Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Thursday, April 5, 2018

Activism through good food

HANNAH HARSHE | COLUMN

Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz

Samantha Goldstein

Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram

Jeremy Kaplan

Sarah Khan

Lucas Maiman

Magdalena Mihaylova

Ellery Rosenzweig

Jason Rowland

Anu Roy-Chaudhury

Alex Satola
Ali Safawi

Ashley Zhang
Sam Weinberger

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We can’t just Passover Palestine

ALONA HENIG | OP-ED

CARLY BEHRENDT | CONTACT CARLY AT CARBEHR@UMICH.EDU

BRETT GRAHAM | COLUMN

P

assover is a holiday of
liberation, retelling the
story of Jewish slaves

in Egypt and their exodus. We
use food to symbolize different
parts of the story: maror to
remind us of the bitterness of
slavery; charoset to represent
the mortar used to build the
pyramids; karpas to celebrate the
welcoming of spring and new life
with salt water to reminds us of
our ancestors’ tears; and matzah
to remind us of the rush of the
exodus as the bread didn’t have
time to rise — eat that for a week
and you’ll be newly grateful for
any yeast you can find.

Once we were slaves in

Egypt. Now, we sit together
and remember our ancestors’
hardships and give thanks to the
freedom we’ve found.

Passover
is
one
of
my

favorite holidays, because it is
always relevant; Jews have been
persecuted for centuries, and
anti-Semitism is still alive and
well. That said, many others
have been and continue to be
persecuted, and our suffering
is
neither
more
important

nor severe than anyone else’s.
Yesterday, just hours before
the first night of Passover, 14
Palestinians were killed and
more than 750 wounded by
Israeli fire on the border of Gaza
during a Palestinian protest. Just
hours before the seders began,
soldiers were dropping tear gas
over countless civilians fighting
for the same cause we fought for
— freedom and liberation.

There are layers upon layers

of complexity in this issue,
as
historical,
religious
and

emotional stakes are very high.
Similarly, leaving Egypt was no
small feat and the stakes then
were very high — that’s why we
celebrate the story and remember
it so vividly. Yet on this holiday,

we continue to violently oppress
an entire people. Gaza has been
under an Israeli blockade since
2007, severely limiting human
travel and cutting them off
from medical supplies, food,
electricity and more.

As Jews, we know the

importance
of
resistance

and resilience, and if we’ve
forgotten, this timely holiday is
here to remind us. So why this
double standard? Why was our
fight for freedom, which was
violent and cruel (a commanded
killing of a newly born child is
never warranted), something
to celebrate while a Palestinian
protest is something we feel the
need to suppress? Why is Jewish
liberation more important than
that of Palestinians’? It’s not.

My
grandfather
was

a
Holocaust
survivor.
He

survived a mass genocide of
his people, and he moved to
Israel. My family is in Israel.
My parents are from Israel. I
identify with Israel. So why is
this country that is supposed
to be a safe haven for Jews
treating others the way we were
treated? When we think back to
the tragedies that took so many
Jewish lives, we say, “Never
again.” But we turn a blind
eye to Israel’s oppressive and
abusive behavior and continue
to celebrate it without question.
It’s time to wake up and ask
these questions!

I am proud of my heritage

and culture, but how can this
country that is supposed to
represent that be so cruel?

I know I will hear arguments

about the Palestinians starting
it and throwing stones and
this and that — I’ve heard it
all before. But ask yourselves,
why do children feel the need
to throw stones? Why are they
so afraid of an Israeli soldier?

Is it because they lost a family
member to the blow of one of
their guns? It very well could
be.

As Jews, we understand

suffering
and
displacement.

We know the hardships of
being driven from our homes
and fighting with nothing to
lose. So where is our empathy?
Palestinians,
especially
in

Gaza, have been oppressed and
dehumanized for decades. It’s on
us to understand the hardships
that have caused the oppression
and work to make it better. It’s
on us to meet Palestinians where
they are, because if our history
has taught us anything, it’s
empathy in suffering.

Israel’s
oppression
and

violence is not acceptable, and
as Jews we have a responsibility
to say that out loud. Israel’s
actions are shameful and not
reflective of our culture and
history. It doesn’t need to be
this way, but it is, and we can’t
ignore that.

So on Passover, as you eat

your charoset and drink your
wine, as you remember the
10 plagues and sing Dayenu,
sing it for those in Palestine
who are no longer able to sing
themselves. Sing it for the lives
lost to violent military control
and do something to change the
story. We need to question and
criticize Israel if we care about a
fair and just Jewish nation.

On
April
19,
some
will

celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, or
Israeli Independence Day. On
that day, take pleasure in how
good it feels to be liberated
and remember that everyone
deserves that sense of freedom.
It’s time to free Palestine.

Alona Henig is an LSA Junior.

