The Poyke Party: Cultural Experience of the Day

They say its important to experience local culture while traveling. When in Israel, my version of local culture is usually limited to the Anglo-Israeli expats, who wheel their expensive prams around the residential areas, drink in the American-style student bars all night, and debate the consequences of making “Aliyah” (formally moving to Israel) around the dinner table.

When the opportunity arises for a more authentic Israeli experience, I grab it with both hands, which is why the other night I found myself at a "poyke" party, hosted by my Aussie friend Liana and her Israeli husband Uri.

Uri grew up in Beit Shemesh, a large town which can almost be classed a city, about an hour or less outside of Jerusalem. With the mountains close by, Uri's group of school friends have been building bonfires in the woods for years, and cooking the traditional "poyke".

The poyke is a cast iron pot which is placed in the fire, full of everything imaginable - potatoes, onions and chicken are stewed with every type of spice and flavouring, a liberal dose of Israeli beer, and the most lethal ingredient - HEAPS of "charif", or chilli powder. This made me a laughing stock of all the hardened Israelis of Middle Eastern background, who called me a lame, weakass "Ashkenazi" as my face glowed radioactively and the heat emanated from a meter away.

I did, however, point to the fact that I was the only one to consume more than the requisite beer - in fact, I'd gone on to purchase more beverages for the evening when the majority of the beer had found its way into the poyke pot. Apparently, that's a talent us "ashkes" have that the others aren't all over. So there!

The poyke stewed on a massive bonfire which freaked me out as the huge flames licked its sides. To take it out, the boys inserted a long stick under the wire handle and extracted the pot, adding the chicken and letting it cook for another hour. While the flavour was WAY too hot for my mild-mannered European tastes, I will admit that it smelled delicious, and everyone else went back for seconds and thirds.

It was great being out in the Israeli "bush", out in the woods of a mountaintop, yet only five minutes away from civilisation. Its one of the huge benefits of being in a country as small as Israel, where mountains, beaches, cities and country are all only a stone's throw from one another. These guys have been coming out here for years, and their book of polaroids told a story of teenage parties, childhood hikes and family celebrations out here, in this place.


For us Aussie girls, though, it was just an opportunity to find as many ways as possible to play on the words poyke. Go ahead and fill in the blanks, poyke.