Israeli Salad

Israeli salad is a finely diced chopped salad of tomato, cucumber, onion and bell or chili pepper, widely regarded as the most recognizable culinary export associated with Israel and a staple at nearly every Israeli meal. It took shape as Jewish settlers arriving in the late 19th century encountered the tomatoes and Kirby cucumbers already grown locally and used in traditional Arab cooking, a combination that kibbutz communities spread throughout the country as fresh vegetables from their own farms became widely available. The name Israeli salad is used mostly outside Israel; within the country it is more often called salat katzutz, meaning chopped salad, salat aravi, meaning Arab salad, or salat yerakot, meaning vegetable salad, and it is traditionally dressed with lemon juice, olive oil or both, sometimes with zaatar and yogurt at breakfast or sumac and tahini at other meals, and never includes lettuce, with the cucumber customarily left unpeeled.