Pod hold the partisanship

Activism through good food

B

y all accounts, it was a
pretty standard October
Saturday.
Michigan

football was playing in a few
hours and I stood on a friend’s
lawn near the corner of State and
Hoover streets, watching with a
red Solo cup in hand as hordes
of people decked out in maize
and blue passed by. Then, I saw
a familiar face in the crowd. And
then two more just behind it.
“Friend of the Pod!” I shouted.
“Friend of the Pod here, can I get
a picture?”

Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor

and Dan Pfeiffer were passing
by on their way to the game,
having taped an episode of their
extremely popular podcast “Pod
Save America” in the Michigan
Theater the night before. It might
be hard to believe for some, but
these former President Barack
Obama staffers have gained a
huge amount of celebrity since
their time in the White House.
Their podcast reaches about 1.5
million listeners per episode and
their live shows sell out theaters
across the country. They have
interviewed nearly every major
candidate for Congress and the
presidency in 2018 and 2020,
respectively.

On specs, for progressives

and liberals at least, the success of
their company, Crooked Media,
and its growing list of podcasts
is cause for celebration — finally,
an answer to conservative talk
radio and Fox News! Young
liberal voices are helping the
average American contextualize
the hot mess of current events
in the President Donald Trump
era and stay informed. Still,
long-time
listeners
(such
as

yours truly) have observed a
certain shift in tone over the
past few months that makes me
think I would not have such an
enthusiastic reaction if I were
to see them walking around Ann
Arbor today.

Co-hosts
Favreau,
Vietor,

Pfeiffer and Jon Lovett, a former
speech-writer and funnyman,
have spent hours and hours
discussing the state of the
Democratic Party. They have
rehashed the 2016 primary and
the relationship between the
so-called Hillary Clinton and
Bernie Sander wings. They have
parsed apart the party’s position
on health care, immigration
and gun control to find the most
progressive or most sensible
stance. They have interviewed
countless experts, trying to
understand how to best fight the
Trump presidency. They used
to plainly criticize a number of
high-profile Democrats. As the
2018 midterms have approached,
though, the Pod is sounding
more and more like a partisan
rallying cry than the serious
autopsy that it once was.

I first got this feeling in the

wake of the Alabama special
election in December. Obviously,
Republican
candidate
Roy

Moore’s loss is something to
celebrate,
and
a
Democrat

winning that seat goes a long way
toward liberal politics returning
to the South. But Democratic
Sen. Doug Jones is and always
has been a strong supporter of
the Second Amendment. He does
not support single-payer health
care, which is now enjoying
almost
universal
(no
pun

intended) support from liberals
and
progressives.
He
even

once celebrated a Confederate
colonel. He will face a tough
re-election campaign in 2020,
and anyone who expects him
to be a consistent and reliable
liberal vote in the Senate is
naïve; he will be looking for
every opportunity to work with
his Republican colleagues.

And yet, listening to “Pod

Save America,” you hear very few
– if any – of these caveats. None
of this context. “Someone with

a (D) next to his name on the
ballot won, so let’s celebrate!”
they seemed to say. Now, as the
midterms approach, listeners
hear regularly how important it
is to elect Democrats nationwide
in November. I would agree,
with
one
slight
adjustment.

It is important to elect the
right Democrats in November.
Progressive, non-corporate ones
with vision. A roster of Doug
Joneses is not going to cut it.

To a certain extent, no one

can really blame them. They
are all partisan Democratic
operatives, not journalists. They
do not pretend to offer any sort
of unbiased perspective.

What is worrisome to me is

that their audience is comprised
of
thoughtful,
progressive

people who now rely on “Pod
Save America” for information
and context. These people are
looking to mobilize and can
change the fundamentals of the
party if given the chance. They
could
become
an
informed,

motivated, progressive base that
not only helps win elections but
keeps its politicians honest. This
is only if it is an ideological,
and skeptical base rather than a
partisan and impressionable one.

At the end of the day, I’ll

continue to listen to “Lovett or
Leave It” regularly and “Pod Save
America” on occasion. Crooked
Media as a whole employs
progressive voices from people
of color and women (Symone
Sanders, DeRay Mckesson, Ira
Madison III) and they deserve
commendation for that. To my
fellow listeners, though, a word
of warning — stay vigilant. This
podcast is no longer what it was
and may be transitioning into
something less than appealing.

Brett Graham can be reached at

btgraham@umich.edu.

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T

he Lunch Room didn’t
start with a business plan
or a value proposition.

Instead, it started with two
neighbors cooking food together
in their kitchens. After eight
years, three brick-and-mortar
locations and success beyond
what
anyone
could
have

predicted, its origin story isn’t
hard to believe. Step inside any
of The Lunch Room’s three
locations and you’ll instantly feel
like you’re at home having a meal
with your family. The Lunch
Room emanates a casual, almost
hippie-like vibe, with meals that
taste home-cooked and posters
on the wall promoting The Lunch
Room’s social activism with the
Youth Justice Fund. In a city
like Ann Arbor, perhaps those
qualities alone could account
for its incredible success as a
restaurant.

