Culinary history
A short food history of Tel Aviv-Yafo
Jaffa has worked as a port for thousands of years, and its bakeries, fish stalls and Arab kitchens are the oldest layer of the city's food. Tel Aviv was founded on the sands beside it in 1909, and the two cities were joined in 1950.
Each wave of immigration, from Yemen, Iraq, Morocco, the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, brought its own breads, spices and pickles into the markets. Hummus counters, sabich stands and Yemenite bakeries grew up next to Viennese-style cafés.
Since the 2000s the city has become known for chef-driven Israeli cooking that treats vegetables as the main event, an all-day café culture, and one of the densest vegan scenes in the world.
Food quarters
- 01Carmel MarketThe city's main open-air market, at the edge of the Yemenite Quarter.
- 02Levinsky MarketSpice shops, dried fruit and Balkan and Persian delis.
- 03Old Jaffa and the portBakeries, hummus houses and fish straight off the boats.
- 04FlorentinBars, late-night kitchens and cafés in a former industrial quarter.
