Traditional Jewish stew warms Israeli winter
Hamin, a traditional Shabbat stew, was once a staple of older generations, but this year, it has become immensely popular among young Israelis and in fashionable restaurants.
On cold weekends it’s sometimes hard to walk the streets of Tel Aviv. In addition to the cold sea wind and the drizzle that reminds us of last year’s drought, the smell of a traditional Jewish Saturday stew wafts out of many houses. For generations, the Jewish nose has been familiar with the smell of "hamin," also called "cholent," in which all sorts of meat, beans and sometimes eggs are cooked together for many hours. If you ask people to describe the scent, each will say something different. Some will describe it as a rich, sweet odor; others will say it smells sour and heavy. But all will agree that it smells like home.
For hundreds — some would argue thousands — of years, Jews have been eating this stew on the weekend. What started out as a necessity dictated by Jewish laws — a stew that can be placed on a hot plate so that one can enjoy hot food on the Shabbat without having to cook or turn on an oven (a violation of Sabbath laws that forbid any form of work) — has become trendy this winter.
The Hebrew name, "hamin," is almost as ancient as the dish itself, and its name is a mixture, just like its taste: “Ham” means “warm” in Hebrew, “hamin” being the plural form in the language of the ancient Jewish sages. In Yiddish it’s called “cholent,” and that, too, is an interesting story. Yiddish, so much of whose vocabulary is German, adopted a French expression this time: “chaud lent,” meaning “slow heat.”
Jews of Polish origin will add sugar and those of Moroccan origin will season with paprika, but the brown mush has undoubtedly been the belle of Facebook and Instagram this winter. Hamin has taken over the feeds, and judging by the amount of photos and clips on Facebook, Israelis eat it all day, every day, and no one cares if it's winter or not. And it is not just fashionable with old people or traditional Polish Jews. Everyone makes hamin. Even young people who drive on Saturday, eat seafood and have never been to a synagogue invite friends over for Saturday hamin.
