Photo by Dan Perez, Styling by Nurit Kariv

Pizza Bourekas

What is your favorite bourekas? Most Israeli children are likely to answer: pizza. The Turks would not necessarily approve of the Israeli pizza-flavored filling, but Israelis know what they like, and the pizza bourekas has become a local icon. As a hybrid created in the 1980s, it combines the best of everything — pizza tomato sauce, melting cheese, and sometimes green olives.

Photo by Dan Perez, Styling by Nurit Kariv

Water Bourekas with Crab Meat

Recipe for Michael Gartofsky’s water bourekas (su börek) made of layers of delicate, paper-thin dough, stuffed with leeks and herbs, and served with buttery crab meat on top.

Photo by Dan Perez, Styling by Nurit Kariv

The Journey of Bourekas

We traced the flakey pastry’s many transformations and fascinating voyage from the meals of nomads to royal tables, and from street stands to hot restaurants.