On the Ground in Israel A personal view of our efforts in Israel from Amir Shacham, UJC MetroWest Director of Israel Operations October 20, 2009

Our Cooking Ladies It was some three years ago when Smadar Kaplinski came to see me and asked for MetroWest’s support to make her dream come true. Part of my job is to meet people and try to match their dreams with our community’s agenda and with the needs of the Jewish people at large. Naturally, reality is complex and many dreams simply do not match. Smadar’s dream was a perfect match. I think that we both recognized it in that first meeting but didn’t realize ourselves how successful it would be and how large of a wave it was going to create. Perhaps it was so because many other women’s dreams were involved and so the energy that was generated as a result was amazingly powerful. With the full support and enthusiasm of the joint P2K steering committee along with many other individuals, agencies and entities in Israel and in New Jersey, we were able to recruit and empower a group of women from Ofakim and Merchavim. We trained them to use their ethnic skills and to create their own independent business for the first time in their lives. Now they are opening a restaurant and catering company. The dream is now reality and it is shared by so many people in our global community of Ofakim/Merchavim/MetroWest. On Sunday, many MetroWest women and men marched together in a walkathon to raise money for the ISHA center in Ofakim. The initiative of Temple Bnai Abraham’s sisterhood together with so many others in our community is only another demonstration of the huge living bridge that connects us. We share a dream and are working together to make it reality. The article from Ma’ariv daily about “our cooking ladies” speaks for itself. Please take pride in this UJC MetroWest success story, and come visit and taste. You will get a special treat as MetroWest members and dream fulfillers.

Drishat Shalom,

Amir

The “Couscous Cooperative”: Women from the south made cooking into a business

(by: Uri Binder, Maariv online article 13/Oct/2009)
http://www.nrg.co.il/online/55/ART1/952/962.html

Translation by Nitza Houser

A group of women from southern Israel decided to give up retirement and start to combine business with what they like to do best: cooking together. They set up a cooperative, cooked for some very fortunate company employees, and now will run a restaurant.

They did not take a class on how to be a director, they have no background in running companies, and none of them has an MBA, but a group of not-so-young women from the south has managed to turn mom’s cooking into a successful business, which is already famous across the Negev and is well known in the dining halls of the big high-tech companies in central Israel.

So here you have it: a for-profit start-up based on couscous, stuffed chicken, and Tunisian meatballs from mom’s kitchen, which is succeeding because of the will power, the recipes, and the individual abilities of each and every member of the “Couscous Cooperative.” There is not one patron who has eaten there and who has not become an advocate, urging friends and family to spoil themselves with old-fashioned food at events or just on any regular day.

Now, at the Neve Midbar spa, on the road to Kibutz Revivim, the co-op has taken over a restaurant located above the geothermal pools. Tourists from Israel and around the world can now bathe in the pools, rest, and enjoy Mafrum for dessert.

“My dream is that this place will thrive and become successful, and that’s why we are working from dawn to dusk,” says Nava Yifrach, 46, a married mother of five, who is a co-president of the cooking cooperative. For many years she has served as a department manager in a Carmel carpet factory in Netivot. She studied architectural design until asked to run women’s empowerment projects and serve as a coordinator on women’s status issues in Ofakim.

Nava belongs to the managerial staff and not the cooking staff, as she notes with a smile: “I was drafted to be part of the steering committee. I have proven myself in logistics, but not in cooking. My mother always cooked, so I did not have to, but now, after some time with the cooperative, I am holding my own in cooking.”

What is your area of expertise?

“Stuffed dishes, as well as cookies and cakes.”

What is the hardest part of the job?

“I had to brainwash the husbands of our participating co-op members, so they will let the members work and invest their time and energy. We are building a great business, and want people to come eat at our restaurant.”

…and so this colorful group cooks all night and has a good time — for themselves, and their customers. Esther Mimon, 67, mother of five and grandmother of 19, joined the cooperative after she retired from her job as a nursery teacher for the Ofakim township. She specializes in Tunisian couscous, as well as Chila, Esbana, stuffed vegetables, stuffed spleen, stuffed fish, and Mafrum.

Cochi Ben-Armon, 49, a married mother of four, was a stay-at-home mom until she arrived from Ofakim to prepare meatballs in red sauce and salads. Sara Elgazar, 45, a married mother of three, used to be a teacher’s helper at nursery schools, but she always loved to cook. Today she specializes mostly in sweets and Maámul cookies.

Tomatoes on a plane

The cooperative started about three years ago during the yearly “Red South” flower festival in the western Negev. Smadar Kaplinsky, co-president with Nava Yifrach, arrived from Rehovot to set up this unconventional project.

