The Quinoa Controversy
Sometimes it seems that a food is added to and then removed from the Passover menu in the blink of an eye. I remember when peanut oil was the standard available cooking oil for Pesach, but that is long gone. And here’s another food–quinoa–adopted by American Jews with enthusiasm, that may have an even shorter Passover shelf life. Unless, of course, the rabbis finally resolve the kitniyot question by declaring the Sephardic tradition appropriate for all Jews (I’ve heard rumors of this possibility–but really, they are just rumors!). What have you seen come and go from your seder table? Where do you stand on quinoa: do you love it enough to demand it remain on the menu, or will you shrug and move on?
The article below, written by Leah Koenig and published by Tablet Magazine, clearly explains the brewing quinoa controversy. Let us know what you think!
Karen
A Photo Feast!
Not too long ago we sent our resident photographer and food blogger, Elena Rosemond-Hoerr (of biscuitsandsuch.com fame) to capture some of our favorite (and most Baltimorean) Jewish foods!
Elena is very hands-on with food styling! (I was very mouth-on with eating the leftovers)
What you can't tell here is how uncooperative the wind was!
Tuesday Tidbit (belated): Welcome Louis!
Intern Louis joins the team!
Louis has joined the Chosen Food team as the official Chosen Food blogger! Check out his bio at the “About the Team” tab and expect to hear a lot from him in the coming weeks! We’re excited to have him on board.
Tuesday Tidbit: Rugelach Ice Cream?!?
“Move over Soy Vay sauces! Chozen is a new kosher ice cream with mix-ins that would make Tevye happy. Rugelach, coconut-almond macaroon and chocolate matzo are the flavors, all swirled in a fine vanilla ice cream base with no gums or stabilizers.”
Get the full story of Chozen All Natural Ice Cream here at the company website. And it’s Star K kosher! Now only in New York, but they are planning mail order soon. Can’t wait!
Tuesday Tidbit: Favorite Food Videos!
A link to an Alla Axelrod song on youtube came across my computer last night, all about deli food! You can imagine why it piqued my interest. But it also got me thinking about my own favorite “food” videos, like Food Fight, “an abridged history of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict.” Or the Julia Child skit on Saturday Night Live! And really, any video featuring Julia herself cooking and living it up!
Do you have any favorite food videos? Please share your picks in the comments!
Tuesday Tidbit: The REAL American Pie?
Some interesting reading for your Tuesday afternoon!
Mince pie was once inextricable from our national identity. Blamed for bad health, murderous dreams, the downfall of Prohibition, and the decline of the white race, it nonetheless persisted as an American staple through the 1940s. So what happened? By Cliff Doerksen.
What’s a “Refrigerator Portrait?”
It didn’t take us long to recognize a brilliant idea when we saw it. Texas photographer Mark Menjivar took pictures of the contents of the refrigerators of a fascinating variety of individuals. He appends captions that tell us just the barest facts about the fridge owners, allowing the images to help us imagine what their lives are like. Here’s one of my favorites:
Bar Tender | San Antonio, TX | 1-Person Household | Goes to sleep at 8AM and wakes up at 4PM daily.
This person is living a take-out life. And what is that flag doing there?
My own refrigerator, shown in a previous post, could be captioned, “Empty-nester/Pototmac, MD/2-person household/Commutes to work three hours each day; husband does all grocery shopping and cooking.”
Menjivar explains, “An intense curiosity about the foods we consume and the effects they have on us as individuals and communities led me to begin to make these unconventional portraits. A refrigerator is both a private and a shared space. One person likened the question, “May I photograph the interior of your fridge?” to asking someone to pose nude for the camera.”
He’s right: these refrigerator portraits can be remarkably revealing. So we determined to ask American Jews to send us portraits of their refrigerators. Some of the pictures we’ve received, showing refrigerators or freezers packed to the gills, bear out the stereotype that we are a food-obsessed people. Others, such as my own, could lead someone to ask (as our friends have teased), “Are you sure you’re Jewish?”
Giving credit where due, we are not alone in collecting these images. There are several Flickr groups that specialize in refrigerator images. Fridge Portraits-Fridge Fever (“This group is dedicated to pictures which show how your fridge sees you. Not how you see your fridge.”) has almost 300 members and 340 images. What’s That in Your Fridge? has 675 members. Even NPR got into the act when, after a short piece on photographer Mark Menjivar, listeners were encouraged to post their fridges to the NPR Flickr site.
We have just begun to collect refrigerator portraits, and invite you to send us a photo of your own refrigerator and/or freezer – you can upload a photo to our flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/chosenfood_fridgephotos/ or email it to curator@chosenfood.org. Write a brief caption similar to those above that tells us what you do, where you live, how many people live in your household, and one or two important facts that affect the way you eat. Several of the photos we receive will be selected for display in the Chosen Food exhibit, all will be made available on the Chosen Food website (still under construction), and we will comment on them in future posts on this blog.
The images we are collecting reveal a community of great diversity, but there are issues and concerns that continue to connect us. We thank you for helping us to explore 21st century American Judaism in this unique way!
What has a place in your refrigerator ONLY because your family is Jewish?
A blog post by curator Karen Falk.
The other day I was digging around in the back of the fridge, and I came across my years-old bottle of Manischewitz Concord Grape Wine. I’d kind of lost track of it. And the thought suddenly occurred to me: this—along with our much younger bottle of Kedem grape juice—is an item that imparts a clear identity to our kitchen and our home. It is something we keep around only because we are kosher-keeping Jews.
I don’t particularly like grape juice. Neither does my husband. The kids don’t live at home anymore, so we don’t have it around for them. We drink it only for Kiddush, before dinner on Friday night or lunch on Saturday, and we pour a cupful for the Saturday evening havdalah ceremony. One bottle can last for months, doled out a cup at a time, kept on hand for guests (most often children) who don’t drink wine.
