It's The Gefilte Manifesto anniversary episode!!! In 2016, Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz published The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, a cookbook that set out to do more than tell you how to make a proper matzo ball. It wanted to change the way we think about Ashkenazi Jewish food, one pickle, knish, and stuffed cabbage at a time. Ten years later, Liz and Jeffrey are looking back at the book that started it all: the recipes they’re still hearing about, the ones you’re sleeping on, and the ones that nearly broke them (looking at you, homemade pastrami and beet chocolate ice cream). But first, the war stories. From scrambling to cook dinner for 50 people in Palo Alto with practically no prep to having an entire cooking demo’s worth of ingredients accidentally thrown away, the road to cookbook publication was not exactly a walk in the park. There may or may not have been a little weed involved, too. (Liz has a confession to make.)Then, Liz and Jeffrey get into the big questions: Why write a book about gefilte fish if it’s not really a book about gefilte fish? How do you honor the past while making Jewish food feel fresh and relevant? And what does it mean to preserve a culinary tradition by actually getting your hands dirty? They revisit the recipes that became reader favorites, the ones that deserved more love, and the stories and people they wish they’d included. Plus, the secret to finding your voice as a cookbook author, the power of a good leftover, and a little love for former Meet Me at the Deli guest Leah Koenig. Ten years later, Liz and Jeffrey are still cooking, still kvetching (well, trying to), and still making the case that Jewish food is worth getting excited about.Pull up a chair in the deli booth. The pickles and slaw are always free. Chapters00:00 – Ten years of The Gefilte Manifesto 03:30 – The Palo Alto pop-up from hell 08:45 – The confession Liz has been holding onto for ten years 09:30 – Why write a book about gefilte fish? 13:30 – The origins of The Gefilteria and the Jewish food revival 17:45 – From boutique gefilte fish to a cookbook manifesto 23:15 – The recipes people can't stop talking about 28:00 – The recipes you're sleeping on (and why you need to make those matzo balls) 30:30 – The hardest recipes to develop 35:50 – What they wish they'd done differently 41:00 – What they're most proud of 47:20 – Cooking for comfort, cookbook inspiration, and a shout-out to our friend Leah Koenig Got a burning food question? Send it our way! No question too absurd. You can submit questions through the link in the show notes, DM us on Instagram, or email podcast@heebmedia.com. Meet Me at the Deli is the food advice podcast hosted by Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz of The Gefilteria, where the pickles and slaw are always free. Listen every other Thursday wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by Felicia Reich. Edited by Eric Heifler. A podcast by Heeb Media, the subversive Jewish media platform. Circumcision not required.
