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"The Basketball Game" is a graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning National Film Board of Canada animated short of the same name – intended for audiences aged 12 years and up. It's a poignant tale of the power of community as a means to rise above hatred and bigotry. In the end, as is recognized by the kids playing the basketball game, we're all in this together.

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Celebration of Israeli culture

Celebration of Israeli culture

Mark your calendars for May 14. The Festival of Israeli Culture, a one-day free series of events at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, is a multicultural celebration of music, dance, art, sports, food and drink.

photo - Kids enjoying last year's Festival of Israeli Culture
Kids enjoying last year’s Festival of Israeli Culture. (photo by Galit Lewinski)

Get ready for community drumming by the Drum Café, Israeli dance, Mediterranean belly dancing, flamenco and the Israeli Choir, followed by a sing-along with well-known Israeli musician Elad Shtamer. And that’s not all! Join Maccabi-Mania with gym-based activities for all ages, the sassy sesame cooking workshop, intuitive painting, and calligraphy workshops.

photo - Dancers at last year's festival
Dancers at last year’s festival. (photo by Galit Lewinski)

For adults, there is a range of 19+ programs, including an Israeli wine tasting and cocktail party to sample some arak-based cocktails (arak is an alcoholic drink made primarily with aniseed and grapes) followed by an exhibition of video art from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel.

photo - Music is a part of the celebrations
Music is a part of the celebrations. (photo by Galit Lewinski)

In addition to the performances and activities, the festival will have a market featuring a variety of eats from local vendors and food trucks, along with hand-poured candles, jewelry, clothing, arts and crafts, Judaica, and more.

The Festival of Israeli Culture on May 14 runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the JCC. While all events are free of charge, food donations to the Jewish Food Bank are encouraged. For more information, visit israelifestival.com.

– Courtesy Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

Format ImagePosted on April 28, 2023May 7, 2023Author Jewish Community Centre of Greater VancouverCategories Performing ArtsTags dance, food, Israeli culture, JCC, music

Customs from around world

There are as many ways of celebrating Passover and the Pesach seder as there are Jews, and then some. Over the years, I have collected articles on different customs from around the world. Here are just some of the traditions surrounding food and the seder that I found unique.

Afghanistan

Haroset may contain walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pomegranates, apples, sweet wine and black pepper. The seder meal begins with arak-like liqueur, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, cucumbers, fried fish, cold omelette, lettuce and potato pancakes. The main course is meat soup with vegetables then fruit and nuts. The seder in Afghanistan was conducted with people sitting on carpets.

Belgium

Sedarim were communal in small towns, conducted according to Orthodox customs. Chickens and meat were killed according to kashrut, and live carp swam in the bathtub until it was time to make the gefilte fish.

China

Passover candy called pasla was made of minced prunes, boiled in honey with nuts dropped in. When it began to harden, it was rolled up, so there would be nuts on the inside and outside, and sliced.

Cuba

The oldest member held the seder for the entire family, with all the food home-made except for the matzah, which was imported.

Egypt

Haroset is made with raisins and dates or figs mixed with wine and chopped walnuts. Raisins were also used to make wine. For the meal, there would be fish with lemon sauce, meat casserole and matzah, as well as meat-and-leek patties.

Jews of Egyptian-descent wrap the matzot in a sack-like package, which is passed to each member of the seder. While each member holds the sack in turn, the other attendees ask him in Arabic: “Where are you coming from?” to which he replies, “From Egypt.” “What are you carrying?” they ask. “Matzot.” “Where are you going?” “Jerusalem.”

Ethiopia

Everyone made their own matzah consisting of wheat or legume flour, water and salt, baked in very thin slices and eaten almost immediately to eliminate the possibility of leavening. They also interpreted the Hebrew word hametz, to rise or leaven, to mean kept or not fresh, so they would only eat fresh produce, fresh milk and freshly slaughtered meat.

Since the Ethiopian Jewish community – believed to be either descendants of the Israelite tribe of Dan or progeny of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba – practised a pre-talmudic form of Judaism, the Ethiopian seder was a less-structured affair with an informal, festival air, more like a springtime celebration. Events were focused on those in the Torah – the slaughtering of the paschal lamb, the Ten Plagues and Exodus itself. Since arriving in Israel, many families recount their own exodus from Ethiopia as part of the seder.

Germany

Men wore kittels for the seder. Sauerkraut was part of the meal along with kloesse, a dish made of soaked matzah, eggs and fried onions, made into a big ball and cooked in boiling water. This was eaten in place of potatoes, topped with brisket gravy.

Greece

Popular seder dishes include roast leg of lamb strongly flavoured with garlic; lamb pie with the animal’s heart, liver, lungs, kidney and intestines inside; and lamb stew with artichokes, served with an egg and lemon sauce.

India

The seder meal consisted of spinach baked with eggs, fried matzah with leeks and eggs, and a pudding made of matzah, meat and eggs. The seder plate was passed around the table, and each guest held it for a minute above their heads.

Iran

The youngest member of the family conducts the seder. When the plagues are mentioned, a pinch of salt is added to the wine. During the song “Dayenu,” long-stemmed onions are put together in a bunch and one person “whips” the person next to them and then passes on the bunch of onions, to be similarly used by all the guests, until the onions make their way around the table. Often family members act out the Exodus, sometimes in costumes.

