Currently Browsing: Food 8 articles
Jews & Brews
Martin Elliot Jaffe discusses the history and joys of Jewish coffee house culture. ‘One cannot attain presence of mind without the aid of coffee’. These words of Italian Rabbi Hezekiah Da Silva from the early 1600s fueled my immersion into the rich Jewish role in the rise of European coffeehouses and the cultural, political and […]
Tikkun Olam in a Frying Pan
Michal Nahman tells us about the Bristol-based Mizrachi food project. As a kid, it felt like our family was an odd and outlandish mixture. I’d hear my dad’s Ladino intermingled with my mum’s family’s Romanian in our Israeli home in a lower middle-class suburb of Toronto. ‘Ach Patron del mundo’, my dad would plead, as […]
The Jewish Jaffanator
Nathan Abrams considers the Jewishness of a new flavour of Maryland Cookies. I have just discovered Burton’s chocolate orange range of its Maryland Cookies brand. Named the ‘Jaffanator’, their tagline is, ‘I’ll be snack’. To be fair, as I have written previously, despite the name, there is nothing Jewish about Jaffa oranges that take their […]
My New Qualification
Sue Fox reflects on Jewish cookery from a bygone age. Who knew that £14.40 would pay for an online e-learning certificate in Food Safety Level 2? Until I started volunteering with Food Rescue/Food Banks, I hadn’t given much thought to rat droppings, cockroach excretions or moth webbing. My approach to Best Before dates was a […]
Jews and Cheese: An Ambivalent Relationship
As we celebrate Shavuot, Nathan Abrams explores the curious relationship between Jews and cheese. The issue of Stilton cheese, which held up any potential UK trade deal with Japan, got me thinking about the relationship between Jews and cheese. But as it’s Shavuot, it’s a good time to be thinking about it again. Despite the modern Israeli’s love of all things to […]
Sourdough is Goyish, Challah is Jewish
If there was one thing that characterised my social media feeds during the early days of lockdown, it was the sudden appearance of endless photographs of homemade bread. It seems that, stuck at home, even in the face of a national shortage of flour and yeast, most people’s first reaction was to bake a loaf. […]
What next? Pineapple, Cherry and Strawberry flavoured Jaffa Cakes!
McVitie’s has launched a range of pineapple flavoured Jaffa Cakes. Jewish reactions have been mixed. ‘OH NO — as if 2020 couldn’t get worse!’ said one poster on my Facebook page. To be fair, other than the name, there is nothing Jewish about Jaffa Cakes. The food takes its name from the Jaffa varietal of orange, which was first produced in the city […]
Marmite? Hummus? Am I hearin’ you right?
If, to paraphrase the great Lenny Bruce, hummus is Jewish, then Marmite is definitely goyish. But what do you do when the two are combined into, wait for it, Marmite hummus? It sounds like an abomination, two ingredients that should never meet, like shatnez or mixing milk and meat. Really, we shouldn’t be surprised by this hybrid given that they’ve added Marmite to Mini […]