nd Avenue in the 40s on Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, outside Israel’s mission to the U.N.

Whether it was a symbolic gesture of political diplomacy or a universal gesture of culinary affinity, know one knows for sure.

The Shuka Team is Josh Sharon, Solomon Taraboulsi and Gabriel Israel — longtime pals who moved to New York a little over a year ago to pursue careers in real estate and restaurants. Instead, they ended up doling out the ever-popular Israeli/Tunisian breakfast of fried eggs over spicy, earthy tomato sauce to New Yorkers far and wide.

Maybe the change of course was worth their effort.

Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at schoenfein@forward.com. Her personal blog is Life, Death & Dinner

Liza Schoenfein is a former food editor of the Forward and author of the blog Life, Death & Dinner. Follow her on Instagram @LifeDeathDinner.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO