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Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Jerusalem’s lattes
Israelis call it the most authentically Middle Eastern market in the country. They come for the fresh bread and produce, meat and fish, and also to eat hummus and falafel in tiny storefronts under the shouts of merchants hawking their wares.
So, it is no surprise that when the Israeli coffee chain Aroma — Israel’s answer to Starbucks — moved into the Mehana Yehuda market, a few people were upset.
“It’s an atrocity,” Ran Shacham, a 24-year-old history and law major at Hebrew University told me today. “It’s the end of little Israel, and I can’t stand it. It destroys the chance to sit in front of oranges and hear people scream.”
The market, located in an old neighborhood of West Jerusalem, has landed on the front lines of Israel’s struggle with gentrification.
Jerusalem cleaves to its identity as an old place, where the stones, even the cries of street vendors are sacred.
Shacham, who grew up near Tel Aviv, called the market “authentic” and “magic.” He was sitting at a cramped table with friends, eating an inexpensive meal of potato and beef stew. The floor was dirty and he didn’t seem to mind.
Meanwhile, the tables at Aroma were packed, mostly with English-speaking tourists.
“We decided to eat here, because, to be honest, it seems the cleanest,” said Rachel Kalter, 26, from California. She called the salads and choice of ice lattes a “nice break from Israeli food.”
A random sampling of nearby merchants welcomed the arrival of Aroma, as well as a couple designer women’s clothing stores.
“It’s something amazing because this market has become a boutique market,” said 65-year-old Menachem Mezrahi, who has worked at his family’s bakery there for 40 years. “We want it to become young. The younger people spend more money.”
Still, the old timers were skeptical.
“Aroma looks clean now, but I’m not sure it will last,” said Menashe Budko, 72, who was playing backgammon at a tea establishment that is so local the owners never bothered to give it a name.