One of the best things about religion is the food.

 Thursday, 7 February 2022

 My travels with the Jews.  The most obvious enrichment of my life after ten years of ‘outsider’ synagogue attendance has been food and drink.  I had never drunk a glass of whisky until I was invited into the Rabbi’s library for a pre-service ‘schnapps’ session.  I was looking for the gin and tonic but disappointed to find it was an up-market Johnny Walker or else Diet Coke!  And some were mixing them!  The rest could fill a cook-book but suffice it to say that I enjoy pomegranates, rough lemons, cheese pastries, piroshky, cholent, challah and innumerable other delicacies from the kosher kitchen.  One surprising lesson I learned is that there are at least six reasons why a strict Jew cannot enjoy the classic spaghetti Bolognese.  

Mixing meat and dairy is the most obvious no-no.  However parmesan cheese itself is out, even on its own, since it is made using renet which is an enzyme derived from animal source and thus verboten.  Next we have the beef which must be from the front of the animal … good Jews have never tasted filet, rump, sirloin or ox tail for reasons which relate to a fraternal wrestling match described in Torah (I am not making this up!).  Say no more.  Yet there is more!  Even if from the front of the cow, the animal has to be killed in a ritual manner by an official shochet and NEVER on Shabbat.  The blood needs to be immediately drained and the cuts of meat or poultry smothered in koshering salt to absorb the remainder as blood or blood products are totally banned in Judaism.  Even a fertilized hen’s egg with a fleck of blood has to be discarded or giving to the goyim. 

So even years later, I have much for which to thank my Jewish hosts … I often have a Dom Benedictine at lunch time on weekends, thanks to the favourite beverage of the Lubavicher Grand Rebbe Menachem Schneerson of Brooklyn, New York (RIP or z’’l).  There was some minor debate on the internet about whether ‘Dom’ was kosher.  The Rebbe, who was one of the most learned Jews of his era, was not interested at all in such discussion and knew what he liked … and now I do too!!  

My small tot of Jamison’s whiskey each evening is another.  I learned that Irish whiskey can be better value than Scotch.  Pomegranate seeds fizzing in a glass of French Champagne (also not usually kosher) is a summer pleasure indeed.  But the height of Yiddish cuisine for me is schmaltz herring with red onion … I even tried to prepare it myself in New York one year … and failed dismally.  At the shule it was served on a special occasion or simcha and I was privileged to take a spoonful on a big cracker biscuit.  I never found out who actually cooked it, possibly the Rabbi’s wife (Rebbetzen). 

 

Lots more to say from this Abrahmic fellow-traveller in due course.