The Food We Eat

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Tehina and Hummus pastes and salads are very popular in Israel. So, whenever salmonella or other such bacteries are discovered in these products, consumers get hysterical. 

The latter react to the news as if they don't really know what is in the food sold at supermarkets or that served at restaurants  - all the time -  not only in the sample test results. The truth is salmonella and its friends cause unpleasant stomach and bowel issues, but one rarely dies of it, so people go on eating and ignoring, ignoring and eating.

Anyway, salmonella was found recently  not only in the above food items but also in granola (breakfast cereal). The Ministry of Health is busy now checking the hygiene standards of all involved as well as cancelling licenses of suppliers.

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The other day, while at the supermarket, I came upon a jar with four big white fish meat balls. The label on the jar looked attractive: low calorie/high protein value, no sugar added. But then I saw the expiring date: 2020; we're not even in 2017 yet! That means the fish balls are packed with lots of preservatives.

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The sad thing is that even if one prepares one's food at home, still the ingredients ( including veggies which could be contaminated  either by worms  or by chemicals used to destroy those worms)  - are bought from external sources:  the store or farmer markets. 

Those who grow their own food (veggies, meat, eggs, fruit) - do better, of course;  however a lot depends on the standard of hygiene in their homes and garden areas.

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The Age and The Stage

Habima Theater

A comedy named  "What are we gonna do about Jenny"(originally an american play) is being performed at our national theater Habima .The protagonists are two veteran, esteemed actresses: Devora Keidar and Lya Koenig.

the ad of the play 

It so happened that I saw one of the two leading actresses walking on the street, and a week  after, I watched the other one on a TV interview show, called 'Intimate'.

Devora Keidar is 92 years old. Without the make up, her face shows her age. However, her gait is that of a young woman. She came out of a building , carrying her personal leather purse. I watched her walk and cross the street ;she did that with grace and easiness.

At 92 one doesn't usually care much about wrinkles; one does care about mobility and  cognitive functioning. It seems she's got them both in very good condition. In the play she performs the part of Jenny, a fresh widow  of 75 who insists on celebrating life with a lover, champagne, musicians... to the despair of her family and friends who want her to behave appropriately to her age.

Lya Koenig , Devora's collegue and friend, is younger, only 87; a very talented, active, and charismatic actress (she's Jenny's sister -in-law in the play).

The host on the TV  'Intimate' show asked her about the reason for her not having children. In reply, she invoked the usual: career, touring the world, the post -world war2 mentality of not bringing children in this gloomy world etc..

She then opened up and mentioned an episode in the hospital. Her late husband, in bed with cancer, was looking at some kids that were visiting a patient in the bed next to his. 'You know' , he said to her, 'Perhaps we've made a mistake. Who's going to make you a cup of tea when I'm gone?'

By the way,  the oldest actor in the world active on stage (according to Guiness in 2013), the romanian Radu Beligan, died in July. He was 97 and he had appeared successfully on stage until April 2016!