Fair Weather Vegan

Kosher On Portola Street, And Other Local Food News

• The Mollie Stone's in Twin Peaks is finally putting in a kosher section.  They are looking for custom to justify this change so please patronize them if you can, and also the manager has sent out a call for people to communicate what kind of kosher products they're interested in.  With the closing of the (intimidating and inadequate) Tel Aviv Market and the continuing shrinkage of the Sloat Avenue Lucky's kosher section, this is really welcome news. 
• Also in South side news, the Glen Park farmers' market will open on May 15th and continue on Sundays throughout the summer.  It will be held in the Glen Park BART parking lot, which is good because I often forget that lot is there. 
• The venerable Market/Castro late-night institution Bagdad Cafe is giving way to a new soul food place, which promises to feature the roots of the style in various international cuisines.  It will also be open 24 hours two days a week, perfect for the club-hoppers. 

Non-KLP Matzah Is A Crime Against Humanity

There is absolutely no reason for this stuff to exist, except as a trap to the unwary.  They put the 'not for Passover use' in teeeeeeny tiny letters, and every year the stock at my local supermarkets sellat Pesach. People whose only Jewish experience is their seder or even just having some matzah with their meals get suckered into buying something inauthentic.  Stores should also be made aware of the problem.  All four types of matzah at my local Safeway are non-KLP (although big Jewish kudos to them for refunding mine without a receipt), and even the Sloat Avenue Lucky, which has an Orthodox neighborhood nearby and so stocks a decent amount of kosher food, only had one brand of several that could actually be used on the holiday.  This matzah needs to be either removed from the shelf during Pesach or very clearly marked.  Now, I understand that many of the people who are buying it probably don't care about its status.  I'm sure it's more expensive for the companies to produce correctly-hekshered matzah because it needs extra supervision.  But for those who do want to do something 'really' Jewish once a year, it's nice for store and matzah producer alike to help them out. 

"This Is The Bread Of Poverty"

Today is the second day of Passover, and I'm writing this, so you know that I don't observe the second day with holiday rules.  If you're already offended, you should probably stop reading now because it's only going to get worse.  Of course, if you're the type to get offended you're not reading now, but you know what I mean. 

Here are some thoughts on my personal Pesach observance.  These are not meant to judge anyone else's.  Everyone has to approach these dietary laws in his or her own way.  And right there, that's a philosophy of halakhah.  Some don't agree with it, and that's fine.  

So, I don't eat bread on Pesach.  This may seem like a tautology, but I think Pesach observance has gotten pretty far away from the basics on this score.  I do, however, eat rice, corn, and soy on Pesach.  I try not to eat too much of those things, but if I need a break, I grab some sushi. For those unfamiliar with the rules, this doesn't sound particularly problematic.  However, for Ashkenazi Jews there is a long-standing set of Rabbinic dietary law that interdicts a whole group of non-bread items because in medieval Europe, it was easy for wheat to get mixed in with those items.  This means that even as a Jew in contemporary America, I am not supposed to eat, say, a candy bar with soy lecithin or a Coke with corn syrup on Pesach.  The seder I was at last night even had kosher l'pesach Lays' potato chips from Israel to make sure they weren't fried in forbidden oils.  But I can eat simulated bread products if they're made from matzah meal.  In fact, a whole industry has sprung up to make it seem as much like we're eating bread during these eight days as possible.  For me, personally, this seems backward.  It makes the experience of Pesach about depriving yourself of certain things, but not necessarily the things the holiday is supposed to be about.  It also defines an attitude toward Jewish law that emphasizes fidelity to decisions made in the past without reference to the context of those decisions, as if their authority were the only thing that matters. 

It is common in haggadot to see a phrase translated as "this is the bread of affliction."  I happen to prefer that translation, but it's not literal.  The literal translation is "this is the bread of poverty."  Poverty, for the Rabbis, meant not having bread, since in the Rabbinic tradition bread is the foodstuff which defines a meal.  If you are about to eat bread, you ritually wash your hands.  After you have eaten bread, you say the birkat ha-mazon, the blessing after food.  The idea that for a week you don't eat bread, because it must be for you as if you personally came out of the Egypt, is the central theological idea of Pesach. It's not deprivation for the sake of it, it's deprivation of a very specific thing for a very specific reason.  That's why the other name for the holiday is the festival of unleavened bread.    

