The Jerusalem Post - The Jerusalem Post Magazine
A DAY IN SHELLY YACIMOVICH’S KITCHEN
I was recently invited by Knesset opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich to join her in her kitchen at her Tel Aviv home. Yacimovich told me that she’s loved cooking since she was a kid and that she mostly learned how to cook from her friends’ moms and while traveling (her own mother, a Holocaust survivor, was less interested in food – she was more concerned that none of it went to waste).
Over the years, Yacimovich has created her own eclectic style, which combines bits and pieces of Italian, Moroccan, Persian, Asian and her own family’s Jewish Ashkenazi cuisine.
“I’ve been a bit distracted with the primaries recently, but generally I cook up a storm every weekend,” she tells me. Her pantry is full of well-labeled jars of spices, and she has a well-maintained herb garden at home, which she takes advantage of to prepare her signature barbecued fish and vegetables (her daughter used to be vegetarian, and her son and daughter-in-law are pescatarians).
Although Yacimovich spends most of her hours engaged in politics, she loves to watch cooking shows on TV and learn new recipes. I could tell right away when I walked into her kitchen that she loved to cook and bake. Her shelves and pantry were well stocked, and she had soup stock labeled in her freezer, ready to use with fresh produce she buys at the nearby Carmel Market.
“Cooking plays an extremely important role in my life. Preparing meals for my family gives meaning to my life,” she says.
One of Yacimovich’s favorite dishes is hummus. She boils up a big pot of garbanzo beans and then freezes most of them for future use.
“Sometimes I dream of taking a break from my life and going to culinary school somewhere exotic,” she says. “Not to become some famous chef – just to learn how to cook in a way that’s new to me.”