SOLVED: THE MYSTERY OF THE ‘"ISRAELI HEROES” (Cheri)

So the first thing you have to know is that my mother usually served dinner around 9:00 p.m.

(Image Credit:  New York Times)

The fact that it was probably 10:30 or 11:00 before we ate this particular night is one of the two reasons we all remembered “Israeli Heroes.”

When I was an early teen, she decided to make these sandwiches, a recipe from some magazine.  We were mostly vegetarian – and from the West Coast – so I really didn’t know about hero sandwiches.  (When I mentioned them to my sister yesterday, her response was “Why the H--- did we name them that?)

It too forever to make those things.  We were just so tired by the time dinner was served, and then THEY WERE AWFUL!  We all took a bite apiece and refused to eat any more – my mother included – even thought there were a lot of expensive ingredients.

Later in life, I realized that “heroes” are a known type of sandwiches, then got to thinking about the name.  The filling was various Mediterranean items, so okay, “Israeli Heroes.”

Decades later I got to thinking more, and realized that the recipe writer must have been laughing, and figuring she was brilliant with this play on words.  I envisioned her thinking of the people who live on kibbutzim, until Mark confirmed my recent suspicion that kibbutzim are basically agricultural communes, not military training locations.  (I.e., “Israeli Heroes” = soldiers)

Anyway, I was thinking more about this yesterday, when I looked at the pita-filled sandwiches that I had just made.  In a flash, I realized just why we all hated those sandwiches.  A lot of tahini – a key ingredient in the Heroes and in the sandwiches I made last night – is extremely bitter.  That was it!

The sad thing is, the sandwiches probably would have been great with a mellow tahini.

This is the conclusion that I came to, some 50 years after the fact.  Funny how the mind works, huh?