Don’t Go To Israel’s Vegetarian Village, Amirim, For the Food

"Landep News"

 

Amirim, a unique vegetarian village in northern Israel, offers gorgeous views… and mediocre food.

Once upon a time (according to the owner of the bed and breakfast that I recently stayed at in Amirim), a young group of idealistic vegetarians gathered in central Israel and decided that they needed to get away from all that civilization.  (Mind you, this was in the 1950s, just a few years after the young country declared independence and it is unclear how “civilized” the country was anyway.)

This group marched up to the Israel Land Authority asking to be granted space in a remote location, and was given a town in the Galilee that had been deserted by previous settlers.  And thus, the strictly vegetarian village of Amirim was born.  The village has maintained its early vegetarian roots to this day, and all (or at least 95%) of its residents just say no to meat.

As a vegetarian of 20 years myself, Amirim naturally had quite an appeal for me.  A whole village of vegetarians?  I conjured images in my head of what the houses might look like, and a-la Hansel and Gretel I imagined houses made of tofu bricks, trees that were larger versions of broccoli, and tempeh roads.

I was lucky enough to be taken for my first visit to Amirim this past weekend, and my fanciful illusions were put to rest. … [visit site to read more]

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