So guys, if you’re Jewish, you know what Birthright is. If not, you can’t sit with us!! Jk. I mean, you can’t go on birthright if you aren’t Jewish, but you can still sit with us I guess. 

So for those of you who don’t know, Birthright is a ten day, free trip to Israel that you are only allowed to go on if you are Jewish by heritage or religion. Even though it feels like a free vacation with lots of partying, the point of the trip is really to learn about the history of the Jewish people. It was a really inspiring and fun trip that I totally recommend for anyone who’s Jewish and under 30!

Serious stuff aside, let’s get back to the food. So on birthright, they basically take you EVERYWHERE around the country including: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Northern Israel, Southern Israel, even the Negev desert. Just so you know, Israel is actually an INCREDIBLY vegan country. Most of the places we visited had vegan food, but if you visit and don’t see anything specified vegan, just know there is literally always falafel (which is bomb AF), rice, french fries, and hella hummus. I promise, wherever you are, you will not go hungry. You may end up sick of falafel, but you won’t go hungry lol. 

Disclaimer: I’m going to try to break this post into the different sections of Israel we visited. I’m sorry if some overlap or if I get any wrong. 

Also, for anyone curious, we did the Mayanot Adventure trip, age group 22-26. 

EL AL: 

So El Al is the airline you will most likely take if you’re going anywhere from the United States to Israel. It’s actually a pretty good airline and if you’re smart (like moi), you’ll call in advance and order a vegan meal! Most people shit on plane food all the time, but I am literal human trash and will eat anything that’s vegan and in front of me. TBH, I didn’t think the food was bad at all. I actually enjoyed it for the most part! 

The dinner was a chickpea curry with rice and had a side of pita and hummus, salad, and a delicious chocolate mouse. The breakfast on the same flight was a bagel with jam, and a side of dried fruit, regular fruit, and salad. I didn’t get a picture of my breakfast from Tel Aviv back to NY, but I actually got a BOMB tofu scramble and a side of these breakfast potato slices that were literally delicious. 

HAIFA DISTRICT: 

This was the first section of Israel we visited. Can’t read Hebrew, but we went to this small town and saw this falafel place. BEST FALAFEL I HAD ON THIS TRIP. We got the normal pita with falafel, Israeli salad, cabbage, hummus, and tahini. 10/10 recommend. I still dream about this place. 

NORTHERN ISRAEL: 

Then we went to Northern Israel and were allowed to eat in this mall and guess what…??? WE FOUND A PLACE WITH HELLA VEGAN OPTIONS!! It was called Landwers and I think they have a few locations in Israel including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. All of the vegan options were clearly marked on the menu. 

For lunch, we got some BOMB ASS basil tomato pasta. Bella and I literally scarfed it down so quickly, we burned our throats. Then we got the vegan shwarma (because when in Israel, ya know?) and it was ok. We also didn’t have time to eat it in the restaurant and had it cold, so maybe it’s better hot? 

For dessert we got THE MOST DELICIOUS RUGELACH I’VE EVER HAD. It was chocolate and tahini flavored and they literally give you 100 of them. 11/10 recommend. 

TIBERIAS: 

There’s not much to do in Tiberias (like actually zero), but our group went there for dinner. The place we went to was called Big Ben and it was half bar/half restaurant. We got the hummus and pita to start. For dinner, we got the falafel and fried pita, which was bomb af. Also, the staff was super nice and accomodating. Wouldn’t go out of your way to see Tiberias, but if you do, at least you know you can eat something!

TEL AVIV:  

Tel Aviv is soooooo fucking DOPE!!! It’s such a cool city and it’s right on the beach (which was, btw, gorgeous)! It’s so hip, it’s probably one of my favorite cities ever. Anyway, Tel Aviv, since it is metropolitan, has plenty of vegan options. 

First place we went was: Hummus Dani (according to our tour guide, it has the best hummus in Israel). So we went there and had a MOUNTAIN of hummus with pita. Bella said it was all right; meanwhile, Rebecca and I were salivating over its deliciousness. We LOVED it.

