A Reflection on Culinary Id within the Jewish Diaspora

My earliest recollections of being Jewish revolve round meals. I keep in mind snacking on my grandma’s crispy, oniony latkes whereas taking part in dreidel throughout Hanukkah. I keep in mind filling up on spherical, braided challah as a result of I used to be too choosy to strive the saucy brisket at Rosh Hashanah. And I keep in mind sinking my enamel into chewy bagels with a bunch of cranky adults who had fasted all day on Yom Kippur.

As I grew older, I turned conscious of the opposite features of being Jewish — the faith, the historical past, the politics — which have evoked tough questions on my private beliefs that I’m nonetheless working to reply. However I’ve all the time felt linked to the tradition of being Jewish, which (as my childhood recollections recommend) is all about meals. At the least that’s the case within the New York space, the place my household has been slurping matzo ball soup since arriving from Japanese Europe within the twentieth century.

I realized that meals is equally essential in different elements of the Jewish diaspora once I visited Montreal for the primary time final yr. Although I’m all the time embarrassed to appear to be a vacationer whereas touring, I couldn’t resist reserving two spots within the Past the Bagel Meals Tour, which is operated by the Museum of Jewish Montreal. The web site promised “classics like smoked meat and bagels,” in addition to “almost forgotten delicacies,” so I used to be offered.

On a sunny Sunday morning, my husband and I met a handful of fellow vacationers in entrance of the Rialto Theatre in Mile Finish. This neighborhood, our information defined, was the settling place for a lot of Ashkenazi Jews who moved to Montreal from Japanese Europe within the twentieth century — throughout the identical waves of emigration that included my very own ancestors. Although these Jewish individuals introduced the identical dishes from the previous nation to their new properties, distinct culinary identities developed within the U.S. and Canada consequently.

The variations have been obvious on our first cease, a “heimishe bakery” known as Boulangerie Cheskie, the place we have been launched to 2 objects I’d by no means seen in New York. I adored the cheese crown, a thick, agency pastry stuffed with candy cheese that changed into a pleasant paste in my mouth. Since I don’t like chocolate (sacrilegious, I do know), my husband fortunately devoured each of our parts of kokosh, a chocolate-filled roll that’s a cross between babka and strudel.

Subsequent, we checked out town’s most well-known, rivalrous bagel outlets, St-Viateur and Fairmount. Each serve bagels which might be boiled in honey water, making them a lot sweeter than their New York counterparts. They’re additionally denser and have a much bigger gap within the center, which induced me to ponder their potential to assist my favourite accoutrements, egg and cheese. However we solely tried them unaccompanied, untoasted, topped with sesame seeds — the go-to taste in Canada. They have been completely nice, however I favor the fluffier, extra savory selection I used to be raised on

Had it not been closed, we’d’ve popped into Wilensky’s Gentle Lunch and sampled the particular grilled sandwich: all-beef salami and all-beef balogna with a swipe of mustard on a roll. I most likely would’ve favored the cured meat combo, however I wasn’t bummed to overlook it as soon as we arrived at our penultimate cease: Hof Kelsten. The modern Jewish bakery is the brainchild of Jeffrey Finkelstein, who’s equally expert at crafting sourdough bread, strawberry rugelach, and flaky croissants.

Everybody else within the group tasted Finkelstein’s chocolate babka, however I went for his everything-seasoned bretzel. The pastry mixed acquainted Jewish flavors with French lamination methods, providing a glimpse of the best way our culinary traditions are being ushered into trendy instances with creativity and multicultural influences in Montreal. It jogged my memory of Zoë Kanan and Jeremy Salamon, who’re making related strides in New York.

Lastly, the tour concluded with smoked meat sandwiches from Schwartz’s, Montreal’s equal to Katz’s Deli, with the road across the block to match. Very like the corned beef and pastrami which have fed the lots in Manhattan for over a century, the smoked meat was tender and salty, served between slices of rye bread. And whereas I can’t say whether or not I’m keen on the American or Canadian model on this case — they’re too tasty to decide on — I’m comforted to know that each one these Jewish meals exist as a part of the tradition I declare as my very own.

Past the Bagel Meals Tour is obtainable on Tuesdays and Friday to Sunday, excluding holidays, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Ticket costs vary from $45 to $95 primarily based on age.