Let me emphasize that I don't want to buck the halakhic tradition totally here.  I can see that it's easy to take this point and extend it, and say 'well, none of this is the important stuff.' Reform Jews do that, and while I respect that point of view I don't share it. There are many Passover traditions I plan to keep in more detail in the future. I really wish that I lived in an area where I could get kitnyot (rice, etc) that's hekshered for Passover.  Areas with a large concentration of Sephardi Jews like LA or New York make that possible.  The Sephardim don't have the rule about auxiliary foods on Pesach because their historical circumstances were different.  This, to me, is the essence of halakhah.  Particular attention to observance in context.  My observance is about being aware during these eight days of living life differently.  It's not about starving myself or paying hundreds of dollars for special food, which separates us further from the idea of solidarity with the poor.  In the film "When Do We Eat?" a comedy about a dysfunctional Jewish family in LA who gets together for a seder, the family patriarch says at one point "Judaism doesn't work for you.  You work for it."  It may seem odd to apply this to punctilious observance, to say that putting strictures in your own way is making Judaism subservient to you, but I believe that's what's happening.  I'm not saying not eating kitnyot falls into this category, but stuff like not eating matzah ball soup because water 'leavens' matzah meal seems to.  The need to feel righteous is taking precedent over fidelity to the law.  In the halakhic tradition, there is no hard and fast division between what Christians might term 'letter' and 'spirit' of the law.  They are inextricably intertwined. 

To all of my twelve readers and beyond, I wish you a happy and kosher Pesach, whatever that may mean to you. 

First Chocolate Arrives

It is much less chocolate than I originally anticipated upon buying my Groupon because of certain ways that Chocolate.com functions.  I actually wrote a long post complaining about it, but decided 'eh, what the hell.'  The site should probably be used for finding chocolate that you then purchase directly from the manufacturer for better value, is the take-home lesson.  Still and all, there's a bar of New Tree 65% cocoa with Belgian biscuit and a mini-box of milk chocolate lavendar bars (yes, I'm giving New Tree another chance), so that's something to look forward to. 

There was also a package of fat-free kosher ramen in the latest box from home that I bought at Marsh over the holidays.  It struck me as so counter-intuitive that I had to try it.  Not as counter-intuitive as sodium-free ramen would be, though.  I just finished a book, Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce, in which pot noodle played a not insignificant role, and now feel like I can get back into the spirit of things with my ramen ;) 

Marshmhallows No, Christmas Tree Yes?

The world of someone who has come to keeping kosher later in life is full of 'uh-oh' moments.  You look down at whatever thing you've been taking for granted for years, oftentimes in the act of lifting it to your mouth, and realize: whoops, I can't eat this.  This recently occurred to me with marshmallows, those squashy, bizarre treats that...are...made with gelatin...damn.  So now they join the list of things I have to get with a heksher.  

And yet, we have a Christmas tree in my parents' house and hand out presents on Christmas morning.  My mom isn't Jewish, you see, and enjoys celebrating the holiday.  The fact that both my parents are strict, dogmatic atheists who wouldn't dream of worshipping some kid born in Palestine any more than the Flying Spaghetti Monster is helpful in making me not worry overly about the presence of a large decorated fir tree in our house.  Also, as a religion scholar I know that most of the Christmas celebration is borrowed from ancient pagan belief anyhow, so I'm celebrating syncretism and the wonderful durability of the human connection to certain symbols. Still, it's a little weird. 

On to secular New Year's, where we change from one year after the birth of Christ (give or take a few before they thought of altering the calendar) to the next....

Babaganoush For Eggplant Non-Fans

There are so many of us, the semi-vegetarians who just don't cotton to eggplant in most of its native forms.  The texture is so bizarre and variable.  It's either too hard or too mushy, and in many cases it just...doesn't taste good (my Aunt Mindy's eggplant parm being a major exception).  But here in the Bay Area, they just started selling a babaganoush from New York that has found the magic way to make eggplant disappear: mayonnaise.  Sonny & Joe's is the company, and it may have started as a family affair back in the day in Williamsburg, but I'm going to guess it isn't anymore.  Its hummus and other spreads are now reaching us, for instance.  The babaganoush still lists eggplant as its number one ingredient so it's got veggie nutrients, but is also an addictive mix of mayo and a bit of sugar since it's a little sweet, which is not a quality I normally associate with eggplant.  Essentially, it's a less decadent eggplant version of those spinachy dips they sell at the supermarket.  It's also hekshered OU parve, although for any Jewish natives of Williamsburg that's probably not good enough to make it into their kitchens ;)  I had never finished an entire container of babaganoush ever, I believe, until I found this brand.  Now I buy it regularly to eat with tortilla chips.  But I'm also trying to use it to train myself back to more simple forms of eggplant spread consumption which do not involve so many eggs.  Trader Joe's makes a pretty decent eggplant hummus, for instance.  I hope to be able to turn toward traditional versions with more enthusiasm now.... 

