For 50 plus years, the Village of Peace has lived a fully plant-based "Live-It", rooted not in trend, but in a practical understanding of the body, the earth, and our place between them.
The human body is drawn from the earth. We are 70% water, 30% minerals. We thrive from nature's abundance. Every departure from that is a departure from our design.
In the Village of Peace, we do not follow a diet. We live a "Live-It", a complete commitment to the earth, the body, and the divine order of creation. For more than five decades, the Village of Peace Dimona community has eaten plant-based, organically, and intentionally, long before the world gave this way of living a name.
Our "Live-It" is not built on restriction. It is built on abundance, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds grown on our own land in the Negev Desert. We reject meat, dairy, eggs, and fish not because we fear them, but because we understand our responsibility differently. The body is sacred. What enters it matters.
This "Live-It" has sustained over 3,000 community members across generations. It has produced more than 1,150 natural births at our House of Life. It has kept our elders vibrant into their 80s and 90s. The numbers are not the argument, the people are.
Food prepared with intention.
The Village of Peace teaches five elemental practices, what we call the Five Medicines, that together form the complete system for Mastering the Art of Living.
Genesis 1:29 is our foundation, "every herb bearing seed and every fruit tree." For 50 plus years we have eaten whole, plant-based foods grown in our own soil. Food is not fuel. It is nourishment and responsibility.
We are drawn from the earth and composed of its waters. Purity and hydration are sacred disciplines, not afterthoughts. Clean water is the first cleansing, inside and out.
The practice of sabbatical rest extends from the land to the body. Proper sleep and restoration align us with Natural Law, the rhythm built into creation.
Movement is the expression of a living commitment to the body. Dance, community work, walking the desert, physical vitality is not separate from spiritual vitality. It is part of it.
Internal cleanliness, through the gut, which our tradition calls the Fifth Brain, and external cleanliness together constitute wholeness. A clean body is a prepared vessel.
The Five Medicines are not separate practices, they are one integrated living commitment. Together, they have sustained 3,000 community members and produced over 1,150 natural births.
Chemical-Free Since 1977Food grows wherever K'Far gives space for it. Fruit trees line the pathways, herb gardens fill courtyard corners, and seasonal vegetables take root in every available plot within the community. Urban container growing has extended that reach further still. These are not grand farm operations, they are the living expression of a people who refuse to separate the act of eating from the act of tending.
We eat seasonally. Seasons of land rest shape how we think about food, rest, and reciprocity with the land. We eat what is in season, when it is available. No meat. No dairy. No eggs. No fish. No compromise. This is not a diet. It is a commitment.
What the community cannot grow, it sources with the same intention it brings to everything. Organic, whole-plant produce, grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables, is made available through community provisioning, selected for quality and alignment with the "Live-It". From soil to table, the standard does not change.
Millet, brown rice, wheat berries, quinoa
Lentils, chickpeas, mung beans, black-eyed peas
Kale, Hebrew (Swiss) chard, spinach, za'atar, desert herbs
Dates, figs, pomegranates, watermelon, citrus
Sesame, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds
Sprouts, fermented vegetables, herbal teas
Friday Bazaar, Open to All
Every Friday morning, our bazaar opens to the public. Come taste 50 plus years of plant-based wisdom: fresh produce, prepared foods, and the culture that sustains us.
Bringing the "Live-It" to mainstream Israel since 1995.
What began as a community kitchen in Dimona grew into Israel's premier plant-based food enterprise. Teva Deli produces over 200 plant-based products, from deli slices to ready meals, supported by VOP community members and aligned staff.
In 2013, Teva Deli products supplied the Israeli pilot of a major international pizza chain's plant-based programme, decades after the Village of Peace had already been living this way. The world was catching up to what we had known since 1973.
Since 1980, our community midwives have welcomed over 1,150 children into the world at the House of Life, a natural birth centre rooted in the understanding that birth, like eating, is a sacred act.
Our plant-based "Live-It" is inseparable from maternal health. Mothers who eat in alignment with our "Live-It" experience lower complication rates, stronger recoveries, and children born into a community that will nourish them from day one.
The House of Life is not a facility. It is a commitment, that life deserves the most natural, most intentional entry into this world.
The "Live-It" is not an idea. It is a daily practice, lived by thousands across generations. These are voices from inside the community.
“For nearly 40 years, this "Live-It" has been my greatest teacher. I witness in my own body, and in the community around me, that living in alignment with Natural Law is the foundation of lasting vitality. This is not a belief. It is a daily experience.”
Sgan Yahgdeer
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Information
40 years in community
“Every Friday at the bazaar, I witness the joy in visitors' eyes when they taste our food. They come curious and leave transformed. That response, that is the "Live-It" working. It is not theory. It is a living, breathing, tangible reality open to all Life Seekers.”
Sganeet WOV Ahmahlyah E. Nasik Elyahshuv
Public Relations Leader
Lifelong community member
“Our ancestors cultivated plant-based abundance in Africa for millennia before modern diet labels existed. We are not discovering something new. We are remembering something ancient, a relationship between the people, the earth, and creation.”
Yahav Ben Sar Ahmadiel
Social Media & Heritage
Heritage researcher
Visit us in the Negev Desert, explore our marketplace, or simply begin by learning more. The "Live-It" is open to all Life Seekers.
RecipesIn our community, we hold a deep reverence for food that nourishes not only the body but also the spirit, embodying our commitment to holistic health and Mastering the Art of Living. While we are well-acquainted with...
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RecipesIn our journey of Mastering the Art of Living, we understand the importance of nourishing our bodies with wholesome, plant-based foods. This grilled tofu recipe, infused with an aromatic Asian-inspired marinade, offers...
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RecipesWelcome to a celebration of one of nature’s most perfect foods – the mighty chickpea! This vibrant Middle Eastern and North African Chickpea Salad brings together a bounty of fresh vegetables with protein-rich legumes...
Read ArticleTake our plant-based kitchen home with you. Twenty-one nourishing recipes from the Village of Peace, yours free by email, in five languages. Give a flexible gift only if you would like to support the community.
