Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Jews and pork

The New York Times has a longish piece on Israel's first pork cookbook, which even the article admits "has not caused much of a stir so far".

Nevertheless, it has sold over 1,000 copies. And:

At Yoezer, a high-end restaurant in Jaffa, the chef Itzik Cohen has held dinners for as many as 90 customers exclusively with the book’s pork recipes.

Dishes included frittata with bacon, prosciutto and zucchini; cabbage filled with pork and polenta; pork scaloppine with risotto; pork-cheek soup with hummus; spaghetti carbonara; pork ribs marinated in yogurt; and pork meatballs with fennel seeds.

“They were good evenings,” said Mr. Cohen, who has since incorporated three of the dishes into his everyday menu. “Everyone was enjoying the food. It all came out beautiful.”

The thing is, it wouldn't matter for most of those customers if the food was absolutely disgusting. As with the restaurant, Traif, which recently opened in Brooklyn, the thrill is mostly in eating something taboo.

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