Allow me to sum up one critical aspect of our trip through Israel with a single four-letter word.

Food.

We are eating our way across the Holy Land. Katt Krause, one of our Rotary Group Study Exchange team members, has the perfect description of what she feels when she awakens every morning. She calls it a “food hangover.”

Amen, Sister Katt.

Do not misunderstand me. We are enjoying ourselves immensely on this journey. The hospitality has been astonishing. Our Israeli hosts at every stop on the way have gone out of their way to show us their country, its traditions and its very special places.

The dinner table appears to cover two elements here: It’s a special place that honors a longstanding Israeli tradition.

Our lunch today in Ramla was a feast fit for royalty.

First came the appetizers: vegetables, salads, bread and a spread called hummus, which everyone here praises as a delicacy sent from heaven.

Then came the next course: it included a pastry filled with meat, which Shirley Davis, another GSE team member, compared to a Philly sandwich; it also included grilled chicken kabobs and some more salads.

The next course included even more salads and a rice dish with seasoned roast beef.

It kept coming and coming and coming.

Dessert? How about cream-filled pastry, such as chocolate eclairs and some other goodies.

And no meal is complete without coffee. It’s either instant coffee or what the Israelis refer to simply as “black coffee,” which in fact is a Turkish blend that makes your hair stand straight up.

Israelis are quite proud of the food they produce here. We have heard about that pride virtually every step of the way. The problem now, though, is that it is getting just a little more difficult to step quite as lively as we were when this adventure began.

I’ll be back at the gym first thing when I get home.