Jews & Chinese Food
David Mamet On Jews and Chinese Food on Christmas
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010Hipster Brooklyn Jewish Deli, Mile End, to Serve Chinese Food on Christmas
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010Mile End Delicatessen, which is famed for its Montreal-style Jewish food (such as smoked meat), is drawing a ream of publicity for its decision to serve Chinese food on Christmas. (It’s of course had its share of press anyway. People love writing about Jewish food). They originally announced it on Twitter, “We’re taking reservations for our […]
Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court, Jews, Chinese Restaurants, and Christmas
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010There was an fun exchange about Chinese restaurants in today’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Elena Kagan, whose mom was my fifth grade teacher and whose brother taught in my high school. SEN. GRAHAM: And I think you would tell me if you thought he was wrong. So I’m going to assume you thought he […]
Jews and Chinese Food, on WNYC’s The Takeaway
Thursday, December 24th, 2009Was interviewed on Wednesday on a topic of endless fascination for New Yorkers — the relationship between Jews and Chinese food. Here is the WNYC The Takeaway segment. It involved being picked up at 6:10 a.m. in the morning. They ordered pastrami egg rolls from Eden Wok!
Twas the Night Before Chrismas and Jews were Looking Forward to Chinese Food
Monday, December 21st, 2009The Moment Magazine runs an interesting and insightful interview with Andrew Coe, author of “Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States,” about Jews and Chinese food. The introductory poem, by Nonna Gorilovskaya, is great. Twas the night before Christmas and there was hardly a sound, As Jews jumped in their […]
Where are the Chinese Restaurants in Israel?
Sunday, June 14th, 2009I have been in Israel for a few days now (mostly in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Jaffa) and I’ve barely seen any Chinese restaurants. I’ve seen two actually — one while driving and one while walking. I knew it wasn’t a big thing here, from queries on the Internet, but I was surprised by how […]
What Did I Do on Xmas?
Saturday, December 27th, 2008Talked about why Jews love Chinese food, at a JCC in Tampa. Of course.
Hipster Jews and Chinese Food, Nov. 16
Friday, October 31st, 2008Partnering with the SoHo Synagogue for a mouth watering Chinese Dinner Party at at beautiful downtown loft. (Love the musical effects on that page. These guys know presentation and events!) MENU: Upon arriving you will find mini designer Chinese take-out containers stuffed with either Spicy Sesame Noodles or Chow-Mein Chicken Salad with Orange Segments and […]
Chinese takeout at the Next to Last Supper (Jesus was Jewish, after all)
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008Mae just sent me a hilarious picture of the Last Supper, except parodied with Chinese takeout and fortune cookies, called the Next to Last Supper. She found it at Middle Earth, her favorite store for art. Some people would argue, this makes sense. After all, Jesus was Jewish.
Auditioning for the Jews, who love Chinese Food (and Books)
Thursday, May 29th, 2008So I recently went to Los Angeles for a two-minute audition held by the Jewish Book Council, which coordinates the Jewish Book Network of some 100 Jewish book fairs and events around the country. It is a combination of speed dating and the gong show or “JDate and a camel auction“, as Rachel Donadio wrote […]
Google knows that Jews love Chinese food?
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008This is very odd. I looked up “Fortune Cookie Chronicles” on Google and was pleased that I was advanced enough to get my own little subcategories. It listed my most popular pages: Lee, Photos, About, Chinese food and then…a category called “Jews Love Chinese Food.” . That startled me, because as you see from the […]
Phoenix. Why is Chow Mein the Chosen Food of the Chosen People
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008I thought this invite, sent out for my Phoenix event this Sunday, was adorable.
Genghis Cohen…this tops Shalom Hunan even.
Monday, March 31st, 2008Oh my god. When I saw this, I made Josh turn the car around so I could take a picture of Genghis Cohen (which opened in 1983 as a Chinese restaurant, but also now serves as an acoustic lounge). The Jewish-Chinese connection marches on.
