Food Is Love by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater

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Food is Love Dear Readers,

“F

ood connects people,” says Dalit Gvirtsman, a co-founder of Cooking Up, an international network of food classes. “Food is love,” she continues.

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Gvirtsman might have a point. After all, consider how many dates, celebrations, and even interviews take place at restaurants—how many gifts are presented and proposals made over a fine and fancy meal. And then there’s the trend of sharing what’s on your plate with friends and family by photographing your food the moment a server places it on the table. Admittedly, my husband sometimes photographs our home dinners to prove to our daughters that we do have proper meals—even if they’re not around! Another relationship with food phenomenon is the cooking classes for friends and families. My family, for example, partnered with another to cook together one night under the tutelage of a pro who instructed us with a pie theme—some were savory, others sweet. One thing for certain, we learned about crusts and made enough to eat for the week. The article on page 16, however, is about Cooking Up, a network of cooking

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gatherings. Information for starting a group in Tidewater is at the article’s end. Then, there are the classes, workshops, and books on healthy eating habits. Rachel Herz, author of Why You Eat What You Eat, was in town last month as part of the Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. Joining her on a panel was Sandra Porter Leon, MS, RDN, a nutrition consultant and Tidewater Community College professor, and Tom Purcell, JFit membership and wellness director. Needless to say, the event was well-attended. The article is on page 19. Back to dating and dining—the piece about SawYouAtSinai, a matchmaking site, features a local young woman who met her husband through the service. Check it out on page 18 to see the newlyweds. There’s more, of course, including an interesting recipe for Chickpea Bolognese for our readers who are non-meat eaters and a story about challah businesses. Food connects people in conversation, in cooking, in celebrating. We hope this section connects with you!

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Terri Denison Editor

Food is Love Chickpea Bolognese is a hearty meat-free dinner you will love This article originally appeared on The Nosher.

inter months require a steady stream of comfort food for survival. But the start of the year also brings a time when people are more health-focused, perhaps even cutting their meat intake. This hearty pasta dish doesn’t

compromise on flavor while using chickpeas instead of ground beef, turkey, or lamb. I suggest treating these versatile little beans as you would treat half a pound of ground meat by browning and seasoning well. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how delicious, hearty, and meaty this spaghetti really turns out, and let’s face it—that’s exactly what you are craving, right?

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Ingredients 4 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 onion, finely chopped 1 medium carrot, washed and grated finely 1 celery stalk, very finely chopped 7 ounces cooked or canned garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed if canned) 14 ounces can of plum tomatoes 2 tablespoons tomato paste ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon chili flakes 1 tablespoon brown sugar 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar ½ cup red wine Salt and pepper 1 bay leaf 2 sprigs thyme Grated Parmesan cheese (optional) 1 pound spaghetti

Directions 1. Heat half of the olive oil in a medium pot. Add the garlic and onions, along with the chili flakes and sauté for 2-3 minutes until softened slightly. Add the chickpeas and sauté for 10 minutes. Allow the chickpeas to soften a little bit and start to mash them and break some of them apart with a spoon or fork, leaving some of them still intact.

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2. Add another tablespoon of the olive oil and allow the chickpeas to brown lightly, stirring occasionally. 3. Add the carrot and celery and mix well. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the canned tomatoes and break them apart with a spoon. Add the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and wine, allowing it all to evaporate and absorb into the vegetable mixture. Add the bay leaves and thyme and leave to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato paste, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt and pepper and leave to cook for another 5–10 minutes, until the bolognese is thick and has darkened. 4. Cook the pasta 2 minutes less than directed on the packet, reserving ¼ cup of the hot pasta water. Drain the pasta and mix with the bolognese sauce along with the pasta water. Mix on low heat until the sauce has once again thickened, about a minute. 5. Top with the remaining olive oil and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Serves 4.

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Food is Love

Home cooking classes where Israel and Jewish culture are always on the menu Alix Wall

AN FRANCISCO (JTA)—In the compact, open kitchen of the apartment here that Dalit Gvirtsman shares with her husband, about a dozen women are jostling for space. One is chopping tomatoes, another is sautéing onions and another is squeezing a few dollops of honey into cooked egg noodles. Just beyond, the dining room table is set; each place setting features a napkin with the Israeli flag. A platter of bourekas with miniature Israeli flags has already been demolished. Mevashlim B’Ivrit, or Cooking Up in Hebrew. This group of women, all Israelis, have come together to cook, eat and schmooze—and then eat a little more.

