Eat your heart out!
Top Australian culinary talent are involved in the Jewish Food Culture Fest, taking place this coming Sunday at Shalom College at the University of NSW.
Alice Zaslavsky
Danielle Opperman, editor of delicious. magazine will be judging the Ashkenazi-Sephardi Cook-off, set to be a thrilling contest between Rebbetzin Esty Gutnick and Shaul Esekial of Trialia Foods.
Opperman joins the already impressive line-up, including Jewish TV celebrity chefs. The event kicks off with My Kitchen Rules Season 1 runners-up, Noah Rose and Clint Yudelman, who will be wowing audiences by preparing a three course Shabbat dinner in one hour.
There will also be MasterChef contestants Alice Zaslavsky, who was a finalist in MasterChef Australia last year, and Aaron Harvie, who appeared in MasterChef All Stars. Alice and Aaron will compete in a Mystery Box challenge with a twist and work against the clock to prepare dishes using a series of unknown – and iconic Jewish – ingredients.
International award-winning authors and publishers of One Egg is a Fortune, Pnina Jacobson and Judy Kempler, will demonstrate some of the best recipes from their book, and have samples to taste. Festival-goers will also be able to watch and taste the talents of the Monday Morning Cooking Club, who have just returned from a successful US launch of their book.
Two gourmet restaurants, Boon Chocolates and Kepos St Kitchen, have also donated delicious prizes. Those who pre-book for the Jewish Food Culture Fest will go into the running to win free delicacies vouchers.
“We are thrilled at the response to this first ever Jewish Food Culture Fest,” Festival Co-Director Michael Misrachi said. “People are going to be able to excite their tastebuds, fill their stomachs, and expand their palates.”
“Food is a vital part of the Jewish community – not only within it, but also as an important and popularly understood symbol of Jewish culture. Since Moses was a boy, Jews have been fressing and sometimes kvetching about food”, Festival Co-Director Yaron Finkelstein agreed.
The Sydney Jewish Food Culture Fest is being organised by The Shalom Institute and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. This inaugural event is part of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month presented by Citi and offers demonstrations, cook-offs, workshops, talks and food stalls.
Tickets are $25 for the day ($15 concession and $5 for volunteers) and can be booked online at www.jewishfoodculturefest.com.au or 9381 4160.
So why have treif food there at all?!
Makes you wonder what’s Jewish about the “Jewish Food Culture Fest” when not all of the stalls will be kosher…
Eating Kosher-style treif might be a popular trend, but it certainly is not a reflection of authentic Judaism (or authentic Jewish “culture”) by any definition.
99% of the food will be kosher. Demonstrations, workshops, food stalls – kosher, kosher, kosher. If there’s anything that isn’t, it won’t be labelled kosher.@JFoodFest #JewFood13