Jerusalem, July 2 (IANS) As Israel works to revive international tourism following years of COVID-19, regional conflict and security concerns, one of the country’s most celebrated restaurants is quietly telling a story of resilience.
Overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean in the ancient port city of Akko, the iconic seafood restaurant Uri Buri has survived a devastating fire, a global pandemic, repeated wars and the collapse of international tourism, thanks largely to loyal local patrons, a multicultural workforce and an unwavering belief in hope.
Uri Jeremias, the restaurant owner and a very popular chef in Israel, shared his perspective on the struggle faced with a drop in tourism and the situation they are facing in order to survive.
“I am Uri, born Uri Jeremias, but known in Israel as Uri Buri. This is the name of the restaurant. Buri is a grey mullet, actually. So, today we are here in Akko, which is the central city of this area, of the Western Galilee. And the restaurant is in the Arab part of the city, which is populated mainly by Arabs, Muslims, and Christians. I opened the restaurant here in Nahariya in 1988,” Uri Jeremias told IANS.
“Today we are working here with people from all backgrounds, Jews, Arabs, Christians, newcomers to Israel, and all languages and all cultures, religions, and sexual preferences. We don’t mind who comes to work. We want to have people who want to be together and to work together… we have people working here for 30 years, and more than half of our workers are here more than 10 years.”
Speaking about how the war has affected his restaurant and culinary tourism in Israel, Uri said, “We had like 50-60 per cent tourists in our restaurant, and this dropped to almost zero. So the last six, seven years were not really easy with all the wars and COVID and other events that we had here. But this stable clientele that we built up during the years has kept us with our head above water, you know? And we can’t complain. And on top of it, it doesn’t help to complain. So we are happy with what we have and very proud of our team and our clients.”
Uri also shared with people about Israel, saying, “This time, and with all the troubles, the country is blooming. And businesses are going on. We don’t have tourists. It is a kind of damage to the tourist economy, and so on. But other things are blooming, and in general, life goes on. And this is something that people don’t understand. The beat goes on; we are here, the restaurant is working. In the hardest days, we didn’t close one day. We were closed on days when we were supposed to close by government decision, but it was, I think, one month or so. All the difficult times when rockets were flying, we were working.”
–IANS
ksk/dan