Culture  Lifestyle
The Dead Sea culinary mystery
Morten Berthelsen
Published: 05.11.12, 08:24
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17 Talkbacks for this article
1. Dead Sea culinary debacle
Dee ,   Kfar Neter, Israel   (11.05.12)
Not only do I agree with this article I must add that the food served in the hotels is atrocious. There are no decent restaurant alternatives even. The last time I went to a five star hotel I brought food from home. I'm not kidding. I'm amazed more people don't suffer from food poisoning. When we asked the hotel personnel about the food they said said you were crazy to eat any of it. They don't touch it! SO. We've simply STOPPED going to the Dead Sea! Sad.
2. The Dead Sea Has AMAZIING Food!
JM ,   Bet Shemesh   (11.05.12)
One thign I pride myself on is how much I love to eat - it is the key component in any vacation I take. The author must have sought out all the terrible places, when all he needed to do is eat at any hotel. At the leonardo for example, the food is INCREDIBLE with more choices than I can handle, a super abundance, and the willingness to make Gluten Free, Veggie, or any other special diet a guest may have. Yes, the few malls in Ein Bkek are a bit grimy and could use a major makeover, but who goes to the dead see to go to McDonalds or go shopping...
3. So True
Israelit ,   Israel   (11.05.12)
And what a shame it is.
4. Dead sea tourists area is so ugly
Tourist ,   USA   (11.05.12)
As a visitor to the dead sea tourist area, i was amazed at how Israel has turned something so beautifu and natura in to an ugly dirty shopping area, Discusting would be a compliment
5. As a commited Foodie
Tim ,   Brighton   (11.05.12)
That image looks gross Enough to put me off meat balls for life! If it takes the Y Net and others to uncover such poor standards...thats good..Theres always room for improvement But I must say the exporting major food manufacturers particularly Tival are really improving their mainstream range.. Recently for example we bought and enjoyed at least 4 new Tival Vegetarian Frozen Ready Meals and their new Veg Mince is far far superior to Quorn and others! But I wouldlike to see Tival even more adventurous than Veg Chicken Kiev and introduce some Jewish Arabic flavours and dishes too..
6. Bring food to the dead sea and #2 get your taste buds checkd
IsraeliJoe ,   Raanana Israel   (11.05.12)
The dead sea is one of our favorite vacation spots and we go several times a year. However after 5 years of trying out all the hotels and restaurants we now only make day trips because there is nothing to eat there. As an oleh I feel sorry for the tourists. Contrary to what JM from BS says the hotels have atrocious food. One fancy hotel we stayed at had no food after 10pm and when I complained that my kids were hungry the hotel staff scrounged us up some stale bread and some stale nasty cheese. Another time we stayed at a supposed "5 star" the most expensive in En Bokek and the buffet made us want to vomit (which our children did)-we gave it a second chance and it was worse than the first one. The restaurants (there's like 3) are no better. There is no variety, the service is awful, the prices are outrageous and the word fresh is not something they understand. How the Israeli ministry of tourism allows this to continue is beyond me. If anyone would open a decent restaurant with a variety and fresh food in En Bokek or at En Gedi it would become a gold mine. But in the meantime I recommend all travelers bring their own food, stay away from the hotels and restaurants and make a day trips only to swim and to check out the beauty of some of the wadis. Its precisely because we are all spoiled fryerim that things never change there and they know we will just keep coming.
7. health, food, the Dead Sea
f   (11.05.12)
a couple of years ago we were lucky enough to hear a lecturer at one of the hotels at the Dead Sea. His topic was healthy eating vs. anorexia/bolemia. when it was done at lunch time, hubby and i looked around and only found ,yes, you guesed it...McDonalds...and guess who we met there, because he was just as hungry as we were....COME ON!!!:(
8. Why the big shock? Ripping off tourists
8th Generation Sabra   (11.05.12)
is our national sport.
9. No real business acumen.
Norman Gellman ,   Rehovot   (11.05.12)
Tourism is a big business I would think that Israeli entrepreneurs would take advantage of the situation. Good facilities at a reasonable cost would enhance this industry. The lack of good facilities in the long run could have a deleterious effect on tourism to the dead sea.
10. Why staying at the dead sea?
Yossef   (11.05.12)
It's one hour drive from J'lem. Just rent a car, go the morning and come back in the evening. In between stop at some kibbutz (or rest places) on the road for a lunch (buy one or two bottles of water). The dead sea is not a place for living more than one day, it's a curiosity, nothing more, a dead place :-)
11. We lack vision in some areas
(11.05.12)
The south could be a gold mine - we could do so much down there if we had the financial resourses
12. byo is the only answer
ma nishma ,   modiin   (11.05.12)
I always believe in Bring Your Own food and drinks, otherwise, who knows what crap will be gotten at higher than normal prices.
13. #7 Loved it!
Airborne ,   Jerusalem   (11.05.12)
LMAO
14. dead sea eating
bigal ,   rananna israel   (11.06.12)
well expressed. you hit the nail on the head. maybe a wake up call
15. Dead Sea eateries
Roberta ,   London, England   (11.06.12)
I spent 5 days at the Ein Gedi Kibbutz Guest House some 6 years ago and the food there was fine - no gourmet paradise - but good food. I also recall the cafeteria at the Spa which was fine.
16. Dead Sea - Very Much Alive & Well
Leslie ,   Toronto   (11.07.12)
This is an area for rest and healing. It's a different kind of paradise. The Dead Sea is not a resort like other artifical toursits traps. If you want superficial fantastic go somewhere else. The Dead Sea by far excels greater than any destination in the world. The food is good, healthy and pure. Remember this is not Los Vegas or Mexico. This is place where people from all over the world come to relax and reap the benefits. Appreicate beyond what your eyes can see.
17. dead sea food and more
jason ,   israel   (12.02.12)
we last stayed at the isrotel hotel (the larger one) and were overall happy with the cafeteria food offering / buffet, and its in-house restaurant was excellent, but outside the hotels be prepared for nothing except the water. that seemed to me a hugely missed opportunity.
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