The same is true of the Manischewitz wine, with one difference—somewhere along the line, the distinctive taste of Concord grape wine became, for me, a natural accompaniment to our Shabbos dinner menu, and I have to admit, I kind of like it. It started years ago, before our kids were born, before it was easy to find really good kosher wines. We always had pretty much the same menu on Friday night: baked chicken seasoned with ground time and sage, baked potato, broccoli and tossed salad, and challah. After a while, my brain just began to connect the smells of the baked chicken and fresh challah with the taste of the sweet wine.
I admit this with some sheepishness. Manischewitz Concord Grape is not considered a sophisticated taste. (That seemed like such an obvious observation, I almost didn’t write it here; then I considered the remote possibility of readers who didn’t know this and typed the sentence.) We long ago learned to vary our Friday night menu, and eagerly embraced fine kosher wines as they became available, first from California, followed quickly by those from Italy, France, and now from all over the world, including Israel. Today, we’ll open a bottle of Teal Lake Shiraz from Australia to accompany a spicy stew, or a cool chardonnay to go with our grilled salmon.
But sometimes, when it’s just my husband and me at the table, and we don’t feel like killing a bottle of wine between the two of us, we’ll recite Kiddush over the Manischewitz and I’ll savor the memory of those early years of our marriage, before kids, when we were so young and clueless.
Karen's fridge, in all its glory!
Tell us—what is in your refrigerator only because of who you are? Post a portrait of your fridge on our Flikr group!
Calling for all things “Jewish food-ish”!
Chosen Food is an exhibition in which everyone can participate!
We want your photos—recent or generations old: family at holiday dinners, cooking in the kitchen, food sizzling away on the stove, platters ready for the table, eating in restaurants, the dessert table or shmorg at your wedding, and more. The humblest food moment is of interest: have you ever taken a picture of someone in your family checking out at the supermarket or unpacking the groceries at home? We’d love to see it!
Or take some photos for us: we’d especially love to see the inside of your refrigerator (check out our Flickr group and post some of your own! ), and if you keep kosher, send us a photo of your dairy dishes and one of your meat dishes (Passover dishes also welcome). And everyone sets up their kitchen differently—show us what yours looks like!
We want your home movies and videos, especially of simcha receptions. Jewish (and other) holiday celebrations also welcome.
We want your cookware: special implements you use to prepare some Jewish dish or family recipe, cooking items brought to this country by the immigrants in your family, unusual things passed down the generations, etc.
We want your food memorabilia: do you have kosher food packages, particularly of traditional favorites saved from years gone by? Jewish organization cookbooks from anywhere in the United States? Recipes handed down from generation to generation? Instructions from your Weight Watchers program, back before they went corporate in 1978? The caterer’s menu from your wedding reception?
Have something cool but don’t see it on this list? Call Karen Falk at 410-732-6400, ext. 227.
Thanksgiving in Connecticut
This was an exciting year for me – I don’t usually like to travel around Thanksgiving (too many cars doing too many stupid things on the roads), but because of a backlog of vacation time I was able to take a whole week off and, avoiding holiday traffic, head up to my family in Connecticut to celebrate Thanksgiving in style!
Thanksgiving dinner is an early affair in my family – we all gather at my uncle and his wife’s for a 2:00pm sit-down! Dinner gets laid out buffet-style in the kitchen and all the traditional fixings are there – turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes.
But we also like to keep things lively and fresh, trying new things every year, like marinated veggie platters (one of my parents’ contribution to the meal) or butternut squash-apple soup (picked up at the deli where my uncle works). One of my favorite things is how well our family gets along; it’s always a pleasure to get together! We even get along with other families – Thanksgiving isn’t just a Kassman affair; the Browns (my uncle’s wife’s family) are also a part of the holiday celebration.
I love how the families blend together around the table!
My plate, loaded with traditional Thanksgiving goodies!
Digging in to Dessert!
Brownie Ice Cream Pie - my contribution to Thanksgiving
But every year my family gathers at my uncle’s for more than just a traditional dinner. No indeed, because after the traditional stuffing-of-our-faces it’s time to get down to business: a cross-family SET BACK TOURNAMENT!
Taking a Trick
We play for bragging rights…and cash for the winner’s favorite charity! With a $5 buy-in and 16 players this year there was a hefty prize to be had.
Set Back: Serious Business
Making every trick count!
But this year there was a surprise! Apparently, with traditional dinner so long ago and the business of cards taking a lot of energy, it was decided that this year. halfway through the tournament there would be….
….a second dinner. Let me tell you, I was NOT prepared for another full-scale meal that day! But I did my best to enjoy the (second) delicious spread set before me!
- Uncle Steven’s Antipasto
- Aunt Cheryl’s famous shrimp cocktail (with extra special helper)
- Stuffed Shells
- Aunt Abby’s Stuffed Pickled Hot Peppers (possibly my favorite part of second dinner)
- My Plate Part II: The Reckoning
- Eating (again) made a nice break. But it was back to cards soon enough!
I am happy to report that I made a good showing at this year’s tournament, tying for second place!
My Set Back Score Card. Making the zeros into pictures made not getting any points a lot more cheerful!
But alas, I was beaten by a single point! Ah well, at least I was beaten by the reigning champ, three years running (although it is his house…and his cards…some of us are getting a little suspicious!).
Uncle Steven, set back extraordinaire!
All in all I was extremely happy to get home and enjoy a real Kassman Thanksgiving!
What about you? Do you have any special Thanksgiving traditions? Anything out-of-the-ordinary, extra-cool or just your favorite part of Thanksgiving?
Chosen Food 