Italy

Squares of matzah, soaked in capon broth, browned in goose fat and baked in alternating layers with cooked greens or poultry giblets was a seder favourite. Other unusual Italian dishes are rib chops from lambs, ground chicken or ground beef meatballs.

In Venice, the squares were cooked in a pan with legumes such as peas, fava beans or lentils. Venice was famous for unleavened cakes in the shape of snakes, unleavened cakes stuffed with marzipan and doughnuts rolled in sugar and cinnamon.

Passover pasta in broth, boiled meat with goose salami, salad and a marzipan or matzah meal dessert and quince preserves were part of the Urbino seder.

Boiled chestnuts were used in haroset in northern Italy. Tuscan Jews made matzah and egg cakes. Ferrara Jews made matzah fritters with egg, honey, cinnamon, candied citron, pine nuts and raisins. Jews in Rome made lemon sorbet, almond cookies and wet matzah, squeezed dry and fried in olive oil then served with pine nuts, raisins and heated honey.

The table is adorned with long-stemmed green onions. During the chorus of “Dayenu,” everyone picks up their onion and “whips” the wrist of someone adjacent to them. This is meant to represent the sounds of whips of the slave masters in Egypt.

Mexico

No dairy products are used during Passover, tea is drunk instead of coffee and the seder meal is hot and spicy.

Morocco

Matzah is handmade, placed in ovens and allowed to cook for only five minutes. Tagine with lamb and almonds, prunes, saffron, cinnamon, ginger and honey is a Passover mainstay, as are truffles.

The seder plate was held over each person’s head while the others at the table recited in Arabic, “Just as G-d took us out of Egypt and split the sea for us, so may he save us today.”

Based in kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, they divided the soft doughy matzah they eat into the shapes of the Hebrew letters daled and vav; daled stands for doorposts of Israel that G-d watched over and vav is a symbol for G-d’s name.

Netherlands

Prior to a seder meal, a dish of sauerkraut or chard mashed with potatoes and accompanied by cold corned beef was served. For the seder, matzah balls in soup and roast meat or chicken was served. Haroset was nuts, raisins, apples, sweet wine, cinnamon and sugar. A second seder meal was dairy with matzah, butter, cheese, sometimes fish cakes, coffee and cake of ground nuts or mashed potatoes. Matzah pancakes with apple sauce or pareve lemon cream was also served. Tongue with meatballs was part of some people’s Passover meals.

Rhodes

Romaine lettuce was used instead of horseradish. Fish with a Greek-style lemon sauce or cooked with tomato sauce, or with rhubarb and tomatoes, is served at the seder meal.

Syria

Seder foods include lamb shanks and rice; haroset made from dried fruits, sweet wine, cinnamon and crushed walnuts; spinach-mint soup; and flourless pistachio cookies.

Tunisia

Lamb stew with leeks, spinach, peas, fennel, carrots, artichokes, turnips, cabbage, celery, potatoes and zucchini are flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, pepper, cilantro, dill and mint for Passover.

Yemen

The entire table is made into one big seder plate, with a border of parsley leaves all along the edges. The matzah resembles pita because they believe that, as long as the dough is continuously kneaded, it will not turn into hametz.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She has edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and is a food writer for North American Jewish publications. She leads walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.

Posted on March 24, 2023March 22, 2023Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags culture, food, Passover, Pesach, rituals, symbolism
Leftovers made yummy

Leftovers made yummy

Leftover chicken can be used for more than matzah ball soup. (photo from flickr / Edsel Little)

There is a tradition of having chicken for the seder meal, as well as for dinners on other Pesach evenings. Here are some different ways of using the leftovers.

MOCK GEFILTE FISH
(makes 18)

1 1/2 cups water & 1 1/2 tsp chicken soup powder (or 1 1/2 cups chicken soup)
1 1/2 celery ribs, chopped
1 1/2 onions, chopped
1 1/2 carrots, cut up
2 cups leftover chicken pieces
2 eggs
1/2 cup matzah meal
1/2 cup chicken soup

  1. In a soup pot, place water and chicken soup powder or (1 1/2 cups chicken soup), celery, onion and carrots. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until vegetables are partially cooked.
  2. Remove chicken from bones and place in food processor. Process a few seconds. Remove to a bowl.
  3. Add eggs, matzah meal and 1/2 cup chicken soup. Shape into balls. Add more matzah meal if balls don’t seem to hold together. Place in chicken soup with vegetables. Cover partially and simmer 30 minutes.

MINA DE PESACH
(I always make a couple of Sephardi dishes during Pesach in tribute to my father’s family. This recipe came from The Recipe Table by Susan R. Friedland, 1994. It makes 6-8 servings.)

5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups chopped onions
3 tbsp minced garlic
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
3 cups bite-size pieces cooked chicken
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chopped parsley
5 lightly beaten eggs
5 to 6 matzot
1 cup chicken soup
3 tbsp vegetable oil

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a six-to-eight cup baking dish.
  2. Heat five tablespoons oil in a large frying pan. Slowly sauté onion and garlic until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add mushrooms, sauté five minutes and cool. Stir in chicken, salt, pepper, parsley and eggs.
  3. Dip two matzot in the stock until well moistened and lay in baking dish. Spoon half the chicken mixture on top. Cover with one more moistened matzah, the remaining chicken and two remaining matzot.
  4. Pour two tablespoons oil on top and bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining one tablespoon oil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the top is a rich, crisp brown. Let cool for 10 minutes and serve.

