When is a fish not a fish? When it’s the emotionally charged cultural totem at the center of Gefilte, a short documentary that debuts online this week. Compressing both family and food history into 12 minutes, the film tracks the months-long preparation of gefilte fish for a massive seder hosted by the Hermelin family of…
When Bubbe, my plump, good-natured, maternal grandmother came to my parent’s house for Passover, she never ate with us in the dining room. Instead, Mom served her in the kitchen before we sat down. I sensed that this arrangement was somehow for my grandmother’s comfort, but I never fully understood. Was it because Bubbe came…
This morning, those of us who pine for quality local journalism woke up to a startling sight: Actual good news. A consortium of local radio stations, including New York’s WNYC, Washington D.C.’s WAMU and Southern California’s KPCC announced they had banded together to revive beloved local news organizations Gothamist and DNAInfo. As Wired reports, Billionaire…
Despite the thaw we’re experiencing after an intense cold snap, we are still solidly in matzo-ball soup weather. Next week, the humble staple of the Ashkenazi culinary canon will be celebrated at the first official Kneydl Bar, a pop-up in L.A. dedicated to matzo balls. Organizers Elina Gitig, Sonya Sanford and David Andreone felt like…
Every year on Sukkot, my great-grandmother made gefilte fish for the elders of the synagogue who “dwelled” in the sukkah for seven days. To continue this mitzvah even after she left this world, she stipulated in her will that my grandmother take over her task. Anyone who has made gefilte (meaning filled or stuffed) fish…
Smells of kreplach and challah wafted into the Rykestrasse Synagogue in Berlin on a rainy Friday in March, as Israel-born chef Itay Novick and his staff hurriedly worked in the nearby kitchen to prepare Sabbath dinner for nearly 100 guests. The dinner was part of the first-ever Jewish food festival in the city, Nosh Berlin,…
Gefilte may be the most ubiquitous fish dish in the Jewish culinary lexicon, whether we’re talking about the mass-produced, jarred versions available at supermarkets or the ready-made kind from kosher-style delis and dairy appetizer stores. But it is also the most celebratory fish dish, closely related to the haute-cuisine triumph quenelles de brochet. Essentially a…
For centuries, Jewish women schlepped to the fish market, choosing the best fish “by the look in its eyes” before transforming it into the quintessential Sabbath gefilte fish. Using a wooden bowl and a half-moon-shaped chopper, they cut up the fish with onions, crying a little, chopping a little, until the mix was just the…
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