I’ll be presenting my talk “My Cup Runneth Over,” all about the history of Jews and alcohol, live in Jerusalem on Sunday, July 25. So as a little teaser, this post will explore in a bit more detail something I’ll only have time to address in passing during the talk. (And if you’re in Jerusalem, and want to join, please […]
One and a Half New Articles
Just a brief post to let you know about two articles I have had published this week. My latest piece for The Nosher is up, and it is the interesting story of the Fleischmann’s Yeast family. I’d been thinking of writing this piece for a while, and find the story somewhat surprising and fun. As I write there, amid the […]
Thank God for Food Spoilage
Traditional Jews have a wide array of food blessings, based on the type of food being consumed. We thank God with a different bracha (blessing) for creating grain products, fruits or wine, for example. These add up to an expression of our gratitude to the Creator for providing us not just with sustenance, but with a variety both nutritionally and […]
The Freaky Ancient Grain Still Prepared Today and Connected with the Season
If you’ve attended Hebrew School, or one of many Jewish Summer Camps, you probably know the Hebrew word for Spring: Aviv. It’s an ancient word, that appears multiple times in the Jewish Bible. The only problem is… it doesn’t mean Spring. Or at least it didn’t in Biblical times. Back then, it described a food product, one that is still […]
Respectfully Responding to Reem Kassis (Re: Bagels)
If you spend time reading on the Internet about food history or Middle Eastern cuisine, chances are you recently saw a post by Palestinian-American cookbook author Reem Kassis in which she claimed that the bagel has origins in the Arab kitchen. I first came across it when my friend Sarah forwarded me an article from Serious Eats in which Ms. […]
The Holocaust and Jewish Food History
Yom HaShoah, Israel’s official Holocaust Remembrance Day, has just begun this evening. And so, I wanted to take a few minutes to write a post that relates to the day, as well as to Jewish Food History. Many of you may be wondering what there could possibly be to write about on this topic, and indeed it is largely a […]
The Tangled History of Noodle Kugel
About a month ago I posted a link to my recent article for The Nosher, all about Potato Kugel. Well, as promised, my next article to come out follows up on that, by unraveling the tangled history of noodle (or lokshen) kugel! Noodle kugel is the older of the two, and has at least as complex a story as the […]
Borscht’s Belt Wraps Ashkenazi Food and Broader Jewish Cuisine
When it comes to holiday food, my mother is a real traditionalist. No need to ask what will be served at the Seder, for example, because it would be the same every year. Which was also the same as what her mother prepared. One of those standard Pesach/Passover dishes was always knobl borscht. I am much less of a traditionalist […]
The History of Potato Kugel
Many of you may remember a post I wrote a few months back all about kugel. Well, if you thought there was nothing more to discuss on the subject, you were wrong! 🙂 My newest piece for The Nosher covers the entire History of Potato Kugel, and soon there will be another one coming out dedicated to Noodle Kugel. This […]
No, Virginia, Haman Did NOT Have Pointy Ears
Hamantaschen: those triangular stuffed cookies that so many of us eat on Purim. What do they actually have to do with this holiday? The answer is actually more complicated than you might think, but not as asinine as some might make it out to be (i.e. there actually is some mild significance). The most common explanations you will hear are […]