The program is part of the World Zionist Organization’s Department for Diaspora Activities. The get-togethers are opportunities to learn a little about the Jewish calendar and Israel, explore Jewish cultures through their cuisines, and forge bonds among Israelis, local Jews, and sometimes non-Jews living in various communities. San Francisco’s is one of 19 such groups formed around the world, though most of them are in the United States. Thirteen are for Hebrew speakers. (A Los Angeles version is in Hebrew “specifically geared towards LGBTQ and ally Jews.”) There are others in Poland (in Polish, mainly for university students) and Uruguay (in Spanish); both facilitators heard about the program and volunteered

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to start it. A new Hebrew-speaking group is being formed in London this year, as are English-speaking groups in Toronto, San Francisco, and Oregon. Some of them are women only and serve as a kind of “girl’s night,” but men also attend in some places. Some participants become such good friends that they schedule time to see each other outside of the sessions. What started as a way for Israelis to stay connected with their culture in a Hebrew-speaking environment has burgeoned in unexpected ways: With Israeli food enjoying unprecedented popularity and interest around the world, the groups have become a way for others to connect with or learn more about Israel, too. “Now the focus is to bring Israel and pluralistic Judaism to the Diaspora around the world,” says Dana GreitzerGotlieb, the Bay Area Regional director of the WZO and the originator of the idea. “That is why we’re translating the curriculum and starting new groups in English.” But in another unanticipated outcome, non-Jews are wanting to take part, too. Mevashlim B’Ivrit is in its third year in the Bay Area. Gvirtsman held it in another woman’s home in Berkeley the first year, but since then has used her own San Francisco home. Gvirtsman and Greitzer-Gotlieb cooked up the program during a brainstorming session when Greitzer-Gotlieb saw and smelled the croissants that Gvirtsman pulled out of her oven. “You made those?” Greitzer-Gotlieb asked. “Yes,” Gvirtsman answered. “From scratch?” Again: “Yes.” “The wheels started turning,” GreitzerGotlieb says. Gvirtsman, a Hebrew teacher at an area Jewish day school, has a passion for cooking. “Food connects people,” she says. “Food is love. And the subject of Israeli food and Jewish food is so large.”

“Plus, cooking allows a certain kind of experience,” Greitzer-Gotlieb adds. “When you create something with your own hands, you remember and enjoy it more.” But they don’t only cook. Gvirtsman plans each session, and each one has a different theme (her own group has a year’s head start on the others, so they are the “guinea pigs”). The evening starts around the table with a few readings chosen by Gvirtsman meant to foster discussion of the theme. She has done fall soups, for example, cooking with the seasons and one session about yeast, never repeating a topic. One session for Independence Day had the women cooking seven dishes reflecting the diversity of Israeli culture: maakouda, a Moroccan savory pie, Algerian bulgur salad, Russian blini with sour cream and caviar, Polish chopped liver, Russian Olivier salad, Egyptian majadara (a lentils and rice dish with fried onions), and a Polish noodle kugel. Gvirtsman’s curriculum is used by all the groups, though once the program expanded, the WZO hired Israeli chef Einat Abramovich Partin, who lives in San Diego, as program manager. Partin now helps with the recipes and trains each facilitator via phone call or Skype. There’s no rhyme or reason to where the groups pop up; it’s organic. Often an Israeli with a love for cooking will contact Greitzer-Gotlieb or Gvirtsman, having read or heard about the program elsewhere. But Partin is well connected and knows Israeli expatriates in many places. For example, Boise, Idaho. Partin asked a friend of hers living there whether she’d want to be a facilitator. While this friend was too busy, she said she knew the perfect person and introduced her to Efi Asaf by phone. “When you talk to a person, you can tell in the first two minutes if it’s a match,” Partin says. “I’ve never met Efi in person, but even over the phone, I fell in love with her right away.”

