Among the many titles that could appear on Yacov Lishansky’s résumé are:
Military Governor of the Galilee during Israel’s War of Independence
Relative of Yosef Lishansky, one of the leaders of the NILI underground
Gas station owner
Queen of the Kitchen
No, that last one is not a joke.
In 1969, at a time when a man in the kitchen was still considered a somewhat unusual sight – certainly in the Middle East – Yacov Lishansky became Israel’s culinary champion.
1969 marked the fourth annual edition of Israel’s premier cooking competition, “Queen of the Kitchen.” Newspapers followed the event closely as hundreds of participants from across the country competed in regional contests. The winners – mostly female – advanced to the grand finale, held on May 25 at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv.
The dish that earned Yacov the crown was a mullet recipe he called Gilu Galilim (“Rejoice, O Galileans”).
“I wanted a recipe that would properly honor the efforts of the people who spend the entire year raising fish for us,” the winning chef explained. “And now that they [the residents of the northern Galilee region] have been freed from the Syrians” – a reference to Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War, which put an end to Syrian bombardment of the Galilee – “they deserve to be celebrated, in the words of the song: ‘Rejoice, O Galileans, mighty heroes; be glad and rejoice day and night.'”
And what was the secret to a winning recipe?
“I make a point of choosing only the finest ingredients,” Yacov revealed. “Only then can truly exceptional results be achieved.”
When Esther, Yacov’s wife, joined him on stage moments after his victory, she was asked, “Who rules the kitchen at home?”
“I do!” she replied without hesitation.
Then she quickly added: “Yacov never criticizes my cooking. I taste every new dish he prepares. I’m not competing with him at all.”
And how did people react to this unexpected victory?
Shoshana Sapir, wife of Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir, perhaps put it best when she presented Yacov with his winner’s apron: “If the prime minister is a woman, why shouldn’t the Queen of the Kitchen be a man?”
Writing in Al HaMishmar, Ami Barkan took the joke a step further:
“All those men who felt uneasy when a member of the fair sex was elected to the lofty office of prime minister will surely feel a sense of relief now that the men of Haifa have avenged themselves.”
Lishansky, however, did not let his newfound fame go to his head. A veteran of both the Haganah and the IDF, he promptly donated the three-tiered cake he received as part of his prize to wounded soldiers. He also promised to cook for troops stationed along the Suez Canal.
Did he keep his promise?
He certainly did.
Shortly after the competition, Lishansky traveled to the canal and accepted a challenge from BaMahane, the IDF magazine: to prepare a feast for the soldiers using nothing but whatever ingredients happened to be available in the military kitchen. At one point, an Egyptian shell landed near the outpost, a routine hazard during the War of Attrition (1967-1970). Lishansky dashed into a bunker with everyone else, only to emerge a short while later and head straight back to the kitchen.
One of the dishes he prepared was a shakshuka loaded with garlic and onions, which he dubbed “Michal’s Dish” after a young Jerusalem soldier he met in the bunker. But most of his energy went into preparing dinner for the troops: stuffed tomatoes, dumplings, turkey with sausage cubes, and even a cream cake for dessert.
According to Lishansky, his love of cooking went back to his Haganah days, before Israel’s establishment. The soldiers teased that his frequent visits to military kitchens must have had something to do with the women working there. Lishansky rejected the suggestion outright.
“The potatoes interested me more.”
“My father was known for his love of cooking, a passion he inherited from his mother, Mali,” his son Zvi Lishansky told us. “She was renowned for her cooking and for the wide variety of flavors she brought to the table, and he learned a great deal from her.
“He loved cooking for the entire family. We children were the first to enjoy the wonderful dishes that came out of his kitchen. Some of the foods everyone looked forward to were his many eggplant dishes and his wild-herb salads, made with mallow, chicory, watercress, spinach, and akoub, a traditional favorite. He also made meatballs with different seasonings and patties from herbs that he gathered himself or bought at the market.”
