It’s great to see that Meskerum Gebreyohannes is keeping her lifeway’s in running the family that is now expanded into a food manufacturing and distribution. Keeping the cultural revitalization alive her whole life has made her embraced, enjoyed, and celebrated the restitution of her culture, where as a child she learned to prepare meals and dishes for many people. A great example that would relate to this article would be a reading “Ricekeepers: A struggle to protect biodiversity and a Native Americans way of life” by Winona LaDuke talked about how rice should be grown in a traditional ways rather than be genetically modified engineered. It’s known that in Ethiopia everyone who lives in the same community who are close in age is considered to be brothers, sisters, uncles, and grandparents. I find it funny that many restaurants in America uses cultural appropriation to make profits on food that they have no backgrounds in whereas, Meskerum Gebreyohannes has a humble attitude to make a cuisine with a spirit taste of being an Ethiopia restaurant.
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It’s great to see that Meskerum Gebreyohannes is keeping her lifeway’s in running the family that is now expanded into a food manufacturing and distribution. Keeping the cultural revitalization alive her whole life has made her embraced, enjoyed, and celebrated the restitution of her culture, where as a child she learned to prepare meals and dishes for many people. A great example that would relate to this article would be a reading “Ricekeepers: A struggle to protect biodiversity and a Native Americans way of life” by Winona LaDuke talked about how rice should be grown in a traditional ways rather than be genetically modified engineered. It’s known that in Ethiopia everyone who lives in the same community who are close in age is considered to be brothers, sisters, uncles, and grandparents. I find it funny that many restaurants in America uses cultural appropriation to make profits on food that they have no backgrounds in whereas, Meskerum Gebreyohannes has a humble attitude to make a cuisine with a spirit taste of being an Ethiopia restaurant.
It’s great to see that Meskerum Gebreyohannes is keeping her lifeway’s in running the family that is now expanded into a food manufacturing and distribution. Keeping the cultural revitalization alive her whole life has made her embraced, enjoyed, and celebrated the restitution of her culture, where as a child she learned to prepare meals and dishes for many people. A great example that would relate to this article would be a reading “Ricekeepers: A struggle to protect biodiversity and a Native Americans way of life” by Winona LaDuke talked about how rice should be grown in a traditional ways rather than be genetically modified engineered. It’s known that in Ethiopia everyone who lives in the same community who are close in age is considered to be brothers, sisters, uncles, and grandparents. I find it funny that many restaurants in America uses cultural appropriation to make profits on food that they have no backgrounds in whereas, Meskerum Gebreyohannes has a humble attitude to make a cuisine with a spirit taste of being an Ethiopia restaurant.
Don't expect the same dish if you purchase your berbere in a commercial market. True berbere is the result of an complex and time consuming process which is why a qualifier of when 'good' berbere is used.
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I was first introduced to Ethiopian food in Boston in the 1980’s, and it became a favorite. I was planning to make doro wat tonight —- before I saw this article! Should go well with the latkes. I always use oil instead of butter (ghee), so that’s right in keeping with tradition! And I highly recommend “The Africa News Cookbook: African Cooking for Western Kitchens” Penguin Books, 1985) if you can find it. In it there are two recipes for berbere. This is the simple one, and it’s very good. 1 tsp ground ginger, 3 TBL cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Combine the spices; makes 3 heaping tablespoons. (And yes, the spice amounts are correct!) Happy Chanukah!
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Thank you. I can’t wait to visit and enjoy her food and hospitality.
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Cute article in keeping with the mission of the NYT to convince that differences among cultures are superficial but I wonder if any of it has anything to do with Hanukkah?
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Because the Ashkenazi way of celebrating all Jewish holy days is just about all we hear about. There are other ways to do it. This is an Ethiopian way--perhaps a new tradition?
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Why politicize Ethiopian Jewish tradition? Just sit back learn, eat and enjoy. Thank you New York Times.
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Read the article.
Why not print an Ethiopian Hannukah menu (the whole meal)?
I would have loved to see more recipes (split pea stew, vegetable stew, buticha, injera).....
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This, please.
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Great article. For the ignorant like me the comments should have noted that beta Israel means house of Israel based on the Gee language. My first and incorrect fear was that it was beta as in follows alpha. Glad to be wrong, and to have learned better.
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Claudia Rodman, in her book on Jewish Claire ok’ing and the anthropology an history of Jewish foodways, notes that the Bene Israel of Cochin, Is Nadia, also do not have a Hannukah tradition.
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Who's Claudia Rodman? Do you mean Claudia Roden? And who's Nadia?
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I suspect this was a typo for "in India."