CHICKEN-LEEK PATTIES
(makes 6-8 servings)

3 leeks, cleaned and cut up
1 cup chopped onions
2 cups cooked, chopped chicken
2 eggs
1 cup mashed potatoes
1/2 cup matzah meal
salt and pepper to taste
1 beaten egg
matzah meal
vegetable oil

  1. Place leeks and onions in a saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Drain and chop in a bowl.
  2. Add chicken, eggs, matzah meal, mashed potatoes, salt and pepper and blend.
  3. Place beaten egg in one shallow dish and matzah meal in another dish. Form mixture into patties. Dip each in beaten egg then in matzah meal. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
  4. Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry until patties are brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She has edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and is a food writer for North American Jewish publications. She leads walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.

Format ImagePosted on March 24, 2023March 22, 2023Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags chicken, food, Passover, Pesach, recipes, seder

Polenta fries & dipping sauces

My new BFF, the Air Fryer, has been working a shocking amount of overtime lately. So much so that I’m expecting a call from the Air Fryer’s union any moment, complaining about my employment practices.

Harvey and I often use the Air Fryer three times a day. We might make hardboiled eggs for breakfast, marinated tofu for lunch (me, not Harvey – he’d rather stick forks in his eyes than eat tofu) and, well, dinner could be anything. We cook steaks, salmon and chicken in there, make grilled cheese sandwiches, reheat leftovers and cook veggies in it. The only thing I haven’t tried in there is desserts. And cocktails. Stay tuned. I’m embarrassed to say, but our other appliances are exhibiting textbook signs of jealousy. No small wonder.

My newfound interest in cooking, coupled with our purchase of the Air Fryer, has opened up whole new vistas. The Air Fryer has inspired me to try recipes I never dreamed I’d try. For someone who could easily eat the same meal every day for a month, this is, quite frankly, a revelation.

Generally speaking, I’m the polar opposite of a culinary ambassador. I fit better into the “culinary misanthrope” or “culinary misfit” category. My father used to comment on my indiscriminate eating habits this way: “Shelley would eat out of a puddle.” It was true. As long as somebody else cooked it, I’d eat it. It didn’t matter what it was. But alas, the Air Fryer has lifted me to new heights. I now soar with the eagles and run with the wolves. I apologize for the hyperbole, but I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it. (Nor can the Pointer Sisters.)

photo - polenta fries So, as I was about to say, I’m constantly in search of new recipes  I can incorporate into my Air Fryer repertoire. This week it was polenta fries. Polenta is boiled cornmeal that can be served as a hot porridge-like dish, or it can be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf/log that can be baked, fried or grilled. I used the pre-cooked loaf/log version because it’s more versatile. It comes in regular and garlic basil flavour and can be purchased at most grocery stores. It’s often referred to as “tubed polenta.”

Having stumbled across numerous recipes for polenta fries, I decided to make it my new food project. I looked up its nutritional value and found that it’s a good source of fibre and protein, it’s gluten-free, rich in complex carbohydrates and antioxidants, low in fat and low in calories. Win-win all around. Polenta has a very convincing personality, especially when you pair it with some yummy dipping sauces.

AIR FRYER POLENTA FRIES
18-oz (500-gram) pre-cooked polenta log
pinch of salt and pepper
paprika (optional)
olive oil spray (or just use olive oil)

  1. Cut the polenta log into french fry-slice pieces and put in a large bowl.
  2. Spray the polenta fries with the olive oil spray or drizzle with olive oil to coat them all evenly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and paprika (optional).
  3. Place the polenta fries in the air fryer basket in a single layer, leaving space between them.
  4. Bake at 380°F for 18 to 20 minutes, or 400°F for 10 to 14 minutes. Flip the fries halfway through cooking. The outside should be crispy and the inside will be sort of creamy.
  5. Serve with your favourite dipping sauce. I made garlic aioli and lemon sauces, both of which were a big hit.

GARLIC AIOLI
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 clove garlic minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

LEMON DIPPING SAUCE
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

MINT DRESSING
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice or lime juice
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
3 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
10 twists of freshly ground black pepper

In a food processor (or Magic Bullet), combine all of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Add more salt and/or pepper if necessary.

This dressing will keep well, covered and refrigerated, for up to one week. It’s thinner than the dips, but it’s delicious with everything – it’s great on salads, orzo, tomatoes and cucumber, with parmesan cheese, goat cheese or feta cheese.

While I’m on the topic of dips and sauces, I have to share one of my favourite and simplest recipes – lemon caper butter. I mostly use this on salmon but you could douse any fish in it and not regret it.

