1Dish4TheRoad
"1 Dish 4 The Road".. Fusing food writing with whatever else I find on the road – fiction, history, poetry, humour, diversity, family stories & London.

‘Herschel and His Goats; Loving Thy Neighbour’ – A Ukrainian Jewish folktale in support of #CookForUkraine

A flower bouquet of yellow daffodils against a blue sky in support of the people of Ukraine

Many centuries ago, in the western stretches of Ukraine, lived the great Kabbalistic mystic and healer, the Baal Shem Tov. One day, as he was walking by the marketplace, he caught sight of an elderly man, unkempt and dishevelled.

To the amazement of the Baal Shem Tov, surrounding the man was the shimmering glow of heavenly light. The man however seemed quite oblivious, busy as he was perusing vegetables at one of the stalls, taking great care to pick out the choicest and freshest greens.

Intrigued, the Baal Shem Tov followed the man all the way back to his home, a dilapidated shack on the outskirts of town. Even more astonishment followed, for when the man walked through the gate, he was suddenly accosted by a throng of goats, whose ears he affectionately tousled, and whose bleating was warm and joyous. The man proceeded to get out the greens, and fed them to the appreciative beasts.

‘My dear friend!’ called out the Baal Shem Tov, and he approached the gate. ‘I’m sorry to intrude, but I couldn’t help being curious – goats like to eat shrubs and weeds, so why are you feeding them your finest produce?’

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DIP and FLIP, Donald Trump, and what’s left of the American Dream?

Trump should understand the significance of the burger - immigrants are the ones who built America!

As American as apple pie. So the saying goes. But really what’s more American than the hamburger?

In that meat patty lie redolent images of cattle herded over epic Mid-Western landscapes by sun-scarred cowboys. The cheese as flat and enduring as the emerald Wisconsin pastures it was milked from. And if you put the bun right up close, well you can almost hear the murmuring of wheat swaying in the Wyoming wind. In fact, why not just unscrew a Coke right now, put on some Springsteen, and let’s hit Route 66 in an ol’ open-top Chevy, for this post is pure 100% Americana.

Some folk say the burger’s a little like America itself: fast ‘n free-spirited, big ‘n brash, refreshingly unfussy, yet all a swaggerin’ like John Wayne in True Grit. It’s ubiquitous and it’s egalitarian: from the subways of New York to the shores of California, the burger is relished alike from Walmart stacker to Wall Street trader, from bag-lady to baseball hero.

If American culture’s conquering the globe, burgers are the culinary cavalry. Them ‘golden arches’ stretch far ‘n wide, but it ain’t just an American multi-national carrying the meme: burgers sizzle away atop many a London pop-up stove, small-hold indie pioneers tapping into the American dream. View Post