Arab chefs carve out a distinct cuisine in Israel

Last week, two dozen Arab chefs and a handful of Jewish ones descended on the northern port city of Haifa for four days of celebrating Arab cuisinePalestinian chef Johnny Goric has cooked for U.S. President Barack Obama and served as a judge on the Palestinian version of Masterchef, a reality TV cooking show. In July, he put out his first cookbook but rather than publish in his native Arabic or in English, Goric's debut recipes are in Hebrew.

His book highlights something unexpected about the rising class of Palestinian and Israeli Arab chefs, who are breaking out of the shadow of Israel's bustling food scene with new restaurants, cookbooks and culinary schools: their best clients are often Israelis.

In the past two decades, the Israeli cuisine has flourished on the international scene. Last year the gourmet food and wine publication, Saveur Magazine, named Tel Aviv an "outstanding" food destination. The local edition of Masterchef is popular among Israelis and a homegrown cooking show, Game of Chefs, was recently remade for German television.

Although it relies on the same local ingredients, Palestinian cooking has received much less international attention until now.

Last week, two dozen Arab chefs and a handful of Jewish ones descended on the northern port city of Haifa for four days of celebrating Arab cuisine. The festival was founded by the Arab Israeli chef Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, who shot to national acclaim when she won Israeli Masterchef in 2014 and regularly appears on food programs in the country.

At the Haifa festival, curious crowds milled around a restaurant kitchen while Jewish Israeli celebrity chef Meir Adoni prepared hummus dishes alongside the Arab Israeli restaurateur Hussam Abbas.