LEMON CAPER BUTTER
4 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic minced
2 tsp capers, drained (I always add more)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1-2 tsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

In a small saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic, capers, lemon zest and lemon juice. Cook for two minutes, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I can cook. I’m not ashamed to admit that there have been some culinary casualties over the years, but mostly I’ve managed to keep myself and Harvey well fed and out of the ER. And, irony of ironies, the pandemic has given me the opportunity and impetus to try new recipes and new foods, and for that I’m grateful. I’m also grateful for the plethora of restaurants that do takeout and delivery. Never underestimate the power of a great slice of thin crust pizza. Or Chinese food and a movie. No, wait. That’s what we do on Christmas. Now I’m confused. Or maybe I’m Confucius. Whatever. Bon appetit.

Shelley Civkin, aka the Accidental Balabusta, is a happily retired librarian and communications officer. For 17 years, she wrote a weekly book review column for the Richmond Review. She’s currently a freelance writer and volunteer.

Posted on February 24, 2023February 22, 2023Author Shelley CivkinCategories LifeTags Accidental Balabusta, cooking, food, recipes
Many favourites at Archer

Many favourites at Archer

Archer’s Westberry Farms Hive dessert. (photo by Diane Tucker)

Opening several weeks ago, just in time for winter holiday festivities, Archer restaurant is the newest contribution to Vancouver’s fine dining scene from restaurateur Iain Bell, a member of the Jewish community.

Located at 1152 Alberni St., near Bute, the intimate West Coast vibe of the interior perfectly complements the inventive farm-to-table menu created by executive chef Sandy Chen, whose culinary chops include winner of B.C. Chef of the Year and Chef of the Year in the Canadian Culinary Federation national culinary competition. Working together with Chen is director of operations Clement Chan, whose credits are equally as impressive: chef/owner at Torafuku, contestant on Top Chef Canada and Team Canada member at World Culinary Olympics. Their team is ably completed by pastry chef Kiko Nakata and executive sous chef Siosian Tora.

Full disclosure, Iain and his wife Delaina are good friends and a group of us met to enjoy an evening of conversation and great food. We decided to sample the Chef’s Choice menu, as it seemed the best way to test the varied and enticing fare. This menu is available at a cost of $80/person for 10 shared dishes or $120/person for 12 shared dishes, plus tax. The offerings were small plates with local, fresh ingredients.

The burrata and endive salad, featuring warm burrata cheese, roasted beets, greens and toasted walnuts finished with a miso dressing, was my personal favourite. Another pleaser for me was the beautifully presented – in a smoke-filled glass terrarium, filled with objects reminiscent of a West Coast beach on a foggy day – Kusshi oysters on the half shell. The briny taste explosion, enhanced by sour apple, Ikura and miso mayo motoyaki, hit my palate and completed the sensory experience.

photo - Among Archer’s many offerings was a salmon crudo
Among Archer’s many offerings was a salmon crudo. (photo by Diane Tucker)

Many other shareable courses later, all artfully presented, our group of six argued contentedly about our choices for top three dishes. With consensus reached, in no particular order, the three were: the salmon crudo, local salmon flavoured with compressed jalapeno, black coral, pinakurat coconut nage and topped with a castelvetrano crouton; the dill and coriander chicken wings; and the Westberry Farms Hive, a visually stunning dessert consisting of a meringue hive filled with Westberry Farms blueberry compote, dotted with yuzu curd and lime and Tahitian vanilla crème.

If a tasting menu is not your thing, then the sable fish en papillote with baby zucchini and kabocha squash comes highly recommended, as does the tempura-style rack of lamb with candied shallots. Since the menu changes regularly – remember it’s all about fresh farm-to-table availability – I recommend that you dine here and find your own personal favourites.

The wine list is varied with several wines available by the glass. There is also a decent cocktail and beer menu. Reservations are recommended and can be booked by calling 778-737-6218. The restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 5:30 pm. Visit archerdining.com.

Leanne Jacobsen was the Jewish Independent’s sales director for more than 25 years and she continues to be an occasional contributor to the newspaper.

Format ImagePosted on December 9, 2022December 8, 2022Author Leanne JacobsenCategories LocalTags Archer, food, restaurants
Importance of food in celebration

Importance of food in celebration

A round challah symbolizes a long life, or the unbroken circle of the full new year to come. (photo by Przemyslaw Wierzbowski)

On Rosh Hashanah, we are supposed to feast. Why? This is said to come from the passage in the book of Nehemiah (8:10): “Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy unto our lord.”

Round, sweet challah

The most common Rosh Hashanah custom for Ashkenazi Jews is the making of sweet challah, primarily round in shape, to symbolize a long life or the unbroken circle of the full new year to come. Some people place a ladder made of dough on top of the loaf, so our prayers may ascend to heaven, or because it is decided on Rosh Hashanah “who shall be exalted and who shall be brought low.” Some place a bird made of dough on top, derived from the phrase in Isaiah: “as birds hovering so will the Lord of Hosts protect Jerusalem.”

According to John Cooper, in Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food, the tradition in disparate Jewish communities of baking fresh loaves of bread on a Friday morning has its roots in the talmudic era. The custom was ignored by medieval rabbinic commentators, he writes, but was revived by the Leket Yosher, a report compiled by Joseph ben Moses in the 1400s on the teachings and practices of his teacher, Austrian Rabbi Israel Isserlin; and by Rabbi Moses Isserles, the 16th-century Polish scholar of halachah, at the end of the Middle Ages.

