The Jewish Food Festival celebrates
25 years of feeding the soul
Open-air deli: Lester Tockerman and an array of food offerings
Photos by Patrice Ward
At the end of June, members of Congregation Beth Israel and their friends meet in the Carmel temple’s kitchen to begin baking bread and pastries from traditional recipes that will serve nearly 4,000 people. The kitchen becomes an orchestration of activity, its rhythm kept by the clanging of pots and pans, while the melody dances on the voices of women sharing family stories, remembering the bubbies who “did it this way” and the memories of holidays and festivals gone by. As hands stir the pot, work the dough, form the crust, the spirit enters what is fondly called, “Jewish food for your soul.”
“I am a from-scratch person,” says Diana Rosenthal, who leads the baking. “I like getting my hands in it; the process of kneading the dough is an experiential thing. To be a good baker, you have to have your hands on product. I remember, my husband’s grandmother, the family’s best pie crust maker, used her eyes and sense of touch to tell things were just right.”
And so begins preparation for the annual Jewish Food Festival, the largest such celebration of Jewish food and culture in the region.
The one-day event, held on the fourth Sunday of every August, will celebrate it’s 25th anniversary this Aug. 26, and, as it does every year, will seek to celebrate and share Jewish culture with the wider community. Thousands of food lovers of all faiths are expected to flock to Beth Israel for the recreation of a traditional Jewish village, complete with costumes, music, dance, wedding enactments—and food. “Food is a central part of Jewish culture,” says Beth Israel Rabbi Bruce Greenbaum. “Whatever we do, food is a component of it. It has taken time for it to become ingrained in American culture, but now it is… Non-Jews and Jews alike tend to enjoy Jewish food. What’s not to like about chicken soup?”
“I think if you look at the different ethnic festivals, what they all have in common is food,” says Rosenthal. “It unites people. Food is essential for our existence, yet the sharing of food has become ritualistic; we’re not just standing under a tree grabbing fruit. There are rituals of preparation, serving and communal eating. Food is something that bonds us, feeding the body and the soul at the same time. It strengthens family relationships and creates community.”
In a new twist, Beth Israel last year partnered with Monterey County Waste Management to “go green” by introducing compostable utensils, plates and napkins and by diverting waste from the landfill by capturing hundreds of plastic zip bags used for freezing food, for the “bag in bag” program. “Rather than tossing all those zip bags,” says Donna Shore, “we rinsed them, and stuffed them in a larger plastic bag for recycling. This ‘greening’ is a new element in a well-oiled machine. Our efforts tie into Tikkun Olam, which is a Jewish value of repairing the earth, making it better than we found it. This calls us to take responsibility for our actions, to take care of the earth; it hurts our soul when we don’t. We felt good about this; we knew we had done a great job to minimize waste.”
What never goes to waste is the food. Most people purchase their latkes or potato pancakes, challah bread, hamentashen and rugelach pastries, falafel, corned beef or pastrami sandwiches, chopped liver, matzoball soup and more to enjoy on site in the village, as they listen to music by performers including Alisa Fineman and Kimball Hurd.
Yet many also buy great quantities of food to take home for the evening meal or to be enjoyed during the days and weeks to come. At the end of the festival, any remaining food is donated to Dorothy’s Kitchen and other local shelters. Funds raised support educational programs in the synagogue, as well as the American Red Cross and MAZON Jewish food bank. Like a Jewish Brigadoon, on this day in August, the sun rises and the fog clears, revealing a bustling village that will die with the day, slipping into obscurity with the setting sun, for another year. Yet behind the scenes, the culture continues, with food, faith and fellowship.
The 25th Annual Jewish Food Festival
Congregation Beth Israel
5716 Carmel Valley Rd., Carmel
Sunday, Aug. 26, 10:30am–4pm
831.624.2015
carmelbethisrael.org
About the author
A fifth-generation Northern Californian, Lisa Crawford Watson has enjoyed a diverse career in business, education and writing. She lives with her family on the Monterey Peninsula, where her grandmother once lived and wrote. An adjunct writing instructor for CSU Monterey Bay and Monterey Peninsula College, Lisa is also a free-lance writer, who specializes in the genres of art & architecture, health & lifestyle, food & wine. She has published various books and thousands of feature articles and columns in local and national newspapers and magazines.
