Israel Diary, Day 2

[Note: All the fulminous bloggin' that I was able to do erev Shabbat was courtesy of the our Shabbas hosts' yummy computer. I am now in the Panorama and this is bound to futz up, here's hopin']

I was able to share a minyan with the school-trip in the morning (the rest of the time I've been on my own, I'm not sure where the school went... rumors say the Negev) and we enjoyed the hotel's complimentary breakfast bar. So far, this hotel has been way better than the King David. I have no idea why the KD has appeal. I think its because of the hotel's history, or the wealth of the average occupant. But it's a poor hotel.

Example: this hotel has internet access, a useful gift shop, a decent breakfast, and complimentary newspaper every day. The KD had no internet (18 months ago when I stayed there) no gift shop, a slightly bigger breakfast and NO PAPER. That steamed me: what self-respecting hotel doesn't give you at least the cruddiest paper in the morning. If it weren't for hotels, the USAtoday would probably have folded (just as rental cars keep the "Probe" and "Sebring" on the lots and cabs & cops keep the big American cars on the market).

Anyhoo, the breakfast. As you probably can tell, I find food fascinating. Yummy too. And breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I guess its because every culture recognizes that you have been "fasting" all night and that break-fast is the most important meal of the day. This gives you, the literal consumer, license to eat whatever you want. Meat? go ahead! Pizza & coke? Strange, but acceptable. And traditional breakfast food is so filling and, dare I say, yummy, that you have permission to eat it all day. As any bachelor knows, breakfast foods - cold or pre-packaged n'frozen - are the staple of the lazy man's diet.

As I said, every culture knows this about break-fast... except Israel. Israeli breakfast, at least how I learned about them in yeshiva, are pathetic. How Israel manages to safeguard a county on morning diet of cucumbers, watery white yogurt, and brown ditch-water coffee is beyond my ken. Must by a God thing.

Hotel breakfasts try to be at least Continental in style, with an occasional nod to the American fascination with cereal. So, no matter the hotel, the breakfast is the same. A big pile of vegetables, many of them already, conveniently, smothered in white creamy paste; an extraordinary collection of high fat cheeses, cut fruit, and random pastry. The Panorama does a decent job of keeping me fat and happy - but even the vaunted King David, with their 50% larger buffet, is bigger because they put out a greater variety of things I wouldn't eat even if you paid me.