According to Jewish tradition, the three Sabbath meals (Friday night, Saturday lunch and Saturday late afternoon) and two holiday meals (one at night and lunch the following day) each begin with two complete loaves of bread. This “double loaf” (lechem mishneh) commemorates the manna that fell from the heavens when the Israelites wandered in the desert after the Exodus. The manna did not fall on Sabbath or holidays; instead, a double portion would fall the day before the holiday or Sabbath.

Pomegranate blessings

photo - The pomegranate is eaten to remind us that G-d should multiply our credit of good deeds, like the seeds of the fruit
The pomegranate is eaten to remind us that G-d should multiply our credit of good deeds, like the seeds of the fruit. (photo from pxhere.com)

On the second evening of Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to eat a new fruit not yet eaten in the season and recite the Shehechiyanu, a prayer of thanksgiving for the first time something happens. It is said that, in Europe, this fruit was often grapes; in Israel today and around the diaspora, it is often the pomegranate.

The pomegranate is eaten to remind us that G-d should multiply our credit of good deeds, like the seeds of the fruit. For many Jews, pomegranates are traditional for Rosh Hashanah. Some believe the dull and leathery skinned crimson fruit may have really been the tapuach, apple, of the Garden of Eden. The word pomegranate means “grained apple.” In Hebrew, it is called rimon – also the word for a hand grenade!

Some say each pomegranate has 613 seeds for the 613 mitzvot, or good deeds, we should observe.

Symbolism of fish

The first course of the Rosh Hashanah holiday meal is often fish. Fish is symbolic of fruitfulness: “may we be fruitful and multiply like fish.” Fish is also a symbol of immortality, a good theme for the New Year, as are the ideas that we should aim to be a leader (the head) and that we hope for the best (to be at the top). Another reason for serving fish might be that the numerical value of the letters of the Hebrew word for fish, dag, is seven and Rosh Hashanah begins on the seventh month of the year.

Importance of tzimmes

Tzimmes is a stew made with or without meat and usually with prunes and carrots. It is common among Ashkenazi Jews, particularly those from Eastern Europe and Poland, and its origins date back to Medieval times. It became associated with Rosh Hashanah because the Yiddish word for carrot is mehren, which is similar to mehrn, which means to increase. The idea was to increase one’s merits at this time of year. Another explanation for eating tzimmes with carrots for Rosh Hashanah is that the German word for carrot was a pun on the Hebrew word, which meant to increase.

Tzimmes also has come into the vernacular as meaning to make a fuss or big deal. As in, they’re making such a tzimmes out of everything.

Lekach & other sweets

Among Ashkenazim, sweet desserts for Rosh Hashanah are customary, particularly lekach, or honey cake, and teiglach, the hard, doughy, honey and nut cookie. Some say the origin of the sweets comes from the passage in the book of Hosea (3:1): “love cakes of raisins.” There is also a passage in Samuel II (6:10) that talks about the multitudes of Israel, men and women, “to every one a cake of bread and a cake made in a pan and a sweet cake.”

Ezra was the fifth-century BCE religious leader who was commissioned by the Persian king to direct Jewish affairs in Judea and Nehemiah was a political leader and cup bearer of the king in the fifth century BCE. They are credited with telling the returned exiles to eat and drink sweet things.

According to Cooper’s Eat and Be Satisfied, references to honey cake were made in the 12th century by a French sage, Simcha of Vitry, author of the Machzor Vitry, and by the 12th-century German rabbi, Eleazar Judah ben Kalonymos. By the 16th century, lekach was known as a Rosh Hashanah sweet.

Among the Lubavitch Chassidim, it was customary for the rebbe to distribute lekach to his followers; others would request a piece of honey cake from one another on Erev Yom Kippur. This transaction symbolized a substitute for any charity the person might choose to receive, like the traditional kapparot ceremony, where, before Yom Kippur, one transfers their sins to a chicken.

Some Sephardi customs

Food customs differ among Jews whose ancestors came from Spain and Portugal, the Mediterranean area and primarily Muslim Arab countries. For example, whereas Ashkenazim dip apple in honey, some Sephardim traditionally serve mansanada, an apple compote, as an appetizer and dessert, according to Gil Marks (z”l) in The World of Jewish Desserts.

Just as gefilte fish became a classic dish for the Ashkenazi Jews, baked sheep’s head became a symbol – dating back to the Middle Ages – for many Sephardi Jews for Rosh Hashanah. Some groups merely serve sheep brains or tongue, or a whole fish (with head), probably for the same reason – fruitfulness and prosperity and new wishes for the New Year for knowledge or leadership.

The Talmud mentions the foods to be eaten on Rosh Hashanah as fenugreek, leeks, beets, dates and gourds, although Jewish communities interpret these differently. According to Rabbi Robert Sternberg in The Sephardic Kitchen, Sephardi Jews have a special ceremony around these and sometimes other foods, wherein each one is blessed with a prayer beginning “Yehi ratzon” (Hebrew for “May it be thy will”). The Yehi Ratzones custom involves preparing in advance and then blessing the Talmud-mentioned foods, or dishes made with the foods, as well as over the apples and honey, the fish or sheep head (some substitute a head of lettuce or of garlic) and pomegranate. In doing this, people recognize G-d’s sovereignty and hope He will hear their pleas for a good and prosperous year.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She has edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and is a food writer for North American Jewish publications.