LaLoo's Goat's Milk Frozen Yogurt

This is one of those products I'd been thinking of trying for awhile, but was put off by the price tag: about twice as much as a pint of Ben & Jerry's or a few bucks more than super-premium ice cream/gelato, which is already too expensive.  It appears to be manufactured by one eponymous woman on her Petaluma goat farm, and is pitched as the healthier alternative to cow's milk ice cream.  You can imagine how thrilled I am at the many versions of the 'guilt-free' designation that are the major selling point.  At any rate, I accidentally chose one of the probiotic goat's milk frozen yogurts, as opposed to the ice cream, because I liked the flavor combination of cajeta (a goat's milk caramel) and toffee.  These are indeed the sweet highlight.  The goat's milk base is slightly softer and more sticky than cow's milk, and with a definite aftertaste of, there's nothing else for it, chevre.  This isn't bad, just unusual (plus probably the probiotics contribute).  I would think a flavor other than vanilla might help mask that a bit, like the dark chocolate and or cappucino ice creams.  There is also a balsamic strawberry, one of my favorites when served by BiRite but I am leery of its combo with goat milk.  The frozen yogurt is hekshered ORC but I presume still considered dairy since it is milk from an animal, as opposed to a soy bean or some such.  I would recommend this particular flavor with a bit of chocolate sauce for the lactose-intolerant consumer with deep pockets, but a sorbet or a coconut ice cream can provide a similar kick for less bread. 

Blast

My goals for this trip were simple, and could be encapsulated in one sentence: finally make it to Shopsins.  Everything else is gravy.  At this point, however, that goal seems compromised, as does my ability to sample the fare at the new Mets park.  The last meal I had at Shea consisted of a pretty bad kosher hotdog, a decent knish, and some soft serve.  I recognize soft serve as a force of evil in the universe, but it was 90 degrees out.  My karma was instant anyway, since I missed a David Wright homer while waiting in line.  And yes, I do keep Dutch halakhah when it comes to the interval between meat and dairy meals ;)  However, my plans to sample Shake Shack and see if the kosher options have improved may not come to fruition.  Wish me luck. 

Ghirardelli Intense Dark *Cough* Toffee Interlude

You know, this was an expensive chocolate bar.  It didn't feel expensive, because I bought it at Safeway, and the most exotic chocolate to be had at Safeway is Cadbury.  It's also pretty big, at 3.5 ounces.  But once you're over the $3 mark, you're in the class of brands like Chocolove or Blanxart.  Most people, including me, do not consider Ghirardelli to be in that class.  Their comical choice of names and slogans doesn't help there either.  I was just too intrigued by the concept of a toffee bar with dark chocolate to pass it up as I probably should have.  It turns out that in this case the deviation from the norm was not the product of some genius chocolate developer.  Although the initial taste is a marginally sweet, it quickly alters to a combination of salty and sour that leaves the palate awaiting a payoff that never comes.  The chocolate is described as being "slightly sweeter dark chocolate." I'd estimate something between 65% and 70%, and it's too dark to compliment the other flavors if the toffee is going to lean heavily toward the salty rather than the sugary.  This bar has a nice smooth, buttery/crunchy texture but the tasting experience is only for those who prefer a non-sweet but also not particularly complex dark chocolate experience over that of the other ingredients. 

Reading The Label: How Now Brown Cow

Ingredients: cultured pasteurized milk, honey (thought I was tasting maple syrup, but that must be the sweetener), strawberries, pure maple syrup (aha, my tastebuds do work), evaporated cane juice (THREE sweeteners?), natural flavor (that's nice and specific), pectin, locust bean gum (never quite figured out what this stuff does...texture?), beet juice concentrate (for color, they tell me), contains live active cultures (several of them, but I couldn't differentiate from a hole in the wall). 

Rotating the container: Brown Cow Farm, Antioch, California

Rotating again: "All Natural" which has no technical meaning in food law, "Brown Cow" with a suitably seventies-stylized cow holding a flower in its mouth, "strawberry fruit on the bottom cream top" and then off to the left side of that "yogurt" as if added as an aside.  They should be truthful and just call it 'dessert.'  Little Orthodox Union heksher, gluten-free symbol, "no artificial growth hormones."  Then they have to add the legal disclaimer probably written by the dairy industry that recombinant bovine growth hormones have not actually been proven to have negative effects, although we didn't try very hard to check....

One more rotation: we get the the cow narrating a little tale of the history of the farm and its single-batch yogurt making, neglecting to mention that it was also bought out by Stonyfield in 2003, although if they have a talking cow there they've got bigger problems.  

Turning the container over: #5 plastic.  Ouch.  They claim to have to chosen this over #2, like many manufacturers, because it is lighter and thus uses less energy to create and transport.  They will take the containers back for recycling if there's no #5 recycling in your area.  And they did put on a foil lid, which they say takes 15% of the plastic out of the process. 

I tried the peach variety, which was not fruit on the bottom. It was pretty unremarkable and lacking in flavor.  Brown Cow started with plain and maple yogurt, so I think flavors which are cream top are their specialty.  For the regular yogurt experience Wallaby is still my pick, but I would definitely eat the strawberry flavor again as a dessert.  The maple-y uber-sweetness is kind of addictive.