Food is Love Partin is looking for two qualities in a facilitator. “She needs to love food and she needs to love people,” she says. “Food brings people together, and if you love to cook, you are cooking with your soul and with love, people really feel that.” Asaf taught a class about Passover to 20 women this year, none of them Jewish. All were “believers” of some kind, Christian, and Mormon. Rebecca Baughman attended the Passover class—and can’t wait for the next series. Baughman, who is Christian, studied in Israel for a semester in college. Besides the cooking, she appreciates being invited into the facilitator’s home—in this case Asaf’s—which adds so much to the experience. “What a precious woman Efi is,” Baughman says. “I want to be her friend. That she lets us come into her home to learn more about her and her culture and

religion is so special. She lets us in on her life and what she believes. “I don’t know how to make Jewish food, so it’s fun to have her walk us through recipes and then let us loose in her kitchen, guiding us along the way.” Given that the Boise group is made up of non-Jews, Asaf says she feels like a mini-ambassador for Israel, as other topics of discussion are bound to come up. “Sometimes they ask about politics or whatever’s happening then, and I tell them how I feel about it, but we mostly keep it centered around food,” she says. Asaf has taught an all-Israeli group as well, and says the differences are huge. When explaining a dish to Israelis, they’ll all have several opinions about how to tweak the recipe, or share a memory about it. With non-Jews, she has to explain the unfamiliar dishes in much more detail. “People really love Israel and our traditions in Boise,” she says. “Most people here are very interested in other cultures

and religions, so they really like to hear about other places. Food is also such a great connector because most of us are moms and cooking all the time anyway.” This kind of food as diplomacy is taking root in all kinds of ways. One participant in the San Diego English-speaking group that Partin hosts is Maryam Tarsa, an Iranian immigrant who was raised Muslim. Tarsa attended Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine and befriended many Orthodox Jews there. When she sent her children to the JCC preschool in San Diego, she became friendly with Partin. She loves Cooking Up in Hebrew because “I’m not a good cook, I don’t

really know how, and I figure it’s a good basic thing for me to know how to do at 48,” she jokes. Plus, she loves the socializing. As for Israeli food, she says, “People from different countries bringing their food traditions from around the world means it’s not just one taste. That’s what makes the food so amazing and taste so good.” To start a group (in Hebrew or English), contact chefnati.wzo@gmail.com.

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Food is Love Couple donates 300 free months on SawYouAtSinai to Jewish singles

awYouAtSinai, the online Jewish matchmaking service announced their 3,100th member was getting married this year. That’s an impressive achievement for the organization that made online, Jewish matchmaking such a popular phenomenon. One New York couple was so impressed that they offered to sponsor 300 one month plans to those looking for their shidduch through SawYouAtSinai. The motivation for their gesture has not been disclosed. Whatever the reason, their generosity will no doubt be appreciated by those benefiting with the service—as well as their Jewish mothers! Each of the 300 recipients will get a free gold month on SawYouAtSinai. The gold membership allows two personal matchmakers and to receive up to 10 matches per week. This makes meeting one’s bashert during this free time, a realistic possibility. Devorah Ritterman and Michael

Mirsky, who were recently married, can attest to that. “I had just gone out with a couple of guys who were not for me, and I was starting to feel a bit worn out. A friend, who had actually met her own match through SawYouAtSinai, recommended I check it out.” says Ritterman, 22. “I wasn’t really into dating websites but something told me I should give it a try. Within a week of signing up my chosson popped up on the screen.” SawYouAtSinai is focused on helping all Jewish singles, regardless of location, age, or background. The success of SawYouAtSinai has touched communities around the world, many of which did not have prior access to a matchmaker network. It is not just the members that come from different demographics, but also

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the 300+ dedicated matchmakers. “Every part of the SawYouAtSinai service is carefully thought out in order to provide the most comfortable and effective dating experience possible,” says Marc Goldmann, founder and CEO of SawYouAtSinai. “We train matchmakers from across the religious spectrum, matchmakers that speak different languages, and are from different cultures or ethnicities. We feel a good shidduch between each member and their matchmaker, leads to the best success.” The matchmakers’ role is to get to know their members and then to search the worldwide database using the matching technology developed in-house by SawYouAtSinai. Members then get notified to log in to review the profiles, and can decide whether to accept or decline each match. Matchmakers provide on-going support and advice throughout the dating process, based on the wish of the member. “I had been on the site for a while. While on the site, my two wonderful matchmakers helped guide me through the dating process and set me up on some nice dates, but nothing quite clicked,” says Chana Brooke Horowitz, a Norfolk native. “After a period of time, I was just feeling like I needed a break. “Lucky for me, right before I checked out, a new profile came my way. I kept procrastinating and extending the time on the match, because I was wary of going out on just another date and really wanted a dating breather…finally, I decided I’d give it just ONE date,” she says. “Thankfully I did! My husband and I got engaged last year and got married a few months later. Subsequently, I joined SawYouAtSinai as manager of Member and Matchmaker Support. Having gone through some of the ups and downs of dating myself, it is great to be able to help other singles meet their match!” says Horowitz. Elana Joffe-Cohen has been on both sides of the service. “SawYouAtSinai helped me to find the love of my life

Chana Brooke and Avi Horowitz.

