Jerusalem Biblical Zoo

When you go to a wedding or a Bar Mitzvah or any other really big event there is often a caterer behind the scenes who prepared all the food for the guests. He has to order the right amount to start with and get it all cut up and prepared and ready to be served. Every day at the zoo is like a big event with a list of "guests" who have very special diets. Did you ever wonder who prepares all the food for the animals in the zoo? Where it comes from? Who figures out how much to order? If you had your answer would come back as Fuad Mashani. Fuad has been running the kitchen (or "meshek") at the zoo for the last 25 years. His domain at the new zoo is quite an improvement over the old zoo with two modern fridges store all the fruits and vegetables and a dry storage room is adjacent to the food preparation area. Here eight to ten keepers can comfortably stand and sort and chop food for their animals specific need. Fuad's office, where he sorts all his orders, separates this area from the meat and fish prep zone. Two freezers, one cold and the second one in the back even colder, open onto a large area for dealing with the meat. A hydraulic system is used to moved massive sides of beef to and from the chopping block.
Fuad day starts at 7 in the morning when he arrives to unpack all his groceries. Fresh things arrive every morning and need to be divided up amongst the various fridges and freezers. Then he further divides it by section in the zoo; Grass-eaters get this much, Bird section this etc. Everything is divided according to the animals needs. The next stop on Fuad's day is preparing the food for the birds that need fish (penguins and pelican), a fish mush (flamingos) or fish and meat mush (ibis's). He needs to ready the vitamins for the giraffes and then start cooking the vegetables, eggs, chicken and rice for other animals. At some point Fuad will retire to his office and start the phone work to all of his suppliers to order what is running out, find out what is new and arrange for deliveries.
I asked Fuad what was the funniest thing that he remembers. He told me how the keepers love to congregate in the fridge during the hot months to talk because it is the coolest place in the zoo. One day when there were lots of keepers in the fridge someone closed the door on them. They could have opened the door if they wanted to but everyone was quite happy and cool so they just continued their chat. Fuad didn't know there was anyone inside so when he next opened the door he got the shock of his life and they all laughed! Fuad greatest satisfaction on the job comes from knowing that the animals are getting what they need in terms of food. When asked what he would like to tell our visitors he was clear that he thinks they should visit the zoo again and again but don't throw food to the animals. He is sure they get all they need from their own kitchen.
When asked what he would change if he could it comes out that feeding the animals isn't quite enough. When Fuad found out that the man who runs the kitchen at another zoo also runs the catering department responsible for feeding all the zoos visitors and planned events his eyes lit up. Fuad would love to feed the people too!