From the founding of Judaism until present time, the power of food has always been significant in Jewish history. The book, Matzoh Ball Gumbo, discusses the importance of food throughout southern Jewish history. Marcie Cohen Ferris explains how southern Jews reinvented culinary traditions as they had to adapt to novel customs, traditions and racial codes of the American South. Food is key to understanding Southern Jews. For many centuries, they have both eaten and rejected the foods indigenous to the places in which they live. Food is a barometer and the degree to which southern Jews either embrace or reject local cuisine or preserved Jewish footways defined their identities in the South. Food served as a place for Jews to measure how southern Jews acculturated while also retaining their personal heritage and identity. In addition to enjoying cuisine from biblical times, Southern Jews also created a new cuisine that revealed both their merging of the many cultures they encountered in the New World with the boundaries they created to retain their heritage.
Food is not just food, especially not for Jews. The act of eating in the Jewish South reflects how Jews maintained their Jewishness in a world comprised of mainly white and black Christian southerners. Eating is complicated- it defines who we are and where we come from. Eating is a complicated activity and family recipes get passed down from generation to generation with significance and pride. "Footways traditions are passed from generation to generation through stories" (Ferris). Ferris recommends several southern dishes to her readers, such as Matzo ball gumbo and kugel. Ferris recommends Matzo ball gumbo for winter. You make a chicken gumbo and flavor it with smoked turkey bone. Then you cook and add matzo balls separately. And you add a little more spice to the balls, to make it Southern. You can add cayenne, ginger, chives and onion. She also recommends Southernizing kugel. You can make a sweet potato kugel and add peaches in the summer. For rugelach, too, you can add homemade blackberry jam and use pecans instead of walnuts.
Throughout her book, Ferris recognizes the Atlanta jewish community on several pages, including notes on the "Kosher Kroger" in Toco Hills and various local celebrations. The book contains Jewish recipes from all over the south including recipes for crispy baked chicken, simmered black eyed peas with tomatoes, and fish fillets with Sephardic vinagre sauce, also known as "Jewish soul food".
Today in Atlanta, there is an increased demand for more Jewish and kosher restaurants in the city. Generally speaking, Jewish food is pretty scarce in the south. There was a craving for Jewish food in Atlanta, and perhaps it was not until the General Muir opened that these cravings were able to be satisfied. The General Muir gives off a classic deli vibe that was most popular in America's northeast in the early-to mid- 1990's. The deli includes Jewish classics, including pastrami, corned beef on rye bread, matzoh ball soup, chopped liver and more, as well as middle easter inspired foods. In recent years, Atlanta has become a booming metropolitan city filled with young people, willing to try new things. The concept is to create a place that's part of the community and not so expensive so that you can come every day if you want because, inevitably, that's what the Jewish deli represents in American history. "It's not necessarily Jewish food; ultimately it's American food ... it was a place for immigrants back then which represents America; everyone has their own immigration story." In fact, the restaurant is named after the ship that brought Jen Johnson's (founder of General Muir) grandmother — a Holocaust survivor — to New York Harbor on March 23, 1949. As Jewish deli food is introduced down South, The General Muir — located on property owned by Emory University — might be another sign that Atlanta is quickly living up to its nickname as "The New York of the South."
The idea of creating food in Atlanta to appeal to the masses is not something new. Perhaps the famous Coca-Cola, which started in Atlanta, created this trend and the kosher cola's legacy is interesting and unique. In the 1930's Rabbi Tobias Geffen of Congregation Shearith Israel in Atlanta received complaints from Orthodox rabbis across the world about the kosher status of Coca-Cola. The main question was: Is this internationally popular drink kosher for Passover? There was much at stake for southern Jews, as they wanted to enjoy this cold, refreshing drink while maintaining their Judaism and adherence to observing kosher foods and drinks. Rabbi Geffen approached Harold Hirsh, an attorney for the Coca-Cola Corporation, and told him he had to know what ingredients were in the "secret recipe" to certify the drink's kosher status. Sworn to secrecy about the recipe, Geffen in 1935 published a teshuva, or Jewish legal response, affirming Coca-Cola's kosher certification for Passover. In fact, the soft-drink company did tweak a couple of ingredients in order to make the soda kosher. That year the Atlanta bottling company produced a bottle cap that included the first-ever certification in Hebrew stating that Coca-Cola was kosher and including Rabbi Geffen's name and the date. So, observant Jews can breathe a collective sign of relief and sit back and enjoy a nice kosher Coca-Cola.
In conclusion, Ferris's rich tour of southern Jewish foodways shows that, at the dining table, Jewish southerners created a distinctive religious expression that reflects the evolution of southern Jewish life.
Matzo Balls
2 tablespoons canola oil 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons Tony Cachere's Creole seasoning 2 large eggs 1 packet (from a 5-oz package) matzo ball mix Kosher salt 1) In a small nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and Creole seasoning and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. 2) Scrape the onion mixture into a medium bowl and let cool slightly. Add the eggs and remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Mix with a fork until the eggs are well broken up. Add the matzah ball mix and stir until blended. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. 3) Meanwhile, fill a large saucepan with water. Cover and bring to a boil. Moisten your hands and form the matzo ball mixture into 12 balls, using a heaping tablespoon mixture for each. 4) Add a big pinch of salt to the boiling water and drop the matzo balls in. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Serve soon, or with a slotted spoon, transfer to a container. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Reheat matzah balls in soup or in the microwave.