Format ImagePosted on September 16, 2022September 14, 2022Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags Ashkenazi, food, New Years, Rosh Hashanah, Sephardi, symbolism, tradition
Tofino mustard maven

Tofino mustard maven

A Caplansky’s Deli fan takes a selfie with the restaurant’s founder, Zane Caplansky. (photo from Zane Caplansky)

As Zane Caplansky describes it, his journey in the world of deli, which ultimately led him from Toronto to Tofino, began on a hot summer night in 2007.

Sitting in a bar on Toronto’s Dupont Street, Caplansky was “hangry” (hungry and angry). He thought to himself, “Why can’t you get a decent smoked meat sandwich in this city? I am going to have to do it myself.” Toronto offered nothing that, to his tastes, compared to Schwartz’s Deli in Montreal.

As a child, whenever grownups would ask what he wanted to do when he was older, he said he wanted to own a restaurant. As an adult, he had worked in restaurants in every capacity, from dishwasher to manager, but not as an owner.

“That night, in a fit of hanger, I had a deli epiphany. Deli is so me. Deli has shtick, deli has chutzpah, deli has flavour. I am not a fine dining or fast food person. I am a deli guy,” he told the Independent. “That night, I resolved that this is what I was going to do.”

He opened Caplansky’s in 2008 in a dive bar in the Little Italy neighbourhood – it began as what many regard as Toronto’s first “pop-up restaurant.”

Shortly thereafter, David Sax, author of the book Save the Deli, wrote a piece for the Globe and Mail about the return of Jewish food to downtown Toronto.

“Every Jew in the city saw that headline and we got slaughtered. Everyone showed up and wanted a sandwich,” said Caplansky.

Following that success, he started what was to be his flagship location, not far from Kensington Market. There is also a Caplansky’s Deli at Toronto’s Pearson Airport in Terminal 3.

After a few years, the stresses of running the downtown business and continued complications with his landlord led him to consider a change.

In December 2017, he had a conversation with his wife, who hails from Tofino. “We were in the guest room of my in-laws when we decided to close the downtown Toronto restaurant and move here,” he said. “Now we are living our dream. The restaurant at the airport has afforded us the financial freedom to do what we have done.”

From 2011 to 2016, Caplansky had a line of mustards. From its earliest days, the restaurant used the mustard on all the food items it sold, and people would send him emails, asking how they could get some for home.

When considering what to do after settling in Tofino in early 2019, Caplansky returned to the idea of mustard. Later in 2019, when he was asked by the Toronto Blue Jays to open a kiosk at Rogers Centre, he saw it as an opportunity to relaunch the product.

photo - Caplansky’s mustards“The aura of Major League Baseball is a very special thing. And the mustards were a hit,” he said. “As a Blue Jays fan, it was such a big deal to see fans eating my food in the stands.”

When the pandemic struck in March 2020, Caplansky was prepared. People started ordering products online and, as Caplansky recounts, business boomed. Retailers and distributors, too, were receptive to working with him and his products are now sold in nearly 500 retailers across Canada and the United States. His biggest problem, he said, is keeping up with demand.

“It’s going at a pace I never would have imagined,” he said.

Presently, Caplansky is focusing on four key mustards: ballpark, old fashioned, horseradish and spicy.

“To me, deli is the food you celebrate with. Our mustard connects with people to a degree that I never truly appreciated or anticipated. The secret ingredient of our product is resilience. I think people really identify and connect with it,” he explained.

Caplansky takes pride in creating what he calls a “unique quirk” around his deli. Oftentimes, people would come into the restaurant and tell him that, despite its mere 15-year history, they remember coming into Caplansky’s with their parents and grandparents. Despite this chronological impossibility, he would never correct them.

“It was amazing to us that people thought that it had been around forever. The idea of a deli holds a place in people’s minds,” he mused. “It’s truly a blessing.”

The entrepreneur has appeared on CBC’s Dragons’ Den several times and been a regular on Food Network Canada.

For more information, visit caplanskys.com.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Format ImagePosted on July 8, 2022July 7, 2022Author Sam MargolisCategories LocalTags business, Caplansky, deli, food, mustard, Tofino

The romance of good bagels

Winnipeg has had a bagel renaissance. It’s not exactly a bagel mecca, and these are definitely not the New York City bagels my husband was raised eating. However, the recent bagel trends here are a step forward.

In the earlier days of the pandemic, summer 2020, my kids and I were out at the park when we met another family who seemed to recognize us, I’m not sure from where. I was surprised when they struck up a conversation but we had such a nice moment. Now that we’ve all spent so much time on our own, I have come to realize how important these outdoor encounters can be to our health and well-being.

Towards the end of the chat, these kind strangers handed us a bagel, straight from a brown paper bag that contained a couple dozen, as my twins were missing snack and getting hangry (hungry angry). We divided it up and ate. Ohhh. It was good. Not exactly a Montreal bagel, more like a combination between a New York City and a Montreal bagel, but definitely better than anything I’d ever had in Winnipeg.

