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Central Asian and Caucasus Jewish cuisine arrived in Israel with the great Bukharan, Mountain Jewish (Juhuro), and Georgian aliyot, bringing plov, khinkali, khachapuri and a tea-and-rice culture that reshaped neighborhoods like Bukharim quarter in Jerusalem and Hadar in Haifa. This lesson covers the signature dishes, the Shabbat overnight specialties, and the social rituals (right-hand plov, green tea ceremony) that distinguish these communities from both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi mainstreams.
Cultural note, Bukharan Jews kept strict kashrut for centuries in Muslim Central Asia, which gave them a distinctive food signature: zero pork ever (unlike surrounding Russian/Soviet cuisine), heavy lamb and beef, rice as staple, and a Shabbat overnight stew (oshi sabo) that predates and parallels the Ashkenazi cholent. Mountain Jews of the Caucasus share the rice culture but add Georgian-influenced walnut sauces and dumplings. In Israel today these cuisines fuse with Mizrahi and Yemenite traditions in restaurants like Bukhara on Rechov Yehezkel in Jerusalem.
Bukharan Plov & Rice Dishes
Mountain Jew & Caucasian Specialties
Georgian Khachapuri & Khinkali
Soups & Stews (Lagman, Oshi Sabo)
Sweets, Tea & Daily Bread
A Shabbat Lunch in the Bukharim Quarter
A Shabbat lunch dialogue at a Bukharan family home in the Bukharim quarter of Jerusalem, the etiquette of plov, the right-hand rule, the tea ceremony.