Wendy Belzberg is as comfortable swapping brisket recipes as she is discussing quantum physics. However, because of her strong Jewish background, many – but by no means all – of the questions she receives tend to have some Jewish content. Don\’t expect a traditional response; she can be extremely controversial and, on more than one occasion, has had to write from a safe house to hide out from irate rabbis.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on Sunday, Oct. 8, during which time a strict fast is observed.
Why is this night different from all other nights?
This night is different because I, a person who equates working in the kitchen with working on a chain gang, cook most of the multicourse Passover meal. Singlehandedly and from scratch, I might add.
Real whipped butter. There\’s only one time of year you\’ll find it in my refrigerator — Pesach.
On the first day of Tishri, Sept. 10, the Jewish New Year begins at sunset.
Jewish-themed cookbooks appear in a frenzy about a month before Passover, then die off by May. Mainstream cookbooks also try to cash in on the warming weather\’s ability to make us imagine nectarine tarts and heirloom tomato salads, long before winter comes to the Chilean tomato export market.
When Joan Nathan serves gefilte fish for Passover, she puts a carrot in the fish head.
For her, the reason is simple: That\’s the way her mother-in-law always did it.
Potato latkes are Chanukah\’s signature dish, not because of the potato — but because of the oil. Potatoes did not exist in the Holy Land when the ancient Israelites triumphed over the Syrians.
As a rule, you don\’t go to museums to eat. Unless you\’re like me — someone who, when push comes to shove, prefers great food to great art. I make no apologies: The last time I visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I ate a tasteless, watery and expensive fruit salad in the cafe there. That I remember. What exhibit I was there to see I\’ve long forgotten. It had something to do with famous dead artists.
My Thanksgiving column a few weeks ago was about pumpkin pie, the sine qua non of non-Jewish desserts. In passing, Imentioned mincemeat, which I had never seen nor tasted but felt certain was the Maginot line separating \”us\” from \”them.\” Spam, lacedwith lard and pieces of raw tongue, is what I imagined it to be.\nTurns out, I had stumbled upon a widely sharedethnic blind spot.
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