Finally, I decided I’d give it just ONE date.

and I’ve been doing what I can as a volunteer matchmaker on the site to pay it forward.” Joffe-Cohen (the site’s 1,162th success) says. “The service is a perfect amalgamation of the ancient art of true quality matchmaking (based on personality, interests, human intuition) with the modern technological wonder provided by the internet. My husband was in Israel and I was in the U.S. when we met—we had many friends in common, yet it took a SYAS matchmaker plus algorithm to actually introduce us.” The 300 free months are valid to the first 300 that use the marketing code ‘300’ on the registration page. It is valid only to people who have never been a member of SawYouAtSinai or its affiliate sites.

Food is Love It’s a Wrap

Neuroscientist Rachel Herz teaches Tidewater Why You Eat What You Eat Callah Terkeltaub

pproximately 150 people packed the Simon Family JCC’s Fleder Multipurpose Room on Thursday, January 10 to hear author and neuroscientist Dr. Rachel Herz discuss her book, Why You Eat What You Eat, and the psychology behind the food choices people make. The discussion was led by Tom Purcell, JFit membership and wellness director, and Sandra Porter Leon, MS, RDN, Tidewater Community College professor, and nutrition consultant. Attendees learned about factors that play into food decisions, such as that red plates limit the amount eaten, how loud noises enhance tomato flavor, and whether watching TV influences how much is eaten, among other fascinating little-known facts. “Dr. Herz was able to distill complex

research on neuro-gastronomy into edible morsels that engaged the audience, teasing them to explore further,” says Leon. “Rachel was an amazing author to interview and spend time with,” says Purcell. “Being a cognitive neuroscientist and psychologist, she was able to explain the ways our mind and sensory systems work together in terms that you understand.” Herz visited Tidewater as a part of the Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival and in coordination with the Jewish Book Council. The event was in partnership with the Simon Family JCC’s JFit. For more information about upcoming author visits, visit JewishVA.org/BookFestival, or contact Callah Terkeltaub at CTerkeltaub@ujft.org.

Israeli Chef Alon Shaya’s book is more than a cookbook

n 2015, Alon Shaya opened his namesake restaurant in New Orleans. It won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2016. No longer connected with that restaurant, he now has Saba, in New Orleans, and Safta, in Denver. Both are part of Shaya’s Pomegranate Hospitality group. In addition to his award-winning restaurants, Shaya has written Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel. Along with recipes and tips on nearly every aspect of cooking—including ingredients from salts and oils to water (yes, water!) to

meats—and on techniques and equipment, as well as the books’ beautiful photographs, Shaya tells his story. Shaya describes his move from Israel to Philadelphia, and how important food always was to his happiness. It is his personal stories that make Shaya’s book more than a cookbook. The restaurants are named for his grandmother (his safta, in Hebrew) and his grandfather, or saba, a choice that honors their influence on his life. Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel, is available on Amazon.

jewishnewsva.org | February 4, 2019 | Food is Love | Jewish News | 19

Food is Love How these Jewish women launched challah baking businesses and got thousands of Instagram followers along the way NEW YORK (JTA)—Mandy Silverman remembers being scared of the kitchen as a child. “There was a constant joke in my house growing up that I would mess up instant iced tea,” she recalls in a phone interview with JTA. But a quick glance at her Instagram feed reveals how things have changed. Her more than 15,000 followers have come to rely on her to post photos of mouthwatering and whimsical challah creations with flavors such as red velvet and marshmallow hot chocolate. Since starting Mandylicious Challah in 2013, Silverman has seen her enterprise grow both locally—delivering some 50 loaves every week in Sharon, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb—and internationally, dispensing challah-baking advice to people as far away as France, Peru, and Thailand. She spends about two days baking every week and an additional half a day making deliveries on Friday before Shabbat. Silverman, 40, is among a growing number of home bakers making a business out of their love of all things challah. Most post their interpretations of the traditional braided Shabbat and holiday loaves on social media, and reach local customers through word of mouth. Silverman is entirely self-taught. The Orthodox baker started baking challah 11 years ago and started to experiment by decorating loaves with sprinkles and stuffing others with meat. In October 2013, at the urging of her friends, she started selling the challah locally. A month later, for Thanksgiving, Silverman posted a photo on social media of a turkey-shaped challah with a pumpkin-flavored tummy. The photo was shared widely, leading people from nearby states to drive to Massachusetts to get their hands on one. “Somehow that picture got very popular, so my business got very recognized,” she says. Since then, Silverman has been slowly