I rushed home to tell my husband how to acquire more of these. Bagelsmith was, at that time, almost an underground bakery with a simple website. It didn’t have an open storefront, due to the pandemic, but if you got online right at 8 p.m. Sunday night, you could get bagels delivered on, say, a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon. There were also schmears, but these all had strange things mixed in with the cream cheese, which my purist spouse could not abide even considering. Soon, we were up to ordering three or four dozen of these at a time.

It should be noted that these bagels have a hole in the centre and are properly boiled but, although we enjoy sesame, poppy or everything bagels, they have way too many seeds for our taste. In fact, we’ve collected the seeds from the bottom of a paper bag, filled a spice jar with them and used them for challah toppings. (That is way too many seeds for a house with kids in it. They get everywhere and our dog doesn’t like them!)

I clarify all this because we have been treated to all kinds of bagels over the years that, quite frankly, are not bagels. Round things with a hole perhaps, but they haven’t been boiled, or boiled things that have no hole, or varieties that are absolutely abhorrent to a purist. The Big Nope – blueberry bagels. We’ve lived in a variety of places, including North Carolina, Kentucky and Buffalo, N.Y., and had to do without, because some bagels aren’t worth the calories.

My husband spent part of his childhood getting pletzels and biales from Kossar’s on the Lower East Side in New York and bagels from Russ and Daughters. (Of course, in New York City, there are a lot of good bagel places!) His grandparents and the extended Eastern European family have strong memories of what things should taste like. He has very high standards. Years ago, on a work trip to Montreal, his colleague and good friend (who happens to be Muslim), took my husband on a tour of all the famous Montreal bagel places. Then, the friend loaded him up with so many bagels and so much Montreal smoked meat that it was hard to carry it all home on the plane. This is the kind of love they have for each other, a perfect experience – two longtime colleagues who affectionately value each other through food!

Back to Winnipeg … as the bakery grew and the pandemic situation changed, there were times when we could not get these bagels delivered. The bakery was downtown in a spot that wasn’t far away but was hard to negotiate by car. I even figured out that the bagel baker had children who went to our kids’ school. However, when everybody’s in remote school, that morsel of information is useless. When we couldn’t get them delivered, we went without. This wasn’t a life or death situation. I baked our bread regularly and, when the local bakery was open, we got sourdough bread, baked in a wood-fired oven.

You may think that I could try harder, and maybe that’s true. I bake lots of bread, but draw the line at any recipe that takes more than 24 hours or is fidgety. I leave croissant production, bagel boiling and sourdough to the experts. After one multi-day sourdough experiment in hot weather in Kentucky, we agreed that, while the pink thing I grew was definitely alive, it wasn’t likely to be edible or safe. Lucky for me that my husband is a scientific researcher, because that weird starter attempt was not worth the risk to health and safety.

OK, back to our bagels. A huge thing has happened. Our favourite, artisanal, expensive bagel bakery has opened a second shop, and it’s easy to get to and just about in the neighbourhood. Today was the grand opening. It was also our 24th wedding anniversary.

My husband went out in between work meetings and came home with two dozen – yes, 24 – bagels. No, it’s not flowers or wine or a fancy meal, but to my partner, this is as good and romantic as it gets.

Bagels are an ethnic delight for Polish Jews. To be honest, I wasn’t raised with steady access to good bagels, growing up in Virginia. Bagels weren’t my (more North American assimilated, with some Western European roots) family’s biggest food focus. However, the Talmud speaks to this, too. We have a papercut, framed in our kitchen, of this phrase. Check out Pirkei Avot 3:17 – “No bread, no Torah. No Torah? No bread.” If you don’t have food, you can’t learn properly and without learning? You can’t earn your bread, either.

So, here’s to a good bagel, and a person, a partner, with whom I can continue to learn and grow. Here’s to another 24 years. L’chaim! B’tayavon. Enjoy your meal. Eat in good health!

Joanne Seiff has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com.

Posted on July 8, 2022July 7, 2022Author Joanne SeiffCategories Op-EdTags bagels, food, Judaism, lifestyle, Winnipeg
Victoria’s first kosher bakery

Victoria’s first kosher bakery

Markus Spodzieja, owner of the Bikery, the first and only certified kosher bakery on Vancouver Island. (photo from the Bikery)

Victoria’s Jewish community and area foodies received welcome news for their taste buds this summer. For the past four months, the Bikery, the first and only certified kosher bakery on Vancouver Island, has been operating at a permanent address, the Victoria Public Market, 1701 Douglas St. Until now, local households that wished to keep kosher would either bake their own breads or order from Vancouver.

As its name implies, the Bikery had, before moving to the market, been selling its goods from a bicycle – a 250-pound mobile vending bicycle to be precise – as part of a pilot project for the City of Victoria’s Mobile Bike Vending Permit. Started in 2017, the program gave local business owners the chance to operate a service via bicycle.

“I figured that the streets of Victoria could use more pretzels, so I rented out some kitchen space and built a box for the back of my bike, becoming a pedal-powered pretzel peddler,” Bikery owner Markus Spodzieja told the Jewish Independent.

In 2020, Spodzieja, along with his business partner Kimanda Jarzebiak, established a connection with Rabbi Meir Kaplan of Chabad of Vancouver Island. Though COVID-19 arrived on the scene shortly thereafter, the positive trajectory of the Bikery was not derailed.