“Together with the Jewish Agency and Partnership 2000, we were looking for a project which will contribute to the area’s tourism,” says Kaplinsky. “We contacted the representatives of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, and together with the local leadership in Ofakim and Merchavim we got the ball rolling. We published ads calling for women interested in ethnic entrepreneurial projects and in keeping traditions alive to join us.”

Tens of women responded to the ads, and an initial group of 30 women was formed. They brought with them an amazingly rich array of traditional food and unique holiday customs, and created a unique feminine experience of song, music, dance, smells, and flavors. “We decided that our meetings will cover not only food, but also the stories of the various ethnic groups, immigration [Aliya] stories as well as family stories,” recalls Kaplinsky with pride.

“This entire ensemble resonates with the public, and we get invited to events. First, we built a relationship with the southern public through events at the Patish Fortress [historical site] near Ofakim. Today, for example, we are already negotiating with the Jewish National Fund for a license to operate the site for the community.”

The money earned in those events — which blended food with stories — was saved for a trip to the U.S. “We were going to present ourselves in a few communities which were very enthusiastic about us,” recalls Kaplinsky. “25 women went on this trip, and for 18 of us this was the first time on an airplane. One of the women had tomato juice spilled on her pants, so she hand-washed them in the bathroom, and hung them to dry in the airplane. Passengers were stunned by this original solution.”

“I was trained as a beautician, but got tired of touching women’s faces,” says Aviva Avraham, a married mother of three, who fell in love with Yemenite food in Moshav Bitcha. She joined the group of women thanks to the local community center, after serving as a cook at the nursery schools. “My mother is an authentic Moroccan cook and she taught me how to cook spicy foods. I specialize in cooking fish and sheep head stew [cervaux]. Stewing fish is a Moroccan invention, especially using Cilantro with flowers as seasoning above and below the fish. Today it’s becoming trendy with everyone.”

Authentic Gourmet

Rachel Faraj, 55, from Moshav Renan near Ofakim, a married mother of three and grandmother of six, did not enjoy the variety of jobs she had held. She worked in agriculture, as did many of the women in her Moshav, founded by the Karaite Jewish sect that emigrated from Egypt. She studied to become a librarian and served for many years as the librarian of the Merchavim regional council. She also studied adult sports instruction. Now, she is so thrilled to belong to the cooking cooperative that her past employment pales in comparison. Today she chairs the cooks’ association and is happier than ever.

Faraj grew up at her grandmother’s house, where she learned the wonderful moto “Cook with love what you love to eat.” She grew up with traditional cooking, with no recipes or accurate measurements for spices and seasonings. “We cooked mixed Egyptian fare, rich in stuffed grape leaves, Kibbe, chicken stuffed with unfamiliar flavors, and cookies with or without honey.”

At the cooperative, she is responsible for bread and pita but mostly for the stuffed chicken — which has already become a legend among past patrons. So if you like stuffed chicken with a unique flavor, you owe yourself a taste of Faraj’s delicacy. It all glides down your throat in no time. She is willing to reveal just a few of her secrets. “In my stuffed chicken I have a lot of cranberries and pine nuts. My grandmother taught me to make this dish with dried apricots, but I have replaced them with cranberries.”

What in your opinion is the most important thing?

“The bond between the girls.”

Did this change your daily life a bit?

“Absolutely. I have finally discovered what I love to do with my life. My husband used to invite guests, and I would cook for them. Now I’m busy, and we can’t invite people over without prior coordination based on my schedule. But I know my family misses me, too. My son used to call from the army and say, ‘Mom, I’m on the way home with six friends, can you please cook some of your special delicacies? Today it’s no longer possible.”

So how does the family react?

“My husband now has to warm up his food and eat without me. I am busy with events which require a lot of work and peace of mind.”

Esther Lankri, 40, a married mother of three, is the youngest member and serves as the event and restaurant designer. “I have a design office in Ofakim, so they came to me,” she says. “It is important to us that our guests will be greeted both with colors and smells when entering our events.”

And cooking?

“My specialty is salads. I have a secret ingredient that makes the difference. I hope to bring a new look and a new life to the Neve Midbar restaurant. Being together makes us stronger and we can cook all night long.”

Shmuel Rifman, mayor of the regional council Ramat Negev, helped them move their center of operations to the Neve Midbar site. Yesterday Rifman said: “This amazing phenomenon of women who have decided, at a not-so-young age, to seek employment by cooking, which is what they know how to do best, deserves every praise, encouragement, and incentive. When we decided that my son’s wedding will take place at Revivim, it was clear to me that these women will fit right in with the warm, family atmosphere at the event. To this day, I still get excited comments on the food from our guests.”

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