ICE ON ICE

Food For Thought

Without Marco Polo, there might never have been noodle kugel.

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DETROIT

THE JEWISH NEWS

Q: As a child I was madly in love
with the Bowery Boys, also known
as the Dead End Kids. I always
thought that Huntz Hall was Jew-
ish, but a friend told me that's not
the case. Surely at least one of
them was Jewish, or at least had
a Jewish connection?
A: Yes, thank goodness,
there is indeed a Jewish con-
nection to the Kids. Though
your friend was right — it has
nothing to do with Huntz Hall.
The Dead End Kids, who ap-
peared in several films before
going on to become the Bowery
Boys of TV fame, included Leo
Gorcey, Billy Halop, Huntz
Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel
Dell and Bernard Punsley. The
tough-talking Gorcey, who
starred as "Spit" with the Dead
End Kids and as "Slip Ma-
hone? with the Bowery Boys,
was the son of a gentile moth-
er and a Jewish father,
Bernard Gorcey. Gorcey senior
was a comedian who appeared
as "Louis Dombrowski" in a
number of the Bowery Boys
films. Leo Gorcey died in 1969.

Q: Perhaps you can clear up a
debate I had with a friend regard-
ing Jewish foods. She contends
that the traditional foods we eat
were brought to various countries
by Jews and then mainstreamed
by the general population — for
example, sour cream and borscht
in Russia. My contention is that
when we left the Middle East and
settled throughout the world, we
adapted by adopting foods which
eventually came to be viewed as
traditionally Jewish.
From a purist's point of view,
wouldn't Middle Eastern food be
what Jews ate before leaving
Egypt, as opposed to gefilte
fish?
From reader
B.G. in Farming-
ton Hills
A: You are ab-
solutely right to point out that
despite the popularity of gefilte
fish and bagels, Jewish food
originally was Middle Eastern,
because that's where the Jew-
ish people started out.
The rest of your question is
more difficult to answer.
There's no doubt that Jews
brought their own style of
cooking and food preferences
with them when they went

into exile. But it would be im-
possible to say exactly which
dishes Jews invented because,
of course, no ancient cookbooks
are around today, if they ever
existed in the first place.
The Talmud and other Jew-
ish writings of the time men-
tion food only in passing —
except as the subject of dietary
laws. Because of kashrut, we
know that Jews had foods and
methods of preparing food that
were peculiar to them.
Probably the most famous
Jewish food is matzah, the
bread of Pesach which is noth-
ing more than flour and water.
Does the fact that unleavened
bread also is known among
other peoples, primarily pas-
toral nomads, mean that it did
not originate with Jews? There
is no reason why unleavened
bread could not have developed
independently in separate cul-
tures.
Another famous Jewish food
is cholent, a dish unique to
Jews because of the laws re
garding cooking on - Shabbat.
(Non-Ashkenazi Jews call it
chamin.) In this case, also,
there are other peoples who
use methods of slow cooking,
and it seems likely that vari-
ous groups came up with the
concept independently.
You mention sour cream
and borsht (the most common
type is made from beets). Sour
cream is an extremely popular
food in Eastern Europe. At the
same time, we know that
many peoples throughout the
world have some native type
of soured or cultured milk
product. The Torah, in
parashat Vayera (Genesis
18:8), mentions such a food.
The beet is the cultivated form
of the plant Beta vulgaris, a
native of Mediter-
ran.ean. lands. Did
the Jews bring
sour cream and bor-
sht to Eastern
Europe, or did
we learn this
dish from the
Russians? Without con-
clusive archaeological evi-
dence, it is impossible to say.
We know that Jews have
adapted some foods. For ex-
ample, noodle kugel did not
originate in ancient Israel.
Noodles did not come to be
known, at least in Europe, un-
til the 1300s. Apparently, pas-
ta was invented in China and
brought to the attention of the
West by the 13th-century trav-

eler Marco Polo.
Likewise, potato kugel could
not have come into being had
not the voyages of Christopher
Columbus in the 16th century
brought back to Europe sam-
ples of the native American tu-
ber.

Q: I know that Brian Epstein was
most famous as manager of the
Beatles, but was that the only
group whose rise to fame he
helped engineer?
A: In fact, Epstein managed
a number of performers, most
of whom never found real suc-
cess (does anyone remember
Billy J. Kramer and the Dako-
tas or Cilia Black?). But he was
behind two popular groups
from the '50s and '60s, Gerry
and the Pacemakers and the
Zombies (remember "Time of
the Season"?). Epstein ended
his own life with an overdose
of sleeping pills in August
1967.

-

Q: If a nursing mother consumes
treife, does that make her breast
milk treife, too?
From reader M.D. in Baltimore
A: At first glance you might
wonder, could this actually be it,
the one question the rabbis nev-
er debated, never even thought
of?
The answer, in a word: No.
In fact, you'll find halachic
opinions on both sides of the is-
sue, though Rabbi Steven Weil of
Young Israel says this is not one
of those topics on which minori-
ty opinion carries much weight.
So, if you eat something that's
not kosher does that mean your
breast milk is affected?
"The prevalent opinion is ab-
solutely not," Rabbi Weil said. In
fact, he cited an incident in your
own home town in which a num-
ber of Jewish women learned
they had inadvertently consumed
treife food, then turned to the
city's rabbis to inquire whether
this meant they should stop nurs-
ing their children. The rabbis
agreed unanimously they should

Send questions to Tell Me Why,
The Jewish News, 27676
Franklin Road, Southfield, MI
48034, or fax to (810) 354-6069.
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