# Why is Jewish American food so terrible when so many US Jews readily appreciate fine food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795 "2012-03-25T22:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/81 "2016-10-01T20:23:16Z")
I’ll never forget the heavenly smell when my mom would make them. She’d only let me eat a few pieces because they were so rich and fatty, but man they were good. Easy to make, too. I buy schmaltz from a kosher butcher when I’m making a kosher thanksgiving. I use it in place of butter because I avoid using margarine when I can. It adds such a good, rich flavor. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/82 "2016-10-01T21:23:09Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > (Sigh) > > Okay, again, put your chicken fat and skin in a pan with just enough water to cover. Simmer it until all the water boils away. The liquid stuff in your pan is SCHMALTZ. The crispy browned solid bits are GRIBENES. > > Take the gribenes out of the fat (NO! Not with your fingers!), put them on absorbent paper to drain, sprinkle a little salt on them, and eat. I know how to fry chicken skin (my tribe makes wonderful fried chicken thankyouverymuch). But I want to eat some bonafied gribenes, like from a restaurant or street cart. If I have to make it, I might forget I’m making Jewish cuisine and accidentally pour on a bunch of hot sauce and Lawry’s. And I don’t want to deal with all that grease and clean-up. I just want to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/83 "2016-10-01T21:32:54Z")
I’ve never seen gribenes offered at a restaurant or a street cart, only made in our humble homes. I’ve never been to Sammy’s Roumanian on the Lower East Side, though. If anyone would have them, Sammy’s would. Next time you’re in New York let’s make a date! > **[Who Goes There? Sammy's Roumanian Steak House](https://ny.eater.com/2009/9/25/6758603/who-goes-there-sammys-roumanian-steak-house)** > > This is the latest edition of Who Goes There? a regular feature in which Lost City's Brooks of Sheffield cracks the doors on mysteriously enduring Gotham restaurants—unsung, curious neighborhood... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/84 "2016-10-01T21:48:02Z")
Wikipedia says: “Gribenes or grieven Hebrew: גלדי שומן ) are crisp chicken or goose skin cracklings with fried onions, a kosher food somewhat similar to pork rinds.” :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/85 "2016-10-01T22:19:12Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Mmmm…ditto! Make that a pumpernickel bagel for me, though. The bagels you buy in the grocery stores are not half as good as the one you can buy at a bagel shops . Bagels are boiled then baked , the one in the stores come in baked then frozen and baked again at the store . We had a bagel shop in my city but is had fire b/c some careless smoker threw their butt onto the mulch . I brought a Challah today at Shaw’s for the Jewish year , boy it was nothing like the Challah I had a child . It’s hard to find good Jewish food today , there aren’t many Jewish bakery or deli around today . ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/86 "2016-10-01T22:51:08Z")
> [@purplehearingaid](#): > > The bagels you buy in the grocery stores are not half as good as the one you can buy at a bagel shops . Bagels are boiled then baked , the one in the stores come in baked then frozen and baked again at the store . We had a bagel shop in my city but is had fire b/c some careless smoker threw their butt onto the mulch . Around here most of the bagel stores have awful goyisher bagels. Noah’s is the best of the lot, but not as good as the independent store I grew up with. Speaking of 4 years ago, besides sable whitefish on a bagel is pretty good also. For my birthday my daughter buys me a mail order smoked fish collection with whitefish, salmon and trout. And the only nice thing I will ever say about Donald Trump is that the Trump Taj in Atlantic City had a deli with really good whitefish salad. > [@](#): > > I brought a Challah today at Shaw’s for the Jewish year , boy it was nothing like the > Challah I had a child . It’s hard to find good Jewish food today , there aren’t many Jewish bakery or deli around today . My wife makes a real good one. But rye bread from the local bakery is so much better than anything you can get in the supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/87 "2016-10-01T22:53:24Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Forget the dark side and their cookies. Come to Pittsburgh, we have red horseradish. Since the thread has been bumped, let me say that when I went back to visit the town in NJ where I used to live I returned with red horseradish. Another reason I’m moving back. The old bagel bakery on US 1 is gone, but there is now one in walking distance from where I used to live, but I can’t speak for how good it is. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/88 "2016-10-01T23:42:57Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > well if not bad, at least few as far as restaurants go. there are probably 300 chinese restaurants for every jewish restaurant - and 3/4 of the jewish restaurants are strictly delis. I’ve heard rumours of a Chinese-Jewish fusion restaurant concept bubbling up in NYC. T’was to be called **Chewish**. I don’t think it ever came to pass, but they shoulda opened it just for the name alone - it’s perfect! Perfect in every way. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/89 "2016-10-02T02:17:18Z")