How to explain the Book of Leviticus in an atheist nation? China embraces Kashrut
Monday, February 18th, 2008In keeping with one of my favorite themes: Jews, Chinese and food: The Chinese have gone Kosher, as Ching-Ching Ni explains in a fascinating piece in The Los Angeles Times from earlier this month (I’m catching up with my inbox!). According to Ching Ching’s piece, China is now the world’s fastest-growing producer of kosher-certified food, […]
What about Chinese people who love Jewish food? Bagels in Beijing!
Friday, December 28th, 2007A funny post on Triscribe tsktsking about the obsession about Jews who love Chinese food, and lack of attention to Chinese people who love Jewish food. The post points out, correctly, that about 1/3 of the waitstaff at born-again 2nd Avenue Deli are Chinese. (I can confirm that at least they are Asian immigrants, though […]
Is there a worm hole from the Panda Garden straight down to Beijing?
Thursday, December 27th, 2007Matthew Pearl (who also had Jon Karp as an editor) sent me an except of a diary from his great-aunt Ruth (now in her late 90s), about her early impressions of a Chinese restaurants while growing up Jewish in Brooklyn. In this excerpt, Jenny is an aunt and Sylvia is her sister. Matthew doesn’t know […]
Jews eating Chinese food on Christmas…in China! (And the Lost Chinese Jews of Kaifeng)
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007From Danwei, a photo of Jews eating Chinese food on Christmas — in Beijing! The banner reads “A Warm Welcome to the Jewish Delegation’s Participation in the First Annual Beijing Christmas Chinese food banquet!” Note the little Star of Davids (filled in). On the sign, 猶太 (youtai), in case you are wondering, means “Jewish” in […]
More Jews and Chinese food: Christmas at Shalom Hunan, a proposed documentary
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007The Jews and Chinese food is a topic that never stops (that is why there is a whole chapter of it in my book!). Here is an 8-minute Youtube video, Christmas at Shalom Hunan. (Shalom Hunan, real place, in Brookline) The description: “What do Jews do on Christmas? In many parts of the U.S., eat […]
Pastrami (“Pastsami”) and Shrimp Fried Rice from Amazing 66 — more Sino-Judaic cuisine
Monday, December 24th, 2007Another Sino-Judaic culinary adventure: as recommended by David Sax of Save the Deli fame, I tried the pastrami shrimp fried rice from Amazing 66 at 66 Mott Street in New York City’s Chinatown. Photo above, menu (with “pastsami” misspelled) below: Basically, if you are wondering: it tastes a lot like Yangzhou fried rice, except that […]
Maybe there aren’t a lot of Jews in Arkansas? Huckabee and his Christmas Eve with Chinese food
Friday, December 21st, 2007A lot of my political friends have sent me this blurb on Michael Huckabee and his Christmas Chinese food tradition. An except from a dispatch by MSNBC’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy, “The only thing that I know that for sure we’re going to do that we have always done is we’ll go to our church Christmas Eve […]
Super Chinese Delivery: Chinese hot dogs via FedEx
Thursday, December 20th, 2007Here is an email from the owner of Chai Peking glatt kosher Chinese restaurant in Atlanta about my City Room post about his (yummy!) Chinese eggrolls. A gentleman from Chicago read the article and ordered, I believe, 6 Chinese Hot Dogs to have shipped Federal Express to him. My question. Wait. Did he freeze them? […]
Sino-Judaic cuisine: pastrami eggrolls and Chinese hot dogs
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007I have a City Room post today on pastrami eggrolls and Chinese hot dogs (beef frankfurter in egg roll skin), seen below, which is found in New York City. This of course segues into the age-old quesiton of why Jews love Chinese food so much – a relationship that has been the subject of many a […]
Has Bloomberg really eaten in the 2,500 Chinese restaurants in New York City?
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007In a speech at Shanghai’s Fudan University on Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg observed that there are 2,500 Chinese restaurants in New York City and “I think I’ve been to most of them.” Well, he is Jewish.
There ain’t much else to do on Christmas except eat Chinese food if you’re a Jew
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007Brandon Harris Walker‘s hilarious music video, Chinese Food on Christmas, has already gotten over half a million views. The chorus (as much as I was able to transcribe it): We eat Chinese food on Christmas. Go to the movie theater too. Because there is not much else to do on Christmas, If you’re a Jew. […]