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Manischewitz seeks the next Kosher food star

By Rachel Tepper · November 9, 2009

Step aside, Top Chef!  Bravo no longer has a monopoly on celebrity-studded gastro-competitions.

Manischewitz, the kosher food giant of gefilte fish fame, is hedging into pop culture territory with the launch of their 4th Annual Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off.

The challenge invites home cooks to prepare a kosher meal using, of course, Manischewitz all-natural Broth.  Would-be kitchen stars from across the country are asked to complete an original, kosher recipe in less than an hour.

Acclaimed television chef Jacques Pépin will serve as celebrity guest judge.  According to an article on Forward.com, Pépin’s involvement was a no-brainer for Manischewitz.

“We really were looking to align with a well-known chef who cooked with broth, and who we felt represented diversity in recipes,” Manischewitz spokeswoman Stacey Bender told The Forward. “Jacques uses broth in his recipes, and he enjoyed using the Manischewitz broth, so we invited him to be a part of our contest where he will judge and demo some of his recipes.”

Alrighty then.  Seems that ‘broth’ is the tie that binds.  I can dig it.

Last year’s cook-off drew over 10,000 submissions (that’s a lot of matzoh balls!), with the top honor going to Amy Siegel for her “Marvelous Mediterranean Falafel Sliders.” 

This year’s winner will receive a free trip to New York, $25,000-worth of new kitchen appliances, a $5,000 check and a gift card for groceries.

Yowsas.  Where do I sign up?  I have a feeling my ‘Luscious Latkes with Nutmeg and Naches’ might just take the kosher for Passover cake.

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Tom Friedman goes W on Arab-Israel conflict

By Uriel Heilman · November 9, 2009

Thomas Friedman advocates for George W. Bush's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Do nothing.

He writes in his New York Times column on Sunday:

Let’s just get out of the picture. Let all these leaders stand in front of their own people and tell them the truth: “My fellow citizens: Nothing is happening; nothing is going to happen. It’s just you and me and the problem we own.”

Indeed, it’s time for us to dust off James Baker’s line: “When you’re serious, give us a call: 202-456-1414. Ask for Barack. Otherwise, stay out of our lives. We have our own country to fix.”

The fact is, the only time America has been able to advance peace — post-Yom Kippur War, Camp David, post-Lebanon war, Madrid and Oslo — has been when the parties felt enough pain for different reasons that they invited our diplomacy, and we had statesmen — Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, George Shultz, James Baker and Bill Clinton — savvy enough to seize those moments.

Today, the Arabs, Israel and the Palestinians are clearly not feeling enough pain to do anything hard for peace with each other — a mood best summed up by a phrase making the rounds at the State Department: The Palestinian leadership “wants a deal with Israel without any negotiations” and Israel’s leadership “wants negotiations with the Palestinians without any deal.”

Full column here.

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