If America is the proverbial “melting pot,” then Israel is a close second - at least when it comes to Jewish food and Mediterranean cuisines. In her book The Foods of Israel Today
Today, in celebration of Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day), we’re raffling off a copy of The Foods of Israel Today
More and a recipe below the jump.
Thanks to Alyssa Finn for this guest post. Alyssa is getting her Masters degree in Clinical Nutrition at NYU and is a Hazon volunteer on the New York Jewish Environmental Bike Ride Exec.
Yesterday, I came home after a long bike ride in the New York sunshine. On my plate for the evening was a pile of reading in preparation for my chemistry exam the next day. I stared at the pile of books and papers. I looked longingly at my kitchen, the primary source of my procrastination.
Then I remembered: horseradish!
We *love* the song “Pesach Dub” by Ori Salzberg. Mixing audio from old school Manischewitz ads for matzos and gefilte fish (in jars!) with new school beats, it’s the best thing to happen to matzos since matzos pizza.
Click on the arrow below to listen - sing along!
“There’s nothing that quite hits the spot so | Your family will like it a lot so. | When they’re set to eat, just give them the treat: Manischewitz, American matzo!
Books, Contest, Cookbooks, Cooking, Food Writing, Holidays, Jewish Culture, Kosher, New York, Shabbos Meals
Arthur Schwartz likes to say: “If a kosher Martian landed in New York City today and observed what Jews were actually eating, he would think pizza and sushi were the most Jewish foods on earth.” I like to think that a copy of Schwartz’s new cookbook, Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited
Also called The Food Maven, Schwartz is known for being the man the New York Times Magazine dubbed “a walking Google of food knowledge.” His expertise extends far beyond
Far beyond a collection of Yiddish recipes - Jewish Home Cooking offers a vivid snapshot of a particular era of Jewish life - the slender seltzer bottles delivered to your doorstep, butchers who knew your name and order, frothy egg creams with Fox’s U-Bet syrup, and slow-simmered tzimmes - that has all but vanished from today’s New York. With recipes that honor tradition (but aren’t stifled by it), and historical photographs and anecdotes of New York’s long-gone Jewish culinary hot spots, Schwartz breathes new life into Jewish cuisine with humor and love - but without the sloppy side dish of kitsch that usually (and annoyingly) comes along with Yiddish retrospectives.
Win a FREE copy of Jewish Home Cooking! Tell us your favorite Passover dish or food tradition and be entered into a drawing to win. Only one comment per person will be entered into the drawing - comment before Thursday, April 17.
Below the jump, Schwartz’s Passover Apple Cake.
Books, Cookbooks, Cooking, Family & Kids, Food Writing, Jewish Culture, Kosher, Meat, Photography, Recipes, Shabbos Meals, Women
I’ve only had my copy of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family
As the title might suggest, this book is a family affair. Author Judy Bart Kancigor beautifully describes how the book came into existence, stemming from a desire to pass on her family’s food traditions. As a result, almost every recipe has a story, which can be a bit overwhelming at times, but ultimately brings the recipes to life. It’s not just a cookbook; you feel invited in, as though you’re taking part in the Rabinowitz family tradition by making this food. And the pictures are great – a time-capsule of American Jewish life opened to reveal many embarrassing hairstyles and equally embarrassing bar mitzvah pictures.
More and recipes for banana bread and sesame crusted chicken below the jump.
Here are three not-to-miss Passover foodie events: a Slow Food Seder with Heeb Magazine, Seders in the Streets with the Shalom Center, and a matzah-making workshop at Bobolink Dairy.
Slow Food Seder. On the second night of Passover (April 20), locally-focused chefs Gayle Pirie and John Cook will prepare a special Slow Food Seder just for Heeb Magazine readers. The seder (held in San Francisco) will play upon traditional Passover dishes, and will be “kosher by slow food standards.”
Tickets are $75. Proceeds benefit the Chez Panisse Foundation and include a 4-issue subscription to Heeb. Reserve a spot soon as seating is limited.
More info and purchase tickets here.
Street Seders. The Shalom Center is calling on YOU to speak out against environmental degradation this Passover: “This year, Passover converges with Earth Day. And it does so at a time when the global climate crisis can no longer be ignored, calling for us to take bold action. Taking inspiration from “street theater,” we propose holding “street seders” during Passover to oppose the pharaohs in our own day. Find out more and plan your own seder, here.
Matzah-Making. On Sunday, April 13, Bobolink Dairy in New Jersey is hosting their annual matzah-making workshop. Kids and adults can make matzah the old-fashioned way with organically-grown winter wheat berries and rye. To make your own matzah that looks like it was “baked on a flat rock in the Sinai,” register here (it’s only $5!). And bring the whole mishpacha! Bobolink promises to make a special fuss for parties that include three or more generations.
Know about any other great Passover-food events? Let us know below.
If you haven’t yet seen the “things white people like,” website - well it’s probably best not to admit it to anyone and just sneak a peek here. The unavoidable “things Jewish people like” spin-offs (here and here) are pretty great too - not surprisingly, “buffets” top the list.
One of the lists claims that Jewish people like “taking sides on the Hydrox/Oreo debate.” Yeah…yeah, it’s true.
Any Jewish child reared in the 1980s (and likely the 1970s, but I can’t vouch for that) can remember the plate of Hydrox cookies that graced the shul social hall after services. They sat there stoically, the stand-in for their more popular, but lard-filled cousins, Oreos. Hydrox reigned the kiddush table until Oreos ditched the pig fat and got kosher certification in the late 1990s. Twas the touch of death for Hydrox, which was discontinued in 2003.
Still, some nostalgic Jewish cookie lovers insist that the Hydrox is a superior cookie that simply got a bum deal. Personally, although I do have a soft spot for Oreos (I’ve been known to eat half a bag in times of emotional trauma - a practice I don’t recommend!), I’ll generally take an organic Newman O (mint flavored) over an Oreo any day. What about you? Which chocolate sandwich cookie - past or present - tugs on your Jewish heartstrings?
I really love the design and message created by the Jew and the Carrot’s own Anna Stevenson, which adorn the totes (and other awesome stuff) in our Cafe Press store - it’s far superior for lugging your groceries home than the ubiquitous, ugly Whole Foods bags. But I have to admit-when I read my friend Faye’s recent blog post, I was really feeling the urge to appropriate her lovely Judaized-Michael Pollan slogan:
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. (All the rest is commentary.)”
I think the combined ideas of our two wise sages, Pollan and Rabbi Hillel, really sum up the new sustainable food movement, sweeping the Jewish community, not to mention the rest of the U.S.
Although I can’t claim to follow all of the tenant’s of Faye’s professed “Pollangelism,” I am definitely a true-believer in the fundamental pillars. Still, having recently completed a course on defining what a Sustainable Food System is, I’ve become too wonkified in some of the nuances of policy for which the religion ceases to hold up to scrutiny. And I think that in addition to voting with our forks, as Pollan suggests, it’s crucial that we also vote with our votes and letters, voices and community organizations. But hey, no religion has all the answers, especially when held up against the scientific evidence, so why should we subject the Pollangelicals to a double standard?
In this era of sound bites and tag lines, we’d love to hear your suggestions for other names for the new Jewish food revolution!
Update: If you can top Faye’s brilliance, your winning slogan will be the next one on the Jew and the Carrot’s moichandise!
Here are three newsy bites for your Friday reading enjoyment. The first is about the ongoing meat recall crisis, the second about the (also ongoing) Agriprocessors saga, and the third about the disappearance of Tam Tam crackers. (Okay, maybe I used the word “enjoyment” a bit too soon…but certainly food for thought.)
Rotten Meat. The Meat & Poultry Business Journal reported that, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering a proposal to not identify retailers where meat cited in recalls was sold except in cases of potential serious health risks to consumers.” Already, the report says, stores are required to remove recalled meat from shelves, but not obligated to alert customers about the recall. Read the full story here.
AgriProcessors fined $180,000 - The Forward reported that the controversial kosher meat company, AgriProcessors was fined over $180,000 by the state of Iowa’s Division of Labor for, “failure to provide workers with proper safety training, insufficient programs to manage blood-born pathogens and a failure to label toxic chemicals.” AgriProcessors denies many of the citations. Get the story here.
Where’s the Matzah? The New York Times City Blog reported the sad truth this week: Because of a technological glitch, Tam Tams Crackers (the beloved unleavened snack cracker) will be all but extinct this Passover season. (hat tip to Jewschool) In equally distressing news, Streit’s Matzo factory is closing down - shut out by rising rents on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where the family-owned business has churned out Matzah for the last century. Like many New York residents who can’t take the rent hike, Streit’s is moving to New Jersey. Read the Streit’s story here.
What do parsley, pickles, and charoseth have in common? They constitute the exhaustive list of Jewish foods that fit neatly into a raw food diet. The remaining arsenal of heavy, noodle-egg-and-shmaltz-filled dishes that dominate the world of traditional Jewish cuisine don’t exactly make the cut.
But now - proving that there is indeed an online community for every interest - there is a new Yahoo group for raw foodists who love Jewish food. Members will swap Jewishly-inspired recipes created through vegan and raw techniques. While I can see how borscht and hummus would be fairly straight forward to make raw, I’m having a little trouble wrapping my mind around an uncooked matzah ball…
Check out Jewish Raw Food here.
Photo credit: Judy Pokras “Raw Vegan Potato Latkes and Mock Sour Cream”
In this week’s Jerusalem Post, Dr. Richard Schwartz writes:
“Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story, was a vegetarian while she lived in the palace of King Achashverosh. She was thus able to avoid violating the kosher dietary laws while keeping her Jewish identity secret.”
Well, sort of. As a vegetarian and a woman, I find Dr. Schwartz’s line of logic tempting. Hooray! Queen Esther, the sassy savior of the Jewish people, loved tofu! But he has the midrash backwards.
There are actually conflicting opinions about what Esther chose to eat and refuse in the palace (one commentator suggests that she was actually served pork!). But the midrash that stuck is that she ate beans and legumes. If this was the case, then Queen Esther avoided meat so as to not violate the kosher laws in her non-Jewish surroundings. Her intention would not have been to eschew all flesh, as Dr. Schwartz suggests, just the non-kosher kind.
Even if she wasn’t a card-carrying PETA member, Queen Esther’s diaspora diet gives us a glimpse into the strength of her character. She maintained her sense of self, even within a palace that was undoubtedly filled with temptations. The lesson to take away is not that all Jews should be vegetarians (though many could benefit from eating less meat!), but that defending one’s core values is the deepest form of heroism.
In honor of Queen Esther, here’s a recipe for Persian Stuffed Peppers by Chef Gil Marks, author of a mind-bogglingly comprehensive book of vegetarian Jewish recipes, Olive Trees and Honey.
Purim is coming! If you haven’t yet perfected your hamantaschen filling technique and are still contemplating dressing as Tickle Me Elmo on Purim night - not to worry. The Jew & The Carrot presents our favorite Purim recipes and resources from around the Jewish blogosphere.
And while you’re checking out these sites, take a peek at The Jew & The Carrot’s Healthy, Sustainable Purim Resources and our Cafe Press Gear - a beautiful line of tote bags, mugs, aprons, T-shirts, journals, note cards and more all emblazoned with a gorgeous “Eat, be Satisfied, and Bless” decal. The note cards would make a particularly sexy addition to your mishloach manot gifts.
Purim Recipes and Resources from the Jewish Blogosphere
In Mol Araan, a Jewish food blog in Yiddish and English suggests a hemp-based filling for hamantaschen, sweetened with agave, coconut milk, and cardamom.
The Parve Baker eschews making hamantaschen for Purim. Like ripe tomatoes in August and the mango tree outside her former graduate school home in Indonesia, there are simply too many to go around! Instead, she gives us a recipe for Queen Esther’s Crown - a “slightly sweet challah dough stuffed with a mixture of chopped onions, poppy seeds, salt, and oil.”
BFruitfull suggests a list of half bottles of kosher wine, that could be tucked into mishloach manot baskets.
My Jewish Learning offers a recipe for a cinnamon-spiced vegetarian bean stew for a festive Purim meal.
Tradition, shmadition, I hate poppy seed hamantaschen. I find this old-world filling to be gritty and saccharine and really just a vile affront to the taste buds. So when a friend suggested bringing a can of the corn syrup-laden stuff to my recent hamantaschen-making party, I kindly (but firmly) let her know that my home is mohn-free.
I don’t think she missed it too much. My kitchen table was strewn with interesting pots of jam (cherry-apricot from the farmers’ market, and blueberry canned last summer by the Adamah fellows), a container of raw honey, another of Nutella, and even a jar of peanut butter brought by a friend who insisted it could be great (it was).
But the highlight of the evening, without a doubt, centered around our experiments with savory hamantaschen - pockets of dough filled with an earthy mixture of sauteed mushrooms, browned onions, and a garlic and basil-infused jack cheese by the Sugar River Cheese Co. As we bit in to the warm, herb-flecked treats, it felt like something of a Jewish food revolution. Poppy seeds, watch your back.
Photos and recipe below the jump…
Celebrate Purim with The Jew & The Carrot’s:
Healthy, Sustainable Purim Resources.
Find tips and tricks on how to:
- Bake unique and healthy, homemade hamentashen
- Throw a Persian Purim banquet
- Pamper yourself like Queen Esther
- Make unforgettable shloach manot
Click here, to get your Purim celebration on - The Jew & The Carrot style.
