Seltzertopia Barry Joseph

The Berkshires’ Jewish Festival of Books -- held at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire -- and The Berkshire Jewish Film Festival of Knesset Israel are collaborating on an Egg Cream Eggstravaganza on Saturday, February 16 at 7 p.m. at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

The evening will begin with a screening of the short film “Egg Cream” by Nora Claire Miller, Peter Miller and Amy Linton. Following the film, author Barry Joseph will give the audience a taste via video of his book “Seltzertopia: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary Drink.” Then, audience members will be invited to share their own egg cream reminiscences and enjoy real siphon bottle seltzer, milk, and Fox’s U-Bet egg creams.

We were joined by Berkshire Jewish Film Festival Executive Director, Judy Seaman; Co-Chair of the Berkshires’ Jewish Festival of Books Avi Dresner; and “Egg Cream” co-director Peter Miller.

All About Seltzer: My appearance on WNYC;s All of It, on 12.20.18. Full episode here: https://www.wnyc.org/story/aaron-diehl-all-about-seltzer

Author Barry Joseph joins us to discuss his new book, Seltzertopia: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary Drink , which looks at the social and cultural history of seltzer. For more information on his upcoming events, click here. He is joined by Alex Gomberg, vice president of Brooklyn Seltzer Boys, the last seltzer factory in NYC.

Welcome to the age of effervescence! This podcast is dedicated to exploring all things seltzer, especially as captured in the book Seltzertopia: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary Drink. Hosted by the book's author, Barry Joseph, this podcast delves into the 14 years of original research that went into what the Pittsburgh Jewish Sentinel called " a sparkling take on all things seltzer" and Mel Brooks praised as "Of the thousands of books written about seltzer water, this is by far my favorite." For the first time, go behind the scenes of the book to hear the voices of the dozens of fascinating figures who bring Seltzertopia to life. More at Seltzertopia.com.

In this episode:
00:00 - Theme song and quote from Walter Backerman
00:55 - The history of this podcast
02:40 - Interview with Sam and Marion Edelmann, former proprietors of the Pittsburgh Seltzer Works
19:25 - Heard on the Street
23:51 - On the Route with Walter
40:38 - Preview of next episode