gaining customers. “This year I got all the way to 250 [orders] for Rosh Hashanah,” she says. “At that point, I was like, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I hate telling people no.” Silverman sells her loaves for $5 to $18, depending on flavor and size. But she says money isn’t the reason she does it. “It’s enough that I feel like it’s worth my time, but it’s definitely not the main source of income for my house,” says Silverman, whose husband works in marketing. “The payment is so much more than money. It’s helping people, being a part of their lives.” Though her customers are local, having the Instagram page has allowed her to connect with others around the world who share her passion for challah, such as Lissette Grobman and Lilianne Braun, two Miami women who recently started selling challah in their community. The pair started Hamsa Challah in November and are now selling 150-200 challahs a week with flavors such as zaatar, Nutella, and cinnamon. Though their Instagram support is much smaller, with fewer than 200 followers, Braun anticipates that Instagram will be more useful if they decide to expand. “It would work and could work more at a business level, and the fact that people can actually look into it without knowing you, but in this case most of the people know me,” Braun says. Kayla Kaye, founder of The Kitch, and an Oceanside, New York resident, takes orders for some 75-100 loaves every week and delivers to those living in her town as well as West Hempstead and the Five Towns, all on suburban Long Island. Kaye, 36, sells an array of flavors—from a savory barbecue loaf with crispy onions to sweet ones such as pumpkin spice and s’mores. Though she has amassed more than 3,300 followers on Instagram since founding her company in 2013, Kaye says that she mainly relies on word of mouth. She is at capacity in terms of how many loaves of challah she can bake in her home kitchen.

20 | Jewish News | Food is Love | February 4, 2019 | jewishnewsva.org

“If I was really at a point where I was ready to grow my business, have additional help and work in a different facility and make it a larger scale project, I probably would use Instagram more as an advertising vehicle,” says Kaye, who balances her challah business with a part-time job in sales at Madelaine Chocolate, a company owned by her husband’s family. Though most of her customers are Orthodox, like her, there are plenty of exceptions. Kaye recently had a number of orders from non-Jews who wanted challah bread for Christmas. “People love challah, especially in New York where there is such diversity as far as culture and religion and food that you can eat from all different parts of the world,” she says. Most of Sarah Klegman and Elina Tilipman’s customers are non-Orthodox Jews. The Los Angeles-based pair are behind Challah Hub, a hip initiative through which they host challah-centered events, sell challah-themed merchandise, and deliver unique flavors of challah such as matcha tea and bagel-everything spice with turmeric. Since meeting in 2013, Klegman, 31, and Tilipman, 34, have experimented with different flavors and ways of selling challah, including hosting pop-up events and delivering loaves in collaboration with the ride-sharing app Uber. A year ago, they partnered with a local bakery, Continental Kosher. Once a month, the shop bakes challahs following Klegman and Tilipman’s recipe that are sold through Challah Hub for $10 to $15. Finding the right flavors also took some trial and error. Klegman recalls a mac-and-cheese challah that sounded delicious in theory but turned out less than stellar.

“I was like ‘How did I ruin two of my favorite things?’” Klegman says. “The cheese kind of absorbed into the challah in a weird way, and it sort of became these squishy noodles.” Though the pair has more than 12,000 followers on Instagram, the social media backing doesn’t always translate to sales. One time, Klegman recalls, they did a video for BuzzFeed that received more than 10 million views, but only resulted in 10 new customers. “One in a million is not really good odds,” Klegman says. “Right now, people come to us to see great pictures of challah, they come to us for recipes, they love going to pop-ups and buying from us in person, but our slow burn has been figuring out how to translate those people and our community there to customers.” The pair charge $10 to $15 for challahs, depending on the flavor, but they, too, say money isn’t what keeps them going. “The things that get us through the stuff that’s more challenging, or more time consuming, or more of a learning process, are the look on someone’s face when they try a bit of our mint chocolate chip challah for the first time,” Klegman says. “It’s being able to know that all around L.A. there are Shabbat tables with our challah in the center of it.”