The second place we went was: Urbano, which is this cute little cafe that literally had a sign outside that said, “Vegan monday.” Since we already ate at Hummus Dani, we just got some delicious almond milk lattes (with foam on top! #yasss) and we shared a bruschetta. It was so good! Wish I had more time to try the other options. 

Then we went to Carmel Market but they have a million stands with a bajillion fresh fruit stands. We also got a fresh squeezed orange/pomegranate juice and it was soooooo good. Why don’t they have pomegranate juice in the US???

They also have a Buraka stand (I believe a Buraka is a fried tortilla thing with different fillings) and they had a vegan one with vegan mashed potatoes inside. it was soooooo good. Greasy AF, but good if you don’t care about clogging your arteries!

There was also this health supermarket in the market (which apparently is a chain around Israel, kind of like a smaller Whole Foods) and they had SOOOOO many vegan options. Vegan meats, cheeses, ice creams, cookies, bar, you name it! These are some of the things I got while there (but I also got a shit ton more lol).

JERUSALEM: 

Jerusalem is pretty much the Holy city of the world. There is sooooo much history here, plus it is just a beautiful place in general. PLUS, there is hella vegan food. 

So we went to a huge market called: Mehane Yehuda Market, which has countless fruit stands, plus a bunch of other vegan stands. 

They had these awesome dried fruit cubes, which came is alllll these different flavors such as: iced tea, mint, strawberry, etc. They literally tasted like candy. 

We also ran into a bakery with vegan options called: Boutique Central Patisserie. It was SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got vegan jam cookies, vegan tahini-almond cookies, and vegan chocolate-chip peanut butter cookies. Plus, we also got the most delectible mouse/brownie jar thing and I shit you not, I still dream about it to this day. 

There was also a little restaurant that had vegan options! How sick!? It’s in the middle of the market and it’s called Haagas. If you need something to identify it by, it has a little pear on the top of the door!

Anyway, they had a bunch of vegan options marked on the menu, so Bella and I split the hummus (because hummus is life??) and the vegan shakshuka!!! For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s an incredibly popular Israeli dish which normally is eggs in tomato sauce, but the vegan one had tofu. It was so good and fresh!! LOVE this place.

Last but not least, the market had a smoothie place (which I believe may be a chain around Israel) called Re:bar. Although it’s not all vegan, they have the COOLEST vegan combos of drinks. Bella got some chocolatey shake and I got the expresso one. Both literally tasted like brownie sundaes. I was obsessed. 

Then we visited the Old City of Jerusalem, which was filled with a bunch of fruit stands. We went to a place called Holy Bagel and got bagels, which were sooooo good. Jews really are the kings and queens of bagels. We got an everything bagel (which are so much better in Israel lol) with avocado, tomato, and onions.

Then we went to a gelato place down the street where they had the cooooooolest gelato flavors. I got banana-date on the bottom (which literally tasted like the best banana ice cream I’ve ever had) and, on top, I got passion fruit (which literally had fresh passion fruits seeds in it!). So delicious. Who says you have to be in Italy to get good gelato! 

Last, but not least, in Jerusalem is this restaurant called: Cafe Greg, one of the BEST vegan meals we had on this trip. It’s located in this little cinema mall, but I believe they have mutiple locations around Israel. Not only did they have baller vegan food, but an ENTIRE vegan menu!! Brb, nutting. 

Anyway, Bella and I decided to go for the vegan pizza (yes, VEGAN PIZZA), the potato crisp salad (yes, a FRENCH FRY SALAD), and the toast salad (literally a grilled cheese cut up on top of a salad like croutons). It was all vegan and all DELICIOUS. 12/10 recommend. SO SO SO GOOD.

 

SNACKS:

All around Israel, literally every snack shop consistently has two vegan options: the passion fruit slushie (you must try it) and Bamba: an Israeli snack that is basically peanut butter cheese doodles (minus the cheese obvs). Both are delicious and a go-t0 if you’re on the run and need something to munch on. 

Anyway, that was all the food we ate on this ten-day, amazing trip! Such an amazinfg experience in an amazing place! We apologize for the poor quality in photography. We were hiking and doing a lot of physical things, so we thought it was best to leave our camera back home. Below are some photos of our adventures! Vegan on, ladies and gents!