I've been thinking about food... its a basic need and its lunch time! In fact I've just had a ham salad roll and that was what started me thinking about food. We had some delicious meals while we were in the Holy Land!

I guess I'm fascinated by the cultural differences... Both hotels were quite cosmopolitan or at least didn't seem to be overly pre-occupied with the need to serve kosher food. In fact the only differences I really noted were that there was never any pork in sight, though there were some 'salami-type' cold meats (but I didn't try them), and the 'cream' on desserts had definitely not seen a cow!

The photos illustrate some of the differences we saw and experienced. The top left hand one is a fabulous spice stall in Jerusalem. The 'mountain' is purely decorative but no less impressive for that! I can almost recreate the gorgeous aromas the spices were giving off, just by closing my eyes... The second is a sight we saw each morning throughout the streets around our hotel. Little bread stalls set up on the pavement. They sold the wonderful soft sesame covered breads as well as other more garish yellow 'cake-like' foods. This stall sold eggs as well, diversifying!

The two little plates of pickles were the start of the most tasty Lebanese meal I've ever had! The dishes just kept coming and we struggled to keep up with them, and in the end conceded defeat! The most colourful side dish was shocking pink cauliflower - which tasted just liked pickled cauli, but took a bit of effort to get past the colour!! This restaurant won the prize for the best pitta. Pitta bread was ubiquitous! In fact in one place where we ate there was a lovely depiction of Christ breaking bread at Emmaus, but the bread was nowhere to be seen and his eyes and hands were lifted heavenwards... the caption competition winner was "Not more pitta!"

That sounds terribly ungrateful but its the sort of humour that groups develop... Not dark, but sort of a realisation that "we're in this together" and there was so much that was different.

The final shot is more or less self-explanatory - a fish stall! having spent 10 years working for the Food Standards Agency its a bit of a shock (when travelling abroad - even in Europe) to see foods for sale without covering. Where's the EHO when you need one! (That's short for environmental health officer)

I ate like a queen... breakfast was tomatoes, cucumber, eggs, olives, cheese and occasionally taramasalata or hummous... with bread of course and fresh dates. (Maybe not like Elizabeth II though as I hear she eats cereals for brekkie!) Lunch and dinner were often meze style meals with so many luscious dishes my tastebuds were crying out for relief! Hence the mashed potato moment... I think I did get to the point where I couldn't face anymore cabbage (always served as a type of coleslaw)

Ham rolls are really rather boring!