But Joel Panozzo, co-founder

and co-owner of The Lunch Room,
hopes his restaurant’s success is
due to more than just its location in
a notoriously community-focused,
activism-centric city.

“I’ve been wanting to think

that it’s possible for businesses to
do the things that we’re doing, even
not in Ann Arbor,” Panozzo said in
an interview at The Lunch Room’s
Kerrytown location. “That’s what
my personal longer-term goal is —
to be an example that a restaurant
can do these things. A restaurant
can pay its employees a livable
wage, it can provide health and
dental benefits, it can provide gym
membership reimbursements, it
can farm its own vegetables, it can
work with formerly incarcerated
adults, it can work with people
recovering in the community,
regardless of what town you live in.
It helps that a community like Ann
Arbor identifies with those things,
but I’m hoping that it grows further
from there.”

Panozzo’s sentiment may be

more controversial than it initially
sounds; how many diners do you
know that pay their employees a
livable wage? However, it seems to
be working for The Lunch Room.
This past summer, The Lunch
Room opened its third location,

Detroit Street Filling Station, which
is right across the street from its
original location in Kerrytown.

“You’ve probably seen what it’s

like when (The Lunch Room) gets
super busy and there’s a line down
the hallway,” Panozzo said. (For
the record, I have seen The Lunch
Room that busy, just about every
time I’ve been there). “It turned
into be an issue. I would run into
our regulars on the street and be
like, ‘Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen you
in so long, what’s been going on?’
And they’d be like, ‘Yeah, I don’t
come anymore cause it’s so busy, it’s
crazy.’”

Not many restaurants have

this
problem,
and
Panozzo

acknowledged “it’s a good problem
to have, but it’s still a problem.”
When space opened up across the
street, Panozzo and his co-owner,
Phillis
Engelbert,
immediately

jumped on it.

What put The Lunch Room in a

position to be so successful that it was
forced to open another location? It
appears that Panozzo and Engelbert
don’t view most of their decisions
as business decisions, but rather as
opportunities to provide the highest
quality of service. First and foremost,
this means good food. The Lunch
Room is an all-vegan restaurant,
meaning it doesn’t use meat, eggs or
dairy (like cheese) in any of its menu
items. According to Panozzo, this
isn’t to hit the niche market of vegans
in Ann Arbor. Rather, it allows them
to create the highest quality of dishes
that other restaurants may not be
capable of creating.

“When you are using really

heavy creams and cheeses and
animal fats, it can kind of mask a
lot of the other things that you have
going on in your food,” Panozzo
explained. “When you’re using
entirely plant-based ingredients,
it’s like an opportunity to find other
spices, herbs, crazy vegetables. It’s
an opportunity to actually make
something that hits a flavor palette
that somebody has maybe never
tasted before. Or a flavor palette
that could be there, but then it’s got
melted cheese is all over the top.”

The
Lunch
Room
doesn’t

hesitate to give back to its
community. Recently, The Lunch

Room began a partnership with the
Youth Justice Fund, a nonprofit that
works with formerly incarcerated
youth in the Ann Arbor area.

“That kind of grew out of a

separate program that we were
running,” Panozzo said.

The Lunch Room used to

have a 10 percent giving program,
where each month it promoted a
particular nonprofit. On Saturday
nights,
the
nonprofit
would

advertise The Lunch Room to
its donors and employees, and 10
percent of the restaurant’s sales
would go to that nonprofit. Over
time, The Lunch Room used this
program to partner with local
prisoner-rights
attorneys
and

create the Youth Justice Fund.

This form of charity appears

to be a no-brainer for Panozzo.
When I ask him to explain it
further,
he
emphasizes
the

need for such a nonprofit in
the
community,
rather
than

explaining why it helps The Lunch
Room as a business. This attitude
is characteristic of Panozzo; he
views The Lunch Room as an
opportunity to make the right
life decisions, not necessarily
the right business decisions. The
business success follows, almost
as an afterthought.

As for long-term goals, Panozzo

doesn’t plan on expanding any
further. “I imagine us starting to
work more on an advocacy level,
where my business partner and I
would start stepping out and maybe
teaching other businesses how to
do what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s
great that we’ve been able to do
the three places that we have been
able to do, but like I don’t think
more locations is like necessarily
… we’re feeling very content with
the amount of craziness that three
locations entails.”

As for Panozzo, The Lunch

Room is still the place that he began
cooking in his neighbor’s kitchen
back in 2008.

“Yesterday, I was cooking on

the line for like eight hours,” he said
with a laugh. “It would be nice to
just step back a little bit.”

Hannah Harshe can be reached at

hharshe@umich.edu.