Food coverage is supported by a generous donation from Susan and Moses Libitzky.
Updated May 20
Food writer and editor Georgia Freedman has a fun new book called “Snacking Dinners,” which is the way she likes to eat when she’s by herself and doesn’t need to think about feeding her family.
On these occasions, she writes, “what I want, really, is an expanded snack, full of my favorite flavors, and most importantly, fun to eat.… These meals feel like a respite from the pressures of the world.”
The recipes come from a variety of international cuisines. You can find the fresh, creamy Italian cheese burrata co-existing happily with Vietnamese banh mi bites.
Freedman told me she leaned into her Ashkenazi roots to create the “Polish-ish Fresh Cheese & Veggie Toasts” on pumpernickel or another dense, dark bread, as well as a toast idea dubbed “The Upper West Side,” which consists of cream cheese, lox and capers on rye.
Freedman, 45, who lives in Oakland, is the author of a book about Chinese cuisine from the Yunnan Province and has co-written two other books. She also worked at Saveur magazine, including as managing editor.
“Snacking Dinners” reflects Freedman’s omnivore diet, but she said she tried to make it as inclusive as possible. Though many of the recipes don’t follow kosher laws, she said she kept kosher-keeping readers in mind.
“My in-laws all keep kosher, two are Conservative rabbis, and my niece is marrying a rabbinical student this summer,” Freedman said in an email. “My niece and her fiance (then boyfriend) even tested two of the recipes for me. In my Mix-and-Match Potato Bites, there’s a note that you can use beef jerky or a vegan equivalent…. I wanted to be explicit about swapping out the meat, rather than relying on them to make those swaps themselves and have to ‘translate’ the recipe to make it kosher. Also, a lot of the dishes in the book are vegetarian.”
In her potato bites recipe, halved baby potatoes become the base for an array of toppings that can be mixed and matched, like cornichons, sour cream, avocado, pickled peppers, beef jerky, salami or a vegan equivalent.
Freedman also isn’t above using instant ramen or frozen tater tots, putting her own spin on the accompaniments.
I recently got to attend a dinner at the San Francisco restaurant 54 Mint celebrating “Cucina Hebraica,” or Roman Jewish cuisine. The event was put on by Viola Buitoni, an Italian-raised Bay Area resident and author of “Italy by Ingredient: Artisanal Foods/Modern Recipes,” and by Magnes museum curator Francesco Spagnolo. Buitoni conceptualized the idea and worked with the restaurant’s chef, Mattia Marcelli, to design the meat-free and kosher-style menu, which included deep-fried artichokes, perhaps the best-known Roman Jewish dish. Also on the menu were suppli, or fried rice croquettes with anchovies and stuffed with molten mozzarella; pasta with bottarga (fish roe); crispy salted cod in tomato sauce; and ricotta and sour cherry tart.
At the dinner, Spagnolo gave a brief but informative introduction to the history of the Roman Jews, as told through its cuisine. (He’s an Italian Jew, though not from Rome.) Spagnolo said that around 500 years ago, Italian ghettos were the first Jewish melting pots, with Jewish immigrants from different countries concentrated in small areas. Even those who kept kosher often drank nonkosher wine, Spagnolo said, because local wines are such an integral part of Italian culture.
Another interesting anecdote: Northern Italian Jews tended to favor goose fat, while Southern Italian Jews used more olive oil as their preferred cooking fat.
“Jews were a meeting point between cultures,” Spagnolo said.
The people behind 54 Mint enjoyed the collaboration and talked about doing it again, though nothing is on the books yet. We suggest subscribing to the restaurant newsletter at 54mint.com/contact.
Olive, an Israeli-owned catering company that has been serving the Jewish community in the Bay Area and beyond for nine years, announced that its time has come to an end. Elinor Nahmani and Arkady Kluger, the couple who ran the business, are moving to San Diego.
I told their story in March 2021 and wrote about how Olive had pivoted to meal delivery during the pandemic and then continued to cater, too, once it could again.
“We have truly enjoyed providing you with healthy and delicious meals and being a part of your lives,” the newsletter said.
I wish them well.
Proposition Chicken, the local chain owned by chef Ari Feingold, has just opened a new location in San Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood. We profiled Feingold when he still had his circus-themed restaurant Straw and then again when he won on the Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games,” donating his winnings to fire relief efforts. His trademark roasted chicken is based on his mother’s Shabbat chicken recipe, and matzah ball soup is always on the menu. It’s located at 16 West Portal Ave., S.F.