June 29, 2017, Updated December 24, 2019

During the day, Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda marketplace (“shuk”) bustles with fruit and vegetable stalls, spice shops, halva stands, fish and meat vendors, bakeries and cafés. At night, the shuk transforms into a venue for ethnic cuisine, craft beer, live music and street art.

A new ingredient in that already spicy stew is ShukTech Nights JLM, an after-hours encounter with Israel’s latest food-tech advances. Three ShukTech Nights since last December have attracted hundreds of people to the alleys of Machane Yehuda.

The initiative includes a Startup Boulevard lined with displays by new food-tech companies.

Among those at the most recent event on June 21 were Ripples coffee art; Talking Bread tailor-made imprints for bread and pastries; Olfaguard e-nose to detect food pathogens; Yofix non-diary, non-soy, probiotic yogurt-style food; DouxMatok sugars with enhanced sweetness; and Inspecto portable scanner and app to detect pesticide residue in food.

A ShukTech entrepreneur session at the Ba-La Malabi bar led by JVP Partner Michal Drayman. Photo: courtesy

Attendees have seen a prototype of ice cubes embedded with logos; personalized menus based on gut flora; amorphous calcium absorbed twice as fast as regular calcium; and steak and schnitzel made from a powder derived from flies.

In addition, the evenings include guided events geared to food-tech startup entrepreneurs, scientists and investors.

ShukTech Nights JLM are organized by Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), the Jerusalem Development Authority, The Kitchen FoodTech incubator, Alpha Strauss and New Spirit, and supported by the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the Jerusalem municipality.

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