“During the pandemic, as people became isolated at home, I pivoted my roadside-vendor business model to a delivery service and expanded my menu to include breads, buns and, most importantly and coincidentally, challah. After a few months of biking bread around the city, my now-business partner contacted me requesting weekly challah for her community’s Shabbat dinners,” Spodzieja said. “As the weekly orders began to grow, we arranged a meeting to discuss the need for a kosher bakery in Victoria, and spent the following nine months working out of Chabad of Vancouver Island perfecting our new menu.”

Since the Bikery’s pretzel beginning, the choices have expanded. Spodzieja’s selection now includes bagels of all sorts: poppyseed, cinnamon raisin, plain, and everything seasoning.

In addition, the Bikery presently offers classic challah loaves, braided challah, honey-apple challah, mini challahs, pocket pitas, pretzel buns, and hamburger and hot dog buns. It also serves up confections reminiscent of the Old World, such as rugelach filled with a home-made hazelnut spread, lemon poppyseed muffins, linzer cookies, kipferl cookies and a “personal-sized, decadently spiced” honey cake.

And there are still pretzels of all kinds on the menu, from the original “sweet and salty and chewy” to the chocolate drizzle pretzel “dedicated to the sweet tooth in all of us.” There is a roasted garlic and rosemary pretzel, each batch of which contains an entire head of garlic. As well, there is a cinnamon sugar pretzel, which, as the Bikery’s website asks, “Who needs a mini donut when you’ve got a pretzel with an ample dusting of sugar and locally processed cinnamon?” There is even the blending of two baked worlds – a pretzel bagel, which the Bikery touts as offering “the soft chewyness of the bagel combined with the salty flavour of the pretzel.”

The child of a German-Polish household, Spodzieja spent a lot of time in his youth in the kitchen. Both of his parents went to culinary school and his father ran a bakery in Campbell River.

photo - A kosher challah made at the Bikery in Victoria
A kosher challah made at the Bikery in Victoria. (photo from the Bikery)

“Little did I know that, growing up, baking would become a sort of unconscious habit. And while now I hold a BFA in acting, it gave me the life skills I needed to turn my baking hobby into something that better benefits my community,” he said.

For the time being, Spodzieja said, his focus is “working to establish ourselves into the Victoria Public Market, work on some new menu additions and [to] ensure the integrity of our products as we continue to grow. Rest assured, we have plenty of ideas coming down the pipe. We’ll just have to wait and see as they arrive.”

The Bikery is certified pareve kosher by BC Kosher Check and supervised by Chabad of Vancouver Island. Besides being kosher, most of the items sold at the Bikery are vegan as well.

The Bikery also strives to be environmentally friendly. Not only is its kitchen 100% electric powered, but all deliveries are made by a combination of bicycle and EV car. Its minimum fee for delivery is $10. Deliveries usually cover a radius of five kilometres, but it has temporarily expanded to 15 kilometres.

Victoria’s Public Market is situated close to City Hall and Centennial Square and is a few blocks away from the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Buildings. It is housed in a building that operated for several decades as a Hudson’s Bay department store. Located toward the back entrance (near free two-hour parking), the Bikery shares the market with, among others, a high-end chocolatier, a vegan butcher shop and an exclusive kitchenware store.

For more information or to place an order, visit thebikery.ca.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Format ImagePosted on December 17, 2021January 6, 2022Author Sam MargolisCategories LocalTags bakery, BC Kosher Check, Bikery, business, food, kashrut, Markus Spodzieja, Victoria
Chanukah Market at JCC

Chanukah Market at JCC

Chanukah treats will be plentiful at the JCC Chanukah Market. (photo from JCCGV)

Come celebrate the Festival of Lights on Nov. 28 at the first-ever Chanukah Market. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day, the parking lot at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver will be transformed into a marketplace for all to enjoy.

Under large heated tents, visitors will be able to shop at arts and crafts vendors, peruse affordable art, seek out that perfect gift, enjoy live, all-ages entertainment and participate in family activities – or just soak up the ambiance and enjoy a nosh from one of the food vendors on site. The day’s festivities will culminate in the lighting of the first candle on the chanukiyah at sundown.

Performances will include the music of Tzimmes, singer/guitarist Anders Nerman, children’s entertainer Monika Schwartzman, the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir, singer-songwriter Auto Jansz, the klezmer sounds of the Klezbians plus other bands and singers, dancers and surprises. Kids and their families will find lots of things to do, from playing on bouncy inflatables to joining in some hands-on art-making specially designed and delivered by the JCC early childhood department.

More than 20 vendors will be on tap to offer jewelry and other creative, useful and decorative items and chachkas. In addition, an 11-member arts and crafts group is presenting an exhibition and sale, offering items such as giclée prints, ceramics, woodwork, glass design, photographs and textiles.

Food trucks and vendors will offer Mediterranean and Mexican cuisines – and Chanukah treats, including latkes and sufganiyot.

The market is presented with the assistance of Canadian Heritage and admission is free with a donation to the Jewish Food Bank. For the full vendor list and more information, visit jccgv.com/chanukah-at-the-j.

– Courtesy Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

Format ImagePosted on November 19, 2021November 18, 2021Author Jewish Community Centre of Greater VancouverCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags art, Chanukah, food, gifts, JCC, marketplace, music

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