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There’s a long and deep link between travel and food. It’s an emotional connection that changes form with the type of travel. When we are off to see the world of our own accord, we engage eagerly with the cuisines of the places visited. But under darker circumstances, when the travel is forced upon us, we cling to the dishes from our origins. Our food has meaning to us because it is so sensual and comforting – the bouquet of freshly chopped herbs, the color of a perfect borscht, the tastes of our mothers’ kitchens. Culinary traditions have migrated all over the world in this way.
Here at Chester Creek Café, we have been experimenting for the past year with various regional cuisines. Last summer, when we were cooking dishes from Iberia and Morocco, we read about the Sephardim, a group of Jews who were exiled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella during the time of Columbus. The connection between exploration and Inquisition is seldom made, but it was certainly there. Jews have been traveling for a long time, most of the past two millennia, since Nebuchadnezzar. But the particular journey of the Sephardim across southern Europe and the Middle East has produced some remarkable food. We wanted at the time to go back and revisit that cooking again.
Because of the mountainous barrier that stretches all the way across Europe and Asia Minor, the Jews to north, the Ashkenazim, were a separate group. They evolved different customs and food, although both cuisines were developed through the lens of kosher. The Ashkenazim were in Poland, Germany, Eastern Europe and Russia. The cuisines diverged as you would expect, with the Sephardim taking influences from Spain, Italy, Greece and Arabia and the Ashkenazim those from France, Germany, Russia and Poland.
The food we have put together for this menu – we are calling it “The Jewish Diaspora” – draws from both lines and features food from all over Europe and the Middle East. Some of these dishes have fascinating stories. For example, “Cholent” is a slow braise that was developed in Northern Europe because of the prohibition against lighting fire on Shabbat. On Friday evening, the housewives packed up a Dutch Oven with beef ribs, buckwheat groats, two or more types of beans, various other flavorings and cuts of beef and kishka (a sausage made of matzo and chicken) and sent it down to the bake shop carried by the oldest child. There, the town’s pots were lined up at the back of the commercial oven to slowly braise until they were collected by the children on Saturday evening when the families feasted on these dishes. Turkey Schnitzel is the most common street food of Tel Aviv. It is a pounded, dredged and fried cutlet of turkey breast that is served in pita with Middle Eastern condiments. Our dinner chef Bruce Wallis and myself have put a lot of effort into this menu to share with you the most important and delicious aspects of these cultures. Our baker Diane has been experimenting with savory rugelach.
The best news of all is that by sheer co-incidence, the Duluth Temple is also presenting some Jewish meals this winter. It will be a feast of riches.