A Jewish guy and his Chinese friend are playing chess in the park. Chinese guy talks about the long history of China. Jewish guy says, “I don’t want to brag, but Jewish history goes back almost 6,000 years.” Chinese guy responds, “Oh yeah? What did you eat?” ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/90 "2016-10-02T02:56:49Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Around here most of the bagel stores have awful goyisher bagels. Noah’s is the best of the lot, but not as good as the independent store I grew up with. > Speaking of 4 years ago, besides sable whitefish on a bagel is pretty good also. For my birthday my daughter buys me a mail order smoked fish collection with whitefish, salmon and trout. And the only nice thing I will ever say about Donald Trump is that the Trump Taj in Atlantic City had a deli with really good whitefish salad. > > My wife makes a real good one. But rye bread from the local bakery is so much better than anything you can get in the supermarket. The bagel shop we have in my city boil their bagels then bake then , it’s was so busy there that it was hard to find a place to park your car. It a Jewish bagel shop , I hope they’re going to reopen. We had a bakery that was owned by Russian people and OMG their rye bread was so good. They moved to another town it not that far but I never think to go there . I use to go a Jewish restaurant for their hot pastrami on rye sandwiches with Kosher pickle my best friend loved hot pastrami on rye sandwiches and I brought her there and OMG she couldn’t believe how delicious it tasted. My dad love fish and for Sunday’s breastfast he would have 4 or 5 kinds of fish to eat. Smoke white fish , salmon, herring and some other kind . He had boil potatoes with all his meals like he did in Russia when they had food. Dad would stuff his mouth with food like it was going to be his last meal then he would start talking about what it was like growing up in Russia in the 1800’s and 1900’s , he was born around 1892. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/91 "2016-10-02T02:59:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Wikipedia says: > “Gribenes or grieven Hebrew: גלדי שומן ) are crisp chicken or goose skin cracklings with fried onions, a kosher food somewhat similar to pork rinds.” > > :dubious: I’m not Jewish, so I wouldn’t know, but what’s wrong with that definition (other than I don’t think it needs to be served with fried onions)? Is it the comparison to pork rinds? Because that’s exactly what I’d compare them to. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/92 "2016-10-02T03:39:45Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > I’ve heard rumours of a Chinese-Jewish fusion restaurant concept bubbling up in NYC. No need to wait for new restaurants. Chinese-Jewish fusion wasn’t all that groundbreaking even back in the day of the Ginsberg & Wong restaurants (Toronto and Cherry Hill NJ, IIRC) back in the 1980s, and there are still plenty of restaurants that do some version of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/93 "2016-10-02T04:28:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m not Jewish, so I wouldn’t know, but what’s wrong with that definition (other than I don’t think it needs to be served with fried onions)? Is it the comparison to pork rinds? Because that’s exactly what I’d compare them to. I believe he’s raising en eyebrow at the phrase “kosher food somewhat similar to pork rinds.” Arthur Schwartz did a really good job with JEWISH HOME COOKING (Ten Speed Press, 2008). Pick up a used copy online if you want to try making some yummy NYC-style Ashkenazi dishes at home; the pickled beet recipe alone is worth the price of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/94 "2016-10-02T05:08:29Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Bagels and deli sandwiches - which are indisputably good eats - are \*American \*Jewish food. They originated from the Lower East Side, not Poland. [Really?](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2009/03/the-secret-history-of-bagels/6928/) Everything I’ve ever read about them suggests otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/95 "2016-10-02T05:27:31Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I believe he’s raising en eyebrow at the phrase “kosher food somewhat similar to pork rinds.” Ah, I did think that, but didn’t think that was it. I guess it was. I often miss the obvious. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/96 "2016-10-02T06:21:40Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > I’ve heard rumours of a Chinese-Jewish fusion restaurant concept bubbling up in NYC. T’was to be called **Chewish**. I don’t think it ever came to pass, but they shoulda opened it just for the name alone - it’s perfect! Perfect in every way. I think “So Sue Me” is better! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/97 "2016-10-02T06:27:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Wikipedia says: > “Gribenes or grieven Hebrew: גלדי שומן ) are crisp chicken or goose skin cracklings with fried onions, a kosher food somewhat similar to pork rinds.” Huh! I made this last winter without even realizing it, and it was delicious! I must have been channeling my Great-Grandma Matkevich back in Austria-Hungary!\* :o \*The key words in the quote are “similar to.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![epolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@epolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epolo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/98 "2016-10-07T21:26:47Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I know how to fry chicken skin (my tribe makes wonderful fried chicken thankyouverymuch). > > But I want to eat some bonafied gribenes, like from a restaurant or street cart. If I have to make it, I might forget I’m making Jewish cuisine and accidentally pour on a bunch of hot sauce and Lawry’s. And I don’t want to deal with all that grease and clean-up. I just want to eat. You can buy a container of them from Pomegranate in Brooklyn. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/99 "2016-10-07T21:43:34Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > No need to wait for new restaurants. Chinese-Jewish fusion wasn’t all that groundbreaking even back in the day of the Ginsberg & Wong restaurants (Toronto and Cherry Hill NJ, IIRC) back in the 1980s, and there are still plenty of restaurants that do some version of it. Yes. Back in the sixties, there was [Bernstein’s](http://www.boweryboogie.com/2011/12/when-schmulka-bernsteins-ruled-essex-street/) Kosher Chinese restaurant in Manhattan ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795/100 "2016-10-07T21:54:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Yes. Back in the sixties, there was [Bernstein’s](http://www.boweryboogie.com/2011/12/when-schmulka-bernsteins-ruled-essex-street/) Kosher Chinese restaurant in Manhattan No crab ragoon there! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jewish-american-food-so-terrible-when-so-many-us-jews-readily-appreciate-fine-food/616795.md?page=6)