ESENVADIG

(FOOD!)

And what would Yiddish culture be without food? Rather boring and tasteless. Popular foods in Ashkenazic culture include, in no particular order:

• Gefilte Fish

• Luxion (noodles)

• Kugel (sort of like pudding, but made with all sorts of things, like cream cheese or noodles or potatoes)

• Borscht (Beet soup)

• Challah (a round, sweet bread that symbolizes life)

• Chicken (in all its myriad forms)

• Lox (salmon)

• Latkes (potato pancakes filled with all sorts of good stuff)

and of course, Bagels! Did you know they're the widest-selling frozen food item in America?

Chinese food, while not usually kosher, is also very popular among American Jews.

When Jews began seriously emigrating to America and started being exposed to the staggering variety and plenitude on our shores, Kosher laws were sometimes thurst in chaos. July 12th, 1883, marked the infamous "Trafe Banquet"in Cincinnati, where Shrimp (decidedly a non-kosher item) was served at the party for the first graduating class of American Rabbis.

With the Jews up in arms about this, they decided to hire a teacher to train American shocuns (cooks and caterers) in proper Kosher laws. That teacher's name was Doug Beare Manishevitz, who later went on into the business of making matza and wine. Today, the name Manishevitz is synonymous with the sickeningly sweet alcoholic beverages served at holidays and events (a little editorializing there).