Maybe you’ve had this experience: One day, you’re going about your business and spot a mundane object. In my case, it’s a bowl of hard candies. And there’s something about this object that moves you in an unexpected way. All of a sudden, that bowl of candy stands for more than a sweet snack. It…
The closing of the Upper West Side Manhattan location of H&H Bagels this summer caused a citywide uproar. Here at the Forward, however, we’re taking the long view. Why does the bagel inspire such affection? How did it become so popular? How, indeed, did it come about at all? The bagel’s beginnings are shrouded in…
When my father was in his 20s, he visited Sweden on a grand European tour. There he met a very distant relative, who insisted that he stay at her home. During his visit, she prepared brisket for dinner. With one whiff, my father recognized the aroma — precisely the same recipe his late grandmother prepared…
For the past three years, auction prices for mainstream wines, especially those from famed Bordeaux chateaus, have been on a roll. Energized by deep-pocketed Asian collectors, the prices of top wines, led by Chateau Lafite Rothschild, have well outpaced the U.S. stock market. One evening in late September, it was the turn of kosher wines,…
Is there such a thing as a Jewish cocktail? Although wine is part of the Shabbat blessings and Jews are urged to drink on Purim until they can no longer tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai, mixed drinks are rarely part of the traditional Jewish lifestyle. But, as the culture of cocktails grows, professional…
When most people think about the early high priestesses of vegetarian cooking, chefs and cookbook authors like Mollie Katzen, Deborah Madison and Madhur Jaffrey come to mind. Now, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City is adding another name to the list: Fania Lewando. Next spring, YIVO will publish an English translation…
Poor pickled herring — it has lost its mojo. Once a darling of every bagel brunch, it might make an appearance nowadays at your grandparents’ table, but probably not at yours. While herring from a jar can be overly pickled or slimy, homemade herring is delicate and sublime. So, it’s time to bring herring back…
Chef Eyal Shani’s theatrics are his signature at his three Tel Aviv restaurants. He has been known to serve food on pieces of cardboard, instead of plates, and without silverware. His menus are lyrical descriptions of his food, with dishes like top-end shwarma meat marinated in local grape juice and drizzled with tangy tahini, or…
The first time I met an American Jewish farmer was at a falafel joint near the Yeshiva University campus in Manhattan in 2008. We were both killing time before the start of a panel discussion on ethics and kosher food by…well…eating. He was an Ivy League grad, several years younger than I, and at the…
For the past three months, a group of President Obama’s Jewish supporters has been getting together for a weekly conference call to discuss strategy. The group, includes, among others, former White House adviser David Axelrod, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former Congress members Robert Wexler and Mel Levine, Chicago Jewish activist and attorney…
At the center of the Shabbat table, indifferent to the discord and dismay passing above and around it, sits a brisket. In its tepid bath of brown broth, intoxicated with Lipton Onion Soup Mix, shvitzing deckle fat into its ancient Corelle casserole pan, it sits, an unmoved mover, oblivious. And why shouldn’t it? Jewish dining,…
