First-ever ‘Big Nosh’, a Jewish and Israeli food experience, is coming in April
“They will ensure the food is being prepared according to Jewish tradition and Jewish law,” Stein said.
Paying the bills tastefully
“We have been thinking about the Big Nosh for about two-and-ahalf years, and the community has been welcoming. I grew up in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh loves festivals and events,” Stein said.
He and his family enjoy attending various food festivals, Stein said. A few years ago it occurred to him that there was no regional secular version of a Jewish food festival.
“As board chair of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, certain things became obvious. We don’t charge our subscribers. We have adopted the public radio model — no fees, requesting subscribers donate what they can. But we had no specific fundraiser,” he said. “We put the two ideas together. The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle needs a development event. This fits the bill perfectly.”
One of the things he’s looking forward to most, he added, is inviting the Pittsburgh community to celebrate Jewish cuisine and Israeli culture together.
“We are inviting people who have never tried gefilte fish to come and try it,” he said.
A celebration to savor
Noting this is “year one” for the festival, and lacking any data or ideas of what to expect, Stein said planners hope to learn more about the market for future festivals.
“We spent so much time on the menu. We want people to come to the event and not spend a fortune. College kids are one of our target audiences,” he said.
Organizers also wanted variety and for the fest to be a celebration.
With several different food items on the menu, they also had to manage different options, Stein said.
“We wanted some traditional and some newer items. Some observant Jewish people eat this food all the time. It is not novel to them,” he said.
Vegetarian, vegan and glutenfree dishes were added, he said, to make the offerings “as inclusive as possible.”
“When you walk into the ballroom, you will have two experiences,” Stein explained.
One will be similar to an Israeli shuk, an open air market featuring street foods and fullmeal options. Such offerings might include falafel pita (filled with crispy falafel balls made from chickpeas, fresh vegetables, tahini sauce and pickles), boureka meal, turkey shawarma pita (spicy turkey and vegetables with coriander, cumin and turmeric) and Sabich pita (an Iraqi dish brought to Israel via Jewish immigration wherein soft pita bread is stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled eggs, salads, tahini sauce and a pickled mango sauce called amba.)
The other side of the ballroom
will feature a main buffet of dishes and a la carte options.
Desserts will feature cultural favorites including chocolate babka, a sweet braided bread originating from Jewish communities in Poland and Ukraine (and the subject of a “Seinfeld” skit).
Another favorite sweet sold will be halvah, a dense candy made from ground sesame seeds and sugar.
“People eat halvah in Israel the way you eat fudge at the beach,” Stein said.
In envisioning the menu, Cowen said he is excited by the opportunity for Pittsburghers to taste “authentic Jewish food from around the world.”
In Israel, where he trained, Cowen said Israeli shuk street food features shawarma, falafel and other handheld, walk-andtalk foods.
He said he regularly ate from shuks while living is Israel. He particularly enjoyed bourekas, puff pastries that are filled with mashed potato and spinach and then topped with sesame seeds and served with crushed tomato, hardboiled egg, Israel pickles and tahini sauce.
It’s a dish so good, Stein said, “I had a dream about it.”
Cowen added, “Walking on Murray Avenue [in Squirrel Hill] or Downtown, there are no options to walk in and try [Jewish food].”
“If you’ve had matzo ball soup, I still challenge you to come and try ours,” he said.
Dishes including latkes and chopped liver are, Cowen said, “very flavorful” and he also encourages visitors to try kosher food.
They may find, Cowen said, that “Wow, this is really good.”
In addition to savoring the food, available for dine-in or take-out, those attending can enjoy typical festival entertainment favorites including live music, a 50/50 game of chance and a full bar.
Supporting the Chronicle’s mission
Many Jewish holiday celebrations are observed in synagogues or family homes, not in public, Busis added.
News stories often tend to focus on the “unhappy” events, he noted — the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting, anti-semitism, Middle East politics.
“This is just food. There is nothing better than getting together, building bridges in the community. It is a good counter-point to hard news,” Busis said.
At the same time, he said, the news media industry has been “devastated by the Internet. Anything we can do to raise money is a good thing.”
For whatever reason, he added, there are not a lot of restaurants or other retail establishments selling Jewish food in the Pittsburgh region. Kosher preparation of food, along with holiday closures and weekend Shabbat observations, can be challenging for businesses.
An observation about the Chronicle’s food coverage helped light a spark, he said.
“We have noticed articles about food are always popular. You can’t over estimate how much people enjoy food. We started a weekly recipe column and it’s one of our mostread. People love food. We plan to cater to that and strengthen our position as well,” Busis said.
“This is an incredibly exciting moment for the Chronicle and the entire Pittsburgh community,” said its editor Toby Tabachnick in a press release. “Big Nosh is not just about food; it’s about coming together to celebrate our rich heritage and create lasting memories with friends and neighbors.”
Close to 100 volunteers are being sought to fill roles including as food servers, cashiers, greeters and guides and also as bussers. Each will receive a ticket for a free meal on the day they volunteer.