Experiencing the Ancient Flavors of Recipes From the Bible

It’s 7 A.M. at the entrance to the Neot Kedumim Park, the biblical landscape reserve. Dr. Tova Dickstein, an expert on ancient and biblical foods, who directs the park’s botanical garden and its educational programs, opens her car window to greet Mohammed Awad, her right-hand man for the past seven years. “Hey honey, did you put the kali kit in the granary?” she says affectionately, referring to grains of wheat intended for roasting. “The kali is already in the granary,” he replies. “Do you want me to move a flock there, too?” “You can put two or three goats or lambs in Solomon’s Pool for me,” she says, reviewing in her mind the list of groups scheduled to come for sessions that day, “and maybe a donkey or two, as well. And ask the camel herder to leave the female camels next to Kerem Yeshayahu for now.” The passengers in Dickstein’s car chuckle at this odd dialogue, which it’s hard to imagine hearing anywhere other than a nature reserve dedicated to recreating stories and scenes from the biblical period.