Criticize any national or ethnic cuisine and you’re spoiling for a fight. So writer Josh Ozersky knows he’s stepping on a land mine when he writes, on the Web site of Time, that “Jewish food is awful.” Having launched his attack, however, the Jewish Ozersky quickly retreats, clarifying that he’s limiting his discussion to “the…
Passover always makes me wonder whether life is meant to be hard. This thought starts rearing its head often before Purim, when those who take seriously the mission of spring cleaning are already on schedules of windows, curtain, light fixtures, and the drawers in the corner of the closet that have not been touched since…
When I first baked matzo in my clay oven in Israel, I tried to find native wheat to use in my recipe. After all, the first wheat varieties evolved in the Fertile Crescent and were likely used in the first pieces of matzo baked. Search as I did, I was unable to find any heritage…
Matzo is bread made from flour of members of the wheat and barley families mixed with water and then, to avoid engendering hametz, baked within 18 minutes of mixing. Historically, it was customary for each household to bake their own matzos. The result would be virtually unrecognizable to modern American Jews, it was a relatively…
More and more, young Jews and families are creating their own Passover traditions in restaurants. Joan Nathan reports for the New York Times. Just in case you didn’t get enough Passover dessert ideas from our post yesterday, check out Smitten Kitchen’s blackberry and coconut macaroon tart. One last dessert idea: matzo toffee with chocolate, almonds…
Chef Eldad Shem Tov, who trained with some of Europe’s best chefs, is trying to bring Israelis inventive upscale culinary options like never before. But will his Jaffa-based food experiment survive? Haaretz reports. New York Times Op-Ed page connects Denmark’s blazing innovation in food and new green technologies. René Redzepi, the chef at Copenhagen-based Noma,…
Earlier this week, Sue Fishkoff wrote about watching a goat get slaughtered and people who only keep kosher on holidays. She is the author of “Kosher Nation: Why More and More of America’s Food Answers to a Higher Authority.” Her blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish…
“This is the bread of affliction”, my father would drone every Passover as he opened the familiar blue square box. “Matzah is tasteless and dry, not meant to be enjoyed. Eating it should remind you of the sufferings of our people.” As he went on and on and on with his yearly lecture on the…
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