Salinas, home to a major annual rodeo and the setting of several John Steinbeck novels, is not known as a hub for Judaism or Jewish cuisine. But one day a year since 1955, Salinas goes meshuggah.
On Jan. 29, as it has done every Thursday before the Super Bowl, Temple Beth El served up a whole lot of handmade, half-pound corned beef and pastrami sandwiches on rye. On the side: coleslaw, a pickle and a nice piece of cake.
That’s lunch for 7,000.
The annual kosher-style takeout lunch and bake sale is Beth El’s biggest fundraiser of the year. It’s also a big deal in Salinas. The local newspaper and radio station are co-sponsors. A nearby Episcopal church sends volunteers to help. The mayor buys a lunch. So do the chief of police and members of the city council.
You don’t have to be Jewish to love Beth El’s Jewish rye.
“Even though we’re just a small Jewish community, we enjoy a very good reputation,” said event chair Arthur Winter, 86, who has been helping with the kosher lunches for all but a few years of the event’s 59-year existence. “We’re treated very well. [Salinas residents] are happy to associate with us and be part of this affair.”
To make 7,000 box lunches requires a mountain of ingredients: 4,000 pounds of meat, 700 loaves of bread from a Southern California bakery, 1,600 pounds of cabbage, 500 locally baked cakes and 500 gallons of pickles. More than 60 volunteer bakers, slicers, shmearers and slaw wranglers take part.
They started prepping several days before, setting up tables and laying down cardboard in the synagogue social hall to protect against flying globs of mustard. On Tuesday the pickles arrived. On Wednesday, meat and cakes were delivered, and the coleslaw prepared. At 4 a.m. on the big day, dozens of volunteers showed up ready to do battle. The sale lasted until 6 p.m.
“The cabbage is donated by a local grower,” Winter said. “The meat comes [pre-sliced] from a wholesale meat supplier. We used to slice the brisket ourselves, but three people once cut their fingers and went to the hospital.”
Most of the customers lined up at the synagogue to buy their lunches (priced at $12), while larger orders came in from schools, local hospitals and other institutions.
The proceeds go to Beth El’s religious school as well as a few local charities, such as a women’s shelter and Meals on Wheels, Winter said.
Beth El, an 80-year-old Reform congregation led by Rabbi Marcy Delbick for the past four years, has 80 member families but is the only synagogue in Salinas, a city of 155,000 located 10 miles east of Monterey Bay. There isn’t even a Chabad chapter there.
That means it’s far from many typical amenities urban Jews expect — such as Jewish delis. The closest options are some 60 miles away in San Jose, so when Salinas magically turns into Katz’s one day a year, it’s good times in Steinbeck country.
“They love it. They all know it and they all look forward to it,” Winter said of residents’ enthusiasm for the annual lunch. “A lot of them wish it could be twice a year.”