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India’s Tandoori connection with
Israel:
Reena Pushkarna |
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JERUSALEM: When the sari-clad Reena Pushkarna walks
down the streets of Israel, people often accost her with a smile and say
"mitzvah", or good deed.
That's because many are grateful to the Israeli
Indian restaurateur for giving them jobs - and hope - at a time of
distress.
"If by holding on to my business I can also help other people
alleviate their own troubles, that makes me happy," Pushkarna said.
As
hundreds of Israeli small businesses fold under, she is creatively fighting back
recession with competitive prices and a new oriental food packing
plant.
The plant is situated in Beit She'an, a struggling town of 18,000
residents just south of the Sea of Galilee and where it will help alleviate
chronic unemployment.
About 700 people are currently jobless,
constituting some eight percent of the town's 12,000-strong
workforce.
Pushkarna's Israel-wide chain of six Indian restaurants has
suffered a 20-30 percent loss of income in the last three years due to Israel's
armed conflict with the Palestinians and the virtual cessation of international
tourism to the country.
But being a family-oriented business charging
medium range prices, none of her restaurants has closed down. "It is a battle to
survive," she said.
Reena Pushkarana, a 43-year-old India
born to a Jewish mother and a Sikh father, who later converted to Judaism
went to Israel 20 years ago. Having no culinary experience, this enterprising
woman opened a small Indian food joint ‘Ichkdana’ in 1983 in Tel Aviv,
Israel.
The only Hindi
word Israelis were probably familiar with was picked up from Raj Kapoor’s
Shri 420. This was beginning of the journey. Her food became a sensation
and within a year she opened a restaurant named Tandoori at Dezingoff Square
in Tel Aviv.
Interestingly, Tandoori was set
up when India and Israel were not on talking terms. In fact, the first Indian
delegation, that went to Israel in 1992 after diplomatic relations were
revived between the two countries, was hosted by Pushkarana’s Tandoori. Even
the first peace talks between Israel and Palestine were held at Tandoori
before moving to Oslo.
At present, Reena is running a
chain of seven Indian restaurants, two in Jerusalem, two in Herzliah Pituach,
one each in Eliat, Ramat Hachyal and Tel Aviv. Tandoori is a favourite not
only among Indians but Israelis as well, particularly those who have visited
India. Dignitaries and bureaucrats are regular visitors to Tandoori. Her food
is also served at various official functions.
When Reena came to Israel with
her family to give it a try, she fell in love with her homeland and decided
to settle down here. For her success, she gives credit to her husband who
manages the whole show behind the curtains. Her culinary skill combined with
management experience of her husband, who served as captain in the merchant
navy, has made Tandoori a success. While sailing the seas with her husband,
she developed her love for food and traded recipes with the chief chef of
every ship she travelled in.
Her enterprise took an amazing
twist when Reena started Israel’s only Kosher Indian restaurant in Jerusalem
and Tiberias. Indian cuisine often relies on blending yoghurt with chicken
which is a religious taboo for non-vegetarian Jews. Dietary laws of Judaism
prescribe separation of milk and meat products. Both are never mixed or even
cooked together simultaneously in the kitchen. Reena, therefore developed a
substitute for milk/yogurt in parev milk (made of soybean powder). Even
cheese is replaced by parev milk retaining the original flavour. It is
difficult even for an Indian to make out the difference in taste.
Until recently, most of Pushkarna's staff were Indian
nationals on 12-month Israeli work permits. But because of increasingly
restrictive interior ministry licensing, police arrests and forced repatriation
of illegal guest labourers, she now employs mostly local Israeli staff,
retaining only her Indian chefs.
Pushkarna now also regularly employs 12
security guards outside her restaurants "because of the security situation".
"Nobody will dare to come in otherwise, and this is obviously an
additional carrying cost," she said.
In recent weeks, since the
unilateral Palestinian 'Hudna' or Islamic ceasefire, domestic and some
international tourism has shown an upturn to Eilat on the Red Sea.
Pushkarna's two restaurants at the Las Vegas-style vacation resort there
have only partially benefited from the influx of vacationers.
"It's hard
to compete with the fabulous deals offered to them at top luxury hotels," she
explained.
"So if I can't beat them, I must join them. Indian fare now
tops the list of ethnic cuisines in Israel and Israelis demand it," she said,
referring to a recent survey of Israeli dining out habits.
With typical
ingenuity, Pushkarna has arranged exclusive Indian menu nights at various Eilat
hotel dining rooms on different nights of the week where her staff serves dishes
prepared in her own restaurant kitchens in the city.
"I am a Jew and I
originally came to Israel to be part of the Jewish people in this country. I
have sunk all my family's money and 20 years of our life here. I just can't give
up and leave. I must go on," said Pushkarna.
Named PRSKV, an acronym
stringing the first letter of the name of each member of Pushkarna's family, her
new oriental food packing plant will prepare individually packaged, precooked,
oriental meals -- Indian, Japanese, Chinese and Thai.
The plant will
produce and distribute in local and overseas markets through Supersol, a major
Israeli supermarket chain.
Pushkarna already has a successful two-year
distribution agreement with Supersol, marketing four varieties of packaged
Indian pre-cooked food under her trade name Reena's Fresh and Ethnic Indian
Kitchen. All one needs to do is put the packet in the microwave, heat, tear open
and eat.
The plant is located in premises being renovated at a cost of
$1.5 million in Beit She'an. Set to launch in early 2004, PRSKV will provide
work to 150 women, many of them unemployed single mothers.
Israel has
some 310,000 unemployed, close to 12 percent of the national workforce, mostly
laid off by global economic trends, the country's difficult security situation,
a mounting deficit budget, low consumer spending and rising high overhead costs
that have guillotined uncompetitive industries, forcing closures, public service
cost-efficiency dismissals and mass layoffs.
But, says Pushkarna: "I am
an incorrigible optimist. I am determined to pull through and I still have my
hope, in spite of the current economic and security situation."
Reena is currently writing a book on Indian
cookery in Hebrew. Her programme on Indian cuisine is telecast every Tuesday
on national television. Pushkarana’s Tandoori has become a legend in Israel
and visiting the place for Indians is a must.
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