“Roots & Radishes” - Celebrating the diversity of Polish cusine in New York

04 listopada, 2018

As part of its centenary celebration of the regaining of Polish Independence, the Polish Cultural Institute (PCI) New York presents “Roots & Radishes”, a two-night pop-up dining series in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on November 2 and 4, 2018.

PCI has teamed up with chefs Jeffrey Yoskowitz and Liz Alpern, co-founders of The Gefilteria, and co-authors of the recently published cookbook, The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, to produce these unique dinners, which will explore the varied flavors and stories of contemporary Polish cuisine stemming from the country’s diverse culinary roots.

The first dinner, a Friday night Shabbat at Archestratus Books + Food, taking place on Friday, November 2nd, explores the Jewish-Polish culinary legacy in the warm, communal atmosphere of a Shabbat meal. Yoskowitz and Alpern of The Gefilteria are curating the meal and designing the menu inspired by the their recent stint cooking Jewish foods in Poland and their years of research into eastern European Jewish cooking and history. One of the foremost scholars of Polish Jewish food history, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Chief Curator of the core exhibition at award-winning POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, in Warsaw, will be joining as a special guest and collaborating on the menu.

“We’ve spent time in Poland, digging deep into Jewish Polish cuisine and cooking with Polish chefs,” said Liz Alpern. “Now we are excited to collaborate with a chef from Poland in our hometown of Brooklyn and to share with them the very special experience of the Shabbat ritual meal.”

Roots & Radishes

The second dinner, on Sunday, November 4th at Cherry Point, a Greenpoint restaurant and former Polish butcher shop, will present traditional Polish cuisine through a modern lens. The meal will be held late on Sunday afternoon, much like the post-church family meals so central to family and communal life in Poland. Poland based Chef, restaurateur and storyteller, Malika Szyc-Juchnowicz, will bring her award winning culinary flair and slow food approach to New York City for the first time and will collaborate with The Gefilteria team to showcase the complexity of the culinary traditions in Poland, mirroring eras of Polish heritage through her multicourse, meal.

Malika’s own story reflects the diversity and nuance of Polish cooking as a Polish chef of North African descent. Malika blends her own family tradition with classic Polish cooking, making a name for herself in Poland’s burgeoning dining world. Expect an immersive culinary experience that paints a portrait of Poland’s culinary past and its future.

According to Anna Domanska, Acting Director of the Polish Cultural Institute New York, these two events seek to celebrate the diversity of Polish culture, “The ingredients and recipes that make up Polish Cuisine today help us to trace the intertwined cultural roots of over one thousand years of Polish history. It’s incredible how many dishes Poles and Jews consider their own, for example, but which actually occur in both cuisines.” Food, she added, is the best way to tell a story of the connection between these two cultures.

Both pop-up dinners are available for tickets at gefilteria.eventbrite.com Limited seats available.

What: Polish Shabbat Pop-Up (Dinner #1)
Theme: Jewish-Polish Culinary Legacy
When: Friday, November 2, 2018, 7:00 PM
Where: Archestratus Books + Food, 160 Huron Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Tickets: $60
Eventbrite: gefilteria.eventbrite.com

What: Polish Family Dinner Pop-Up (Dinner #2 )
Theme: Polish Cuisine as a Melting Pot
When: Sunday, November 4, 2018, 5:30 PM
Where: Cherry Point, 664 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Tickets: $75
Eventbrite: gefilteria.eventbrite.com

THE GEFILTERIA was founded in 2012 with a manifesto and the express mission of reimagining and revitalizing Old World Jewish Jewish foods and inspiring a new generation to get in the kitchen. The culinary venture produces Jewish food experiences, curating dining events and leading cooking classes and workshops around the world. The Gefilteria is famous for manufacturing its much sought after limited runs of artisanal gefilte fish. Co-founders Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz co-authored the widely acclaimed cookbook, The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods (Flatiron Books).