"It (=Hanukkah) appears in the oral Torah that was written down around 200 B.C., a time when much of the world was unaware of the existence of a Jewish community in Ethiopia."
While Hanukkah is briefly mentioned in the Talmud (= Oral Law) in Tractate Shabbat, the story of the period is found in the Apocrypha, 1-2 Maccabees. The halakhic obligation of lighting candles is what is mentioned only in the Rabbinic Oral Law.
Ironically 1,2,3 Maccabees are included in the Christian Ethiopian Orthodox Orthodox Bible but not included in the Bible of the Beta Israel, i.e. Ethiopian Jews.
On matters of religious observance of Beta Israel, as well as dietary rules and the observance of Hanukkah, inter alia, see:
Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom, From Sinai to Ethiopia: The Halakhic and Conceptual World of Ethiopian Jewry, Including Shulhan Ha-Orit- A Halakhic Guide for Beta Israel (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2016).
Beta Israel observe Hanukkah today based on the halakhic principle that when they return to the Land of Israel (!), they do not object to commandments handed down only in the Oral law. (Shalom, pp. 181-183).
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When will The Times wake up and use BCE and CE?
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@ GreaterMetropolitanArea just far enough from the big city
If you mean by CE Common Era, rather than Christian Era, you are overextending the concept of the term Common. Many ethnic and religious groups have their own calendars, but none going back to minus infinity.
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Best wishes to Mrs. Gebreyohannes who is a living proof of the old Judaic traditions surviving in Ethiopia and a well-deserved thorn in the eye of the Ashkenazi orthodox theocrats who do not consider the Ethiopian Jews as "true Jews".
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That is so completely untrue I cannot let it go. I was in Israel for Operation Solomon when the Israeli government airlifted the community and brought them to Israel. At one point the Rabbinate insisted on bringing the Ethiopian Jews to Israel and the secular Ministry of Interior that was dragging its feet, claiming it wasn't sure they were Jewish, even after the rabbis said they were.
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The Ethiopians who affiliate with Judaism today do not have an unbroken heritage of practicing the Jewish religion for more than several hundred years back from now.
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Such a lovely coincidence to see Mrs Gebreyohannes featured in this article. Surprisingly enough last month I ended up in her restaurant while on a business trip (other side of the country for me). I loved every bit of it. I kept thinking this is the best Ethiopian food I have ever had..But what topped it was the warmth that place exuded. Mrs Gebreyohannes and her fellow restaurant employees made you feel so much at home, served food with love and warmth for the food and the guests! I decided I am going to be back whenever I end up in the area and I will be :) I still cant believe this coincidence of seeing the very pleasant Mrs Gebreyohannes with whom I chatted last month featured in NYTimes! best wishes and power to her!
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Thank you for this very educational article. Learning one’s tradition through food, it’s the best way.
An American anthropologist went to South Africa for a field work. She asked locals about teen pregnancy , one grandmother responded with a question : have you tried our food? ( meaning you need to know/ learn our cultures, the best way to do it is through food ). The anthropologist was confused.... a well!
Anyway, I love Ethiopian food, cosher or not. Yum
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I rolled my eyes at the headline - political correctness now comes to the food column. Absolutely fascinating article. It's one thing to read about the Ethiopian diaspora as museum relics, and quite another to see these people as an exotic branch off of our greater Tree of Life, with traditions and tastes very different from out own. As an Ashkenaz, Mrs G's family clearly goes back a lot further than my own. Thank you! Any other interesting recipes, now that you've made a believer out of me?
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buy Ms. Nathan's book "King Solomon's Table" filled with recipes from Jewish communities all over the world. delicious and informative.
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Would this dish be kosher if made traditionally with ghee? It seems mixing meat (chicken) and ghee (from butter from cow's milk) would not be.
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The Beta Israel in Ethiopia practiced non-rabbinic Judaism and didn't have the Oral Law (Mishna/Talmud) and didn't follow later, rabbinic interpretations of the Biblical injunctions against not seething a kid in its mother's milk (Exodus 23:19, & 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21) that was understood later to mean separating all meat and dairy products. (In fact, poultry wasn't always defined as "meat" either). So their traditional religion was more like "Karaite" Judaism. (Google that, no time here.) In Israel today, some have accepted mainstream rabbinic Orthodox Judaism and its version of the dietary laws, others have not.
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I think if it’s kosher if it’s chicken made with butter rather than beef.
if the dish were made with ghee, which is clarified butter, it would not be kosher because you cannot mix meat with milk products in one dish. That is why the Jewish way of making this dish substitutes oil.
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My mouth is watering. My first taