Kosher (כשר) refers to food that was prepared in accordance with Jewish religious laws, or halakha (הלכה). A restaurant is kosher if it only serves kosher food – so no pork, no sea food and no meat and dairy in the same dish.
Luckily for those of us who don’t keep kosher, many places in Tel Aviv are not kosher, meaning you can easily find pork, shrimps and even pizza with bacon.
However, it is also quite easy to find kosher places – and that explains why many restaurants would be closed on Fridays and Saturdays (Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest). It also means that finding dairy-free options is much easier in kosher places – if they serve meat, you wouldn’t find anything dairy there.
>> As much as we all love hummus, Tel Aviv has a lot more than that to offer in terms of food and drinks – that’s what we are here for. >> Feel free to ask us more specific questions via the Ask a Local app.