Bourekas

Bourekas are small, flaky pastries filled with cheese, potato or spinach and topped with sesame seeds. They descend from börek, carried into the Ottoman Balkans by Sephardic Jewish communities and brought to Israel by their descendants, and they've since grown into one of the country's most common everyday snacks — sold from bakeries and kiosks in shapes that signal the filling inside.

What it really is

Puff pastry or a similarly flaky dough wraps around a filling — salty white cheese, mashed potato, or spinach are the three most common — and folds into a small parcel, usually a triangle or half-moon shape. An egg wash brushes over the top before baking, and sesame or nigella seeds scatter over that wash, both for flavour and, traditionally, to signal the filling inside without needing to cut one open.

The shape and seed topping used to function as a labelling system, not decoration. Different fillings traditionally corresponded to different pastry shapes or seed toppings, letting a customer or vendor identify what's inside without opening one — a convention less strictly followed today but still visible on bakery trays that keep the different shapes distinct.

How it's served

• Warm or at room temperature, straight from the bakery.
• As a snack, breakfast item, or light lunch, often with a hard-boiled egg and pickle alongside.
• Sold individually or by the tray for sharing.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the wheat, dairy (if cheese-filled), egg and sesame.
• Say what filling is inside, since cheese, potato and spinach are genuinely different orders.
• Note if a vegan version without egg wash or cheese is available.