November 9, 2016 at 3:51 p.m.
RHS students get a 'Taste of Israel' for lunch
Visiting chef offers students a chance to broaden their palates
RHS students get a 'Taste of Israel' for lunch
Chef Chris Murray of Taher, the food service company that provides meals to students in the School District of Rhinelander, visited the RHS cafeteria Monday and prepared a dish that took lunch an even further distance from what it was when even today's parents were students. As part of the On Display program, Murray prepared and served braised Israeli chicken shakshuka with Israeli hummus and flatbread.
This was the second time this school year that Murray has brought an authentic meal from another country to a Rhinelander school, having visited James Williams Middle School earlier this school year. In all, he tries to make it to Rhinelander three or four times a year.
"Today I'm at Rhinelander, tomorrow I'm at Merrill and the day after that, I'm in Tomahawk," Murray said. "Then I'm going to Minocqua, so we cover the whole area."
He said the dishes served Monday were the result of ideas generated during an eight-day trip to Jerusalem.
"Our company has 12 chefs, including myself, and we travel around the world to different countries a couple times a year and explore their food," Murray said. "Then we come back and try to duplicate the food that we have eaten and serve it to the kids. We also teach all the rest of the chefs in the company how to make the food."
Murray said the meal went over "very, very well" with the students who tried it.
"The shakshuka is very, very popular in Israel," he said. "I recreated the recipe when I got back, and this is like the 15th school I've prepared it at."
Murray said many kids will ask what the dish is before deciding to try it.
"That's part of the fun, educating the kids with what we're doing here," Murray said. "The big thing we're trying to do is get kids to learn about different cultures through food. So when they're coming through and eating the dish, we talk about what the product is and why we make it the way we make it."
He noted that every effort is made to keep the dishes authentic, "instead of Americanizing them, so to speak."
He said the whole process is fun for both the kids and himself.
RHS principal David Ditzler agreed that the Taste of Israel" lunch was a success.
"It's really neat that the kids get the opportunity for some international flavor" he said. "From everything I've seen, the kids who decided to have this for lunch have really enjoyed it."
Ditzler, himself, found the meal delicious.
"It was just amazing," he said. "It was so good, I might want to have seconds."
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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