July 18, 2012
Kosher WHAT?
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Last week, we launched our newest blog at jewishjournal.com. It’s called “Kosher Bacon.”
Just about everyone who hears the name is offended by it. They assume we’re being cheeky just for the sake of provocation. After all, would we call a funeral blog “Shivah Me Timbers”? Would we call a dating blog “Plenty o’ Shiksas”?
No—but in this case there’s a perfectly good explanation.
A few months ago, I met a chef named Michael Israel for coffee in Culver City. He chose the place—The Conservatory for Coffee, Tea & Cocoa, a small cafe across from Sony Studios where the centerpiece is a huffing, puffing coffee roaster and the family behind the counter manages to turn out one perfect cup after another with exacting standards and zero attitude.
Michael struck me as the same sort of person. In 2005, he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. He went on to work in restaurants throughout Italy, then at Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-star Per Se in New York City—considered by many the best restaurant in the country.
“It was the best food education I could ever get,” Michael told me. “The standards were so high, and the focus on detail was incredible.”
Read the rest at Foodaism.
