Fifth Annual Jewish Food Festival Features Culinary and Cultural Experiences

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The tapestry of Jewish cuisine is influenced by the many countries around the globe where Jewish people have lived, creating a unique culinary experience that will be celebrated at the fifth annual Jewish Food Festival, Sunday, Aug. 6 and Monday, Aug. 7, noon to 7 p.m. at Rotary Park, 4100 W. Highland Rd., Mequon. Admission and parking are free; food is available for purchase. Most items are less than $17.

Jewish Food Festival organizer Moshe Luchins, rabbi of community engagement at Mequon’s Peltz Center for Jewish Life, says approximately 6,000 people attended last year’s festival. “It’s been growing exponentially.”  

Plenty of food choices will be available for purchase, including the popular Classic Pastrami Sandwich ($16), the New York-style Classic Corned Beef Sandwich ($16) and Chicken Matzah Ball Soup ($6.50). All meat on the menu is kosher. Each night of the festival will feature a special dinner from 5 to 7 p.m., with the BBQ pulled chicken sandwich ($12) on Sunday, and glazed beef ribs (price not posted at press time) on Monday.

“People ask ‘what makes your food Jewish?’” Luchins observes. “A lot of our foods were picked up from the different countries that we were living in.”

Eastern European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences include stuffed cabbage, a Polish dish, as well as falafel and shawarma, delicacies that originated from the Middle East.

Food rules that govern the kosher kitchen can be complex, but kosher, which means “fit,” includes specific guidelines on which animals are consumed (only animals that chew cud and have split hooves, such as sheep, cows and goats, are kosher), how food is prepared and how it is served. Milk and meat are not mixed together. Foods produced in a factory are avoided due to the chance of foods getting mixed together.

New Interactive Experience Lets Visitors Experience Jewish Traditions  

New this year is the interactive replica of a shtetl, the small villages where Jewish people lived throughout Eastern Europe prior to World War II. “Residents were lower income, there was lots of bartering, everyone knew each other, and the kids played in the street together. Think Fiddler on the Roof,” Luchins says. “There are so many things we do to this day in Jewish life that has not changed, and we’re recreating that in this environment.”

The shtetl experience includes little houses, clothes lines and kosher animals to create the feeling of the shtetl environment. Workshops include demonstrations of how a sofer (Hebrew for scribe) writes Torah scrolls and holy texts with a quill pen onto cowhide thinned into parchment. Guests can learn about the significance of the scrolls and have the opportunity to pick up a quill and write Hebrew letters or their name onto parchment. 

Other workshops include candle making. Candles are used to welcome and also end Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest that begins at sunset each Friday evening and ends at sundown on Saturday. A mock Shabbat table will allow opportunities to experience the observation. Guests can also make matzah (also known as matzo), crackers made from flour and water and cooked at a very high temperature in a wood-fired oven. Matzah are eaten at Passover. 

Entertainment includes DJ and bands throughout the day, magic shows, face painting, inflatables, artists and a dessert booth. 

The Jewish Food Festival grew out of the “Taste of Kosher” tables that Luchins and his wife, Sheina, hosted at local grocery stores. The samplings became so popular that the Luchinscombined the Milwaukee ethnic festival tradition with Jewish foods.

The Jewish Food Festival is a project of the Peltz Center for Jewish Life, a division of Lubavitch of Wisconsin. The Center serves as a Jewish educational and spiritual lighthouse for Jewish families in the Mequon area. Proceeds from the Jewish Food Festival will fund the community outreach programs of the Peltz Center for Jewish Life. Community partners include Gathering on the Green, and Schlossmann Honda City, who is sponsoring the shtetl. 

For more information, visit jewishfoodmequon.com.