A collaboration with the illustrator and animator Roni Fahima for an exhibition, curated by acclaimed food writer Ronit Vered, explores the kitchen of Israel’s late First Lady and culinary icon Nechama Rivlin.

 

Born in a rural community, Nechama Rivlin continued to observe the natural world throughout her life, even when she lived in a Jerusalem apartment block. She grew decorative plants, herbs, and other spices in pots to which she attached test tubes of sugar water, punctured with a fine needle, to feed the sunbirds. The tiny songbirds would sip the flowers’ nectar and perform their courting dance, delighting her heart. When she relocated to the official residence of the President, designed by architect Abba Elhanani, she continued welcoming the songbirds in its inner courtyard, decorated with Armenian ceramic tiles created by the artist Marie Balian.

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