Welcome to the official report from Israel, where my wife Jessa and I are touring with , who have brought international on- and offline opinion leaders in health and nutrition on a weeklong personalized experience of the burgeoning wellness scene Israel, including us,Lee from , Emily from and Kate from . If you haven't yet discovered Israel as a country to add to your "must-visit" bucket list, you need to do it. Just check out , and for my reports from last year, during which I toured the fitness and exercise scene in Israel. As you read, you'll definitely want to click here tune in to the audio podcast episode that accompanies this episode, which has includes an audio version of the article you're about to read, along with a bonus interview from the folks at Scio, the pocket molecular sensor I write about later in this article. The audio is brought to you by , which is where I buy crazy equipment for my home gym like Zombie kettlebells, battle ropes and sandbags, along with tasty functional foods like Pink Himalayan Sea Salt and Organic Raw Walnut Butter. . OK, let's jump into the top 10 things you can learn from the burgeoning health, wellness and nutrition scene in Israel (and by the way, the photo above is me covered in mud at the Dead Sea). -------------------------- 1. Vegan Food Can Be Damn Tasty On our very first evening in Tel Aviv, we stumbled upon "", a unique vegan restaurant located in the heart of Tel Aviv. From roasted mushroom pate to organic rye and spelt bread to a "sabha" of hot black-eyed peas sautéed with tomatoes, garlic and cilantro on organic tahini (a rich and thick eggplant paste), we dined in style after a long day on the airplane. But the highlight of the meal - by far - was the Mezze spin on "moussaka"- a traditional Greek dish made with layers of eggplant and potatoes with lentil and vegetable stuffing. This stuff literally melts in your mouth. So I twisted the arm of chef Gal Barzilai, a vegetarian and wild plan expert since the age of 13, to hook us up with his custom recipe for moussaka. Here it is. Bon appetit, baby (or as they say here, "be'te-avon"). Mezze Mussaka (as translated from Hebrew to English by ). . Ingredients: -700g chopped onion -2 garlic cloves, crushed -600g orange lentils (soaked/sprouted) - weight after straining and soaking -1 kg mushrooms torn hand into small pieces -100g walnuts + 50g cashew nuts soaked for 30 min in boiled water -1/2 kg sweet potato peeled and thinly sliced -30g sweet paprika -1/4t hot paprika -60g beets -olive oil Vegetables (for layering): -1kg large potatoes, peeled and sliced lengthwise -1 eggplant peeled “zebra” style, sliced thickly (1.5 cm) -handful small tomatoes sliced pretty thick (1 cm) Tahini (put all ingredients in a blender/hand blender; can also mix by hand): -125g raw tahini -150ml cold water -1 garlic clove, crushed -1T wine vinegar -40ml lemon juice -1/2t salt Preparation: 1. Saute 600g onions in white oil (canola, grape seed) when starts to brown, add mushrooms and continue to sauté until nicely browned. Grind in a grinder (thickly, leaving small clump - if needed, add vegetable stock or water), then put aside to chill. 2. Put lentils, cashew and walnuts with the soaking water, final 100g raw onions, beets, 150ml water and both types of paprika in a food processor. 3. Brush potato and eggplant slices with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and put in the oven on very high heat Putting it all together: 1. Brush a pan with a lot of olive oil 2. Layer very densely: eggplant slices, the mushroom/lentil mixture, potatoes, mushroom/lentil mixture, very little tahini, eggplant, thin layer of tahini and top it off with a very dense layer of tomatoes. Brush with olive oil Bake in oven on 190 degrees Celsius for an hour. It is suggested to let the mussaka “rest” for an hour before serving. -------------------------- 2. Dates Aren't Just For Eating The morning after our dinner at , we headed to the Dead Sea - an area well known for it's extremely