What is it about Jews and Chinese food?This oddly-passionate obsession has inspired scholarly dissertations,  cookbooks, multi-cultural festivals, and even affected international relations [this last link, btw, about Asian chefs in Israel going on an eggroll strike over the elimination of foreign worker permits, is worth a trip to Jewschool to read in its entirety]!

So when this article appeared recently in the NYTimes about the history of the fortune cookie, I immediately thought, “hmmm…what’s the Jewish connection?” The answer? The long Jewish tradition of bibliophagy (eating the written word). Find interesting examples of Jewish bibliophagy after the jump:

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(Comic: “You’re passionate about salad, aren’t you Miss Allen? Ballard Street)

For all of you worried about where your salad comes from, and what you should or shouldn’t put in it, and how often you should eat it, and if you should eat cold salad in the winter, and where you might get your vitamins if you don’t eat cold salad in the winter, and what kind of dressing goes on it and whether to splurge on that avocado or not (and granted, I fall into just about all of these categories) -

RELAX! It’s Adar - a joyful month! It’s all going to be okay.

(Hat tip to Jewschool .)

I believe in dinner plate feng shui.  There comes a time, right before dinner, when I take a few moments to select just the right plate or bowl on which to nestle the food I’ve made.**  (Since many of the dishes in my cupboard hail from Goodwill and/or roommates’ collections, I have any number of styles and patterns to choose from.)  

Now the folks at the decidedly non Jewish company, “Feed on the Word,” have added a whole different component into the mix of choices: Scripture Tableware.  As Danya at Jewschool wrote:

“…Several of the themed collections (at least “Praise,” “Psalms,” “Patriotic” and a few of the serving dishes) are comprised of all Old Testament pasukim, so maybe this could be a nice way to differentiate between milk and meat dishes.”

Here are the verses found on the “Praise” collection:

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 I lived in Oregon for two years (the defunct hippie enclave of Eugene to be exact), so before any of you west coast readers get all up in arms over what I’m about to say, just remember I’m a sympathetic member of the tribe.

It’s just that, since moving to New York, I’ve fully realized to extent to which the east coast, and NYC in particular, sets the cultural tone for the rest of the American Jewish community. Seinfeld - New York. Woody Allen - New York. Manischewitz…okay, Cincinnati and then New Jersey, but close enough.

Considering the cultural monopoly east coast Jews have on most things Jewish, it seems to follow that the majority of successful Jewish food entrepreneurs would hail from the more neurotic side of the Mississippi. So I was utterly taken aback when Lois Leveen proved me wrong on her blog MacaroniManiac.

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I’ve already posted once today, so sorry for double-dipping, but this is worth posting ASAP:

From the JTS press release:

Dr. David Kraemer, the author of Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages [and 2006 Hazon Food Conference Keynote Speaker], will discuss “Jewish Eating and Jewish Identity” at The Jewish Theological Seminary’s Henry N. Rapaport Memorial Lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, February 4, 2008. The event will take place at JTS, 3080 Broadway (at 122nd Street), New York City.

Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages is the first book ever to explore the history of Jewish eating practices from the Bible to the present, and the first to interpret Jewish eating practices throughout the ages as keys to understanding current Jewish identities.

(Thanks to Jewlicious and  for the hat tip)

Last November, The Jew & The Carrot blogger Jeff reported on the newest treif sensation: Ham-flavored soda from the Jones Soda Co.  (It was part of the company’s Christmas soda line.)

Well, it seems the pork-infused drink thing is catching on.  Several different food bloggers out there have started making their own bacon vodkas - the most beautiful of which is featured at the Brownie Points blog .  For the record, the scariest looking bacon vodka I found is over at Si Blog.  Eegaads!  It looks like a science project gone terribly awry.

For those of you who dabble in things pork-related, I’d be curious to hear how this stuff tastes (though I don’t think it’s available on the market, so you’ll have to make it yourself).  Personally, I’m happy to stick with the homemade etrog vodka I recently tried at a Shabbat lunch.   

I’d love to hear other ideas about “Jewish foods” that could (or perhaps SHOULD) be infused into vodka.  Kosher dill vodka?  Hamentashen vodka?  The opportunities are endless…

That’s right, your long wait for cheeseburgers in a can is now over. They’re even more convenient than these (but don’t forget, February 12th is International Pancake Day! Although you’ll have to wait a week to celebrate at IHOP).

I think if “Sarah” had eaten this cheeseburger, she might have become Ba’al Teshuva instead of secular. Of course, if you want the ultimate in non-kosher (both eco and traditional) eating, you could cook your cheeseburger on one of these while driving on shabbos:

I got this in an email forward which I am quite sure is an e-hoax, but someone corroborate! My eloborations follow.

Ben & Jerry’s has announced that their Ice Cream is now available in Israel. In honor of this historic event they are producing a number of new flavors aimed specifically at the Israeli market:

Wailing Walnut - Mens & womens buckets sold separately.

Moishmellow - Let’s embrace those decidedly unmasculine, male Jewish stereotypes over a chick flik with ice cream, boys!

Mazel Toffee - Congratulations!! I always knew you’d marry someone sweet who would make you feel great.

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I still remember the first time my suburban food-bubble was burst, when I realized the implications of fruit sold according to season. I was in Israel, and became completely dumbfounded when I couldn’t find the strawberries…”whaddya mean you don’t sell them in the winter?!?”

Of course, as my sister recently reminded me, even junk food lovers know the comforting seasonal rhythms of Cadbury Creme eggs in late winter (they’re only sold from Jan 1-Easter Sunday), Peeps in the spring, and, of course, Mallomars in the late fall.

Ah, Mallomars…If Proust had grown up in New York, he would have traded in his madeleine for a Mallomar. Respectable journalists have sung its praises to the heavens, this perfect confection, only available during the dark, baseball-less months of November through March, so delicate is its thin outer layer of chocolate, that it can’t survive the trip from factory to store in the heat of spring or summer. And what could be more Jewish than a cookie that comes eighteen to a box, 70% of which are consumed by New Yorkers?

The only cookie that comes close is its Israeli cousin, the Krembo. Similar in construction and seasonal availability, writers also wax rhapsodic about krembo season. Plus, according to its wikipedia entry: Read more »

The Jessica Seinfeld controversy continues - and this time, Jerry’s wife isn’t laughing.  (Wow, that sentence sounds so gossip blog…oh well, I’ll roll with it.)  According to The Smoking Gun:

“An author today sued Jerry Seinfeld’s wife for allegedly plagiarizing a cookbook she wrote and also accused the comedian of defaming her as a “wacko” during an interview with David Letterman. In a federal lawsuit, Missy Chase Lapine alleges that Jessica Seinfeld “brazenly plagiarized” from her 2007 book “The Sneaky Chef” in the writing of Seinfeld’s own cookbook (both volumes focused on how to prepare healthy meals for finicky young eaters).

When news stories appeared detailing similarities in the two books, Jerry Seinfeld launched a “malicious, premeditated, and knowingly false and defamatory attack” on Lapine, the complaint charges. As part of that campaign, Seinfeld went on Letterman’s show and described Lapine as “angry” and “hysterical.” He then compared her to the kind of “wackos” that had previously stalked Letterman. The comedian then added that Lapine was a “three-name woman” and “if you read history, many of the three-name people do become assassins.”

Perhaps Jerry should have shoved one of Jessica’s spinach-laced brownies into his mouth before going on Letterman?  Seriously, though, how sad that all of this is happening over the noble act of convincing (okay, tricking) picky eaters into consuming more vegetables.

As I enjoy my last week of vacation before I return to New York City for school, my mind starts to wander towards all sorts of issues that didn’t really apply to me in the last year, when I was living in the woods and farming at a Jewish retreat center. The biggest one is paying rent, which I didn’t have to think about in my prime forest real estate (granted, I don’t yet have an apartment to pay rent on, anyone looking for a live-in farmer?).

Another is teaching; in the last year I’ve found that I really enjoy explaining things that I care about, but for the next two years, instead of having a relatively captive audience of Adamanicks to work with and teach, I’ll be a captive audience myself, paying very close attention to my teachers…

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The fabulous folks at Notschlock came up with the Jewish Food Pyramid T-Shirt, which plays off of the food pyramid that booted the concept of ”four food groups” out of collective consciousness in the early 1990s. 

Notschlock’s Pyramid Picks:
Tier 1: bagels, matzah, matzah balls, pita.
Tier 2: Pickles, hummus, tzimmes, dill, figs
Tier 3: shmeers, cream cheese / gefilte fish, lox, pastrami on rye
Tier 4: gelt coins, schmaltz, jelly rings, latkes, blintzes

When it comes to “sustainable eating,” I’m starting to worry that perhaps the Brits take the (organic carrot) cake.

Maybe my sources are skewed from having a Manchester-bred boss who sends all-staff emails everytime the British foodies do something interesting.  (e.g. when England’s Walmart-equivalent, Tesco, commits to making their products’ ”food miles” transparent, or long-time organic farming supporter, Prince Charles makes a cookie.)

As if the Prince of England wasn’t enough proof of England’s foodie superiority, now I find out that Jamie Oliver - the British hearthrob and “Naked Chef” -has a new book and TV show called Jamie at Home that features food grown in his backyard and cooked in his kitchen.  Jamie says:

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No, it’s not a joke:

The Vegetable Orchestra performs music solely on instruments made of vegetables. Using carrot flutes, pumpkin basses, leek violins, leek-zucchini-vibrators, cucumberophones and celery bongos, the orchestra creates its own extraordinary and vegetabile sound universe.

Does this give anyone else the sense of peace and hope for the world that it gave me?