VIDEO: Dark rye bread, chicory and other foods our great-grandparents had for breakfast
The lively Zoom discussion between two cooks and two scholars of Ashkenazi cuisine is now accessible on YouTube
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Forverts Staff August 8, 2023
Discussions about Jewish food traditions often focus on holiday meals and special occasions. This week, though, four cooks and scholars of Eastern European Jewish cuisine imagined what their ancestors might have eaten on an ordinary weekday.
Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter hosted the panel discussion on Aug. 7. Yiddish food scholar Eve Jochnowitz, and. Throughout the hour, over 1,300 people tuned in to all or parts of the live discussion on Zoom or Facebook.
Yiddish food scholar Eve Jochnowitz shared an excerpt from a memoir by the Yiddish novelist I. J. Singer (Isaac Bashevis Singer’s older brother). Folklore and food expert Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett shared her own research and described what her father, Mayer Kirshenblatt, told her about how food was prepared in his shtetl Apt (Opatow), Poland. And food and travel writer Joe Baur, who only recently discovered his Ashkenazi culinary heritage, said how meaningful it is for him to blend these legacy foods with his own American-influenced palate.
The panelists touched on various foods that Jews in pre-war Eastern Europe might have eaten for breakfast or a light lunch. Among them: Dark rye bread, radishes with sour cream, mamelige, chicory and black tea.
All that talk of old-time favorite dishes must have made some of the viewers hungry. As one viewer quipped in the chat box at the end of the event: “Nu, gey esn!” (“So go eat already!”)
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
