Food coverage is supported by a generous donation from Susan and Moses Libitzky.
Oaklander Josh Reich prefers to frequent restaurants that are strictly vegetarian.
That’s how he found his way to Desta Ethiopian Cafe, a year-old restaurant in Oakland that’s vegan, except for the eggs on its breakfast menu.
“I’ve eaten at a lot of Ethiopian restaurants around the country, and this was the best I’ve ever had,” he said. “It blew me away.”
He became a regular. It’s a small place, so he got to know its chef and owner, Sirgout Aga Badana. She had gained a following with a stand at the Berkeley Farmers Market before opening Desta, her first restaurant.
Reich, a member of Oakland’s Beth Jacob Congregation, worked during college as a mashgiach, a kosher supervisor, so he knows more than a bit about kosher certification. One day he asked Badana if she would consider going kosher, explaining that it would make her restaurant accessible to a whole new group of customers.
Badana, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ethiopia 17 years ago, had never heard of Jewish dietary laws. But once she learned about what it would entail, he said, she wanted to know more.
In late January, Desta became one of the few Ethiopian restaurants certified kosher in the country. Two others, Brooklyn’s Ras Plant-Based Ethiopian and Harlem’s Tsion Cafe, are on the other side of the country. The latter, opened by an Ethiopian Israeli Jew in 2014, only became kosher and vegan recently as a response to the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and subsequent war.
Desta, which is near Lake Merritt, is certified by East Bay Kosher under Rabbi Gershon Albert of Beth Jacob and Rabbi Yonatan Cohen of Berkeley’s Congregation Beth Israel. The two rabbis, who lead Modern Orthodox shuls, provide their services free of charge.
Kosher restaurants are a regular part of Jewish institutional life where there are observant communities. But for many reasons, kosher restaurants have been “hard to come by and hard to keep” in the Bay Area, Albert said.
East Bay Kosher had previously certified two Berkeley eateries: Flying Falafel, which has since closed, and Boichik Bagels. (Only some of Boichik’s bagels remain under kosher supervision, which is now handled by Vaad of Northern California.) That makes Desta the only food business currently certified by East Bay Kosher.
“The first time we met, she showed me how careful she was to ensure she doesn’t have bugs in her food. She has an awareness of restrictions that sound a lot like keeping kosher,” Albert said.
Under kosher laws, produce must be meticulously checked for insects.
“I was already doing everything that way without knowing it,” Badana said.
Vegan dishes from Ethiopia are based either on produce or split peas and lentils. Lentils and split peas are considered kosher in their raw form, as is teff, the grain used for injera, the spongy “bread” that one uses to scoop up Ethiopian food.
“The cuisine is natural and minimally processed,” Albert said. “Compared to some other forms of vegan food that are highly processed and complicated, this was easy.”
She needed to replace a few items, such as vegan cheese, with products with kosher certification, she said, but most of her ingredients were already kosher.
Neither rabbi had ever tried Ethiopian food before. Now, both are fans.
Badana, who is Christian, impressed the rabbis with her understanding of the intentionality of keeping kosher. She also knew immediately how to pronounce “Yonatan,” Cohen’s first name, from the Bible.
“From that moment on, it became apparent to me that we were speaking echoes of a shared religious language,” Cohen said.
Albert said that while some Ethiopian Israelis have trickled through the East Bay Jewish community at different times, the ability for his congregants to get one step closer to learning about another culture is also a plus.
“We’re hoping it’s a win-win, in that she’s giving a gift to the Jewish community and we’re supporting her in return,” he said.
Badana described the rabbis coming to blowtorch her kitchen and to wash her cooking vessels and utensils with boiling water as “a blessing.”
We’re hoping it’s a win-win, in that she’s giving a gift to the Jewish community and we’re supporting her in return.
“It was so beautiful and made me so happy because I know it comes from old times,” she said. Badana had been unaware of this strict way of eating but said she is grateful that her cooking style fits so seamlessly with it.
While she had a steady customer base, business has more than doubled since the restaurant became kosher at the end of last month. Before then, she did everything herself at Desta, which can seat up to 20. Now she can pay her sister to help out. She loves meeting her new customers and especially seeing children try her food for the first time.
“I am so grateful to Josh and Linda for introducing me to this and helping me do better,” she said, referring to Reich and his wife, Linda Lantos.
I visited Desta in mid-February and was offered a complimentary taste of Badana’s dishes. I agree that her food is outstanding. The veggie combo is the way to go. But don’t miss the azifa, a new-to-me, pungent, cold dish made from green lentils, jalapenos, onions, garlic and lemon. In the short time I was in the restaurant, I saw people of different ethnicities arrive, including members of Beth Jacob.
Michael Sosebee, an Oakland resident and Beth Jacob congregant, was visiting for the first time with his son.
“I used to eat Ethiopian food a lot before I started keeping kosher,” he said. He was excited that he can do so again.
“If you keep kosher, you can have different cuisines in your home, cooked by you,” he said. “But to be able to go out and enjoy a different cuisine and have someone else make it is a big deal.”
While Desta is only open during the daytime, it works with two major delivery apps, making those an option for takeout too.
“The ability to order out makes a huge difference in people’s lives,” Albert said.
Both rabbis said that Badana’s willingness to work with them feels like a gift to the community at such a difficult time for Jews post Oct. 7.
“Sirgout has welcomed and even celebrated our work together with profound reverence and excitement,” Cohen said. “During these challenging times for our Jewish community, building these sort of personal, communal and institutional relationships can be a meaningful step, albeit a small one, in fighting our sense of despair and overcoming our overwhelming sense of isolation.”