The Israeli food festival held at the Soko Restaurant at dusitD2 hotel in Nairobi runs until March 16.

To launch the week-long festival an Israeli-Kenyan importer, Baraka Israel, held food and wine tasting at dusitD2’s The Den Restaurant.

Guests, including journalists, bloggers and foodies, sampled various Israeli dishes and wines.

Much of the food had olive oil, fresh vegetables, garlic, chickpeas and spices like paprika.

Wine, a large part of the Israeli culture, is served at almost every occasion: Birth, marriage, Jewish festivals, and on Fridays.

For starters, there was hummus, tabbouleh, tahini, baba ganoush, pitta bread, falafel and a salad of diced tomatoes and cucumbers. I sampled the refreshing white Gamla Chardonnay and Gamla Riesling with the starters.

Noam Orr from Baraka Israel explained what Israeli food is or rather isn’t.

“There’s no such thing as just Israeli food, because Israel is a hybrid of cultures and religions, with influences from Russia, Yemen, Morocco and the US. It’s better to refer to it as Middle-eastern food, or Mediterranean food.”

The main course was chicken and lamb cubes, and grilled haloumi with rocket, which was accompanied by a Shiraz and a Carbernet Sauvignon.

For dessert, I had sweet pastries and crème brulee. Wines served with the dessert were a Riesling and a Zinfandel, my favourite of the evening.

Israelis made wine 6,000 years before the French, but it is not as well known as the latter's.