Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Israel takes its cuisine on the road with US food truck tour

The Tourism Ministry initiative, led by Israeli chef Yossi Shitrit, will make stops in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

The “Taste of Israel” food truck, which will tour four destinations in the United States from Oct. 25-30, 2026, offering free tastings of Israeli cuisine. Credit: Israel Ministry of Tourism.
The “Taste of Israel” food truck, which will tour four destinations in the United States from Oct. 25-30, 2026, offering free tastings of Israeli cuisine. Credit: Israel Ministry of Tourism.

Israel’s Tourism Ministry is launching a food truck tour across the United States, offering free tastings of Israeli cuisine in four locations from Oct. 25 to 30.

The “Taste of Israel” tour, led by Israeli chef Yossi Shitrit, will visit Boca Raton, Fla., on Oct. 25; Atlanta on Oct. 27; Nashville on Oct. 28; and the Dallas–Fort Worth area on Oct. 30.

The food truck will offer complimentary tastings, including vegetarian options, from noon to 3 p.m. at each stop, accompanied by Israeli music.

“One taste is enough to fall in love,” Tourism Ministry Director-General Michael Izhakov said. “Together with Chef Yossi Shitrit, one of the leading names in Israeli cuisine, we are bringing the tastes and aromas of Israel to American audiences: from the spice markets of Jerusalem to the beachfront restaurants of Tel Aviv, from the Galilee to the Negev.”

The United States is Israel’s largest source of incoming tourism. Some 295,000 American tourists visited Israel from January through September, accounting for 37% of incoming tourism during that period, according to the ministry. About 448,000 Americans visited in 2025, representing approximately 34% of all incoming tourists.

Shitrit, a prominent Israeli chef, is known for combining traditional Israeli and family influences with contemporary cooking techniques.

“For me, everything begins with taste and memory,” he said. “Even when I create a new dish, the flavors of home are always there.”

The food truck tour is part of the ministry’s international “I AM ISRAEL” tourism campaign, launched in June. According to the ministry, the campaign has generated more than 320 million media impressions and 105 million completed video views and has expanded to Canada and the United Kingdom.

See more from JNS Staff
“I’m scared of what’s going to happen now,” Miri Bar-Halpern, a Jewish psychology lecturer at Harvard Medical School, told JNS. “I can already predict the backlash.”
The country’s next government will depend on whether its political leaders can reconcile their competing commitments, or whether voters will again be asked to resolve a deadlock that negotiations could not.
“They will push legislation very hard to end the Iran war, and it’s not inconceivable that they could get a fair amount of Republican support for that,” William Galston of Brookings told JNS.
Belgrade police killed the minor, who was armed with two knives and was tied to the Islamic State, the Serbian Interior Ministry said.