Mahneh Yehuda - Open Market

[Lior]

ALl year round there is a famous open market in Jerusalem called "Mahneh Yehuda". There are at least 250 stalls and countless kiosks. The market consists of two main streets running parallel and small, narrow streets connecting between them. Most of the street names are names of fruits and nuts. There is, for example, Apple St, Peach St, Plum St, Almond street, Nut street, Stawberry street etc.

A large variety of goods can be bought at prices that are usually less than in supermarkets or stores. This includes, spices, teas, coffees, fruits, vegies, jewelry,clothes, bags, souvenirs and so forth. There are juice stands selling freshly squeezed juice in front of you, such as oranges and pomegranates.

Kiosks sell falafel,Shawarma,Pitas filled with "Jerusalem Mix" which is an assortment of different kinds of meats. Not uncommon is a joke here that when there is a kid born to "mixed" parents for example a Yemenite mother and a Hungarian ather like my husband-one jokely refers to such a person as A Jerusalem Mix".

One can buy baked breads like all sorts of pitas, baked goods stuffed with meat or vegetables and pastries. There are ice cream stands and cafes selling "Black COffee" which is also called "cafe BOTZ" as the bottom of the glass cup has a sediment of mud-like coffee grind finely. Espressos are also popular.

There are different ethnic sections in the market. One popular one is the Iraqi section, which was established in 1931. There you can find Pistachio nuts, rices, legumes, and rosewater. There are kubbeh restaurants there such as Ima Kubbeh bar and Mordoch. Kubbeh is a kind of stuffed dumpling...

Also fascinating is the stall of Eli Uzi, a 64 year old yemenite Jew who came to Israel when he was 7 with his family. His family has medicine knowledge that has been passed down by word of mouth within his family for hundreds of years. He gets at least 200 "patients" a day. He makes juice out of Yemenite etrogs (I make truffles). He has a love serum, a tonic against early pregnancy nausea etc. I will include an interview of him that I found on You Tube.

There is an Ethiopian section where special spices, grains and coffee beans can be bought. The grain Teff, which is a very tiny grain used by the Ethiopian community to make their bread,called Injera. It is suitable, by the way, for celiacs to eat as long as not mixed with wheat flour.

[Lior]

Here is the interview with Eli Uzi. His English accent is heavy...

medicine man

[Lior]

A cute video of the open market during last year's August open market festival at Mahneh Yehuda:

[Darienne]

Wonderful posts and videos, Lior. Definitely not Peterborough, Ontario.

[scubadoo97]

Lior, I have wondered through that market. My biggest frustration was that I didn't have a place to cook all the wonderful things I passed by.

[Lior]

you shoulda come to my house! What a pity! You could have made us dinner! When were you here? Did you enjoy it at least? Did you eat there? I hope that any egulleter who comes to my neck of the woods will now let me know!

Darienne, sometime we wish it were Ontario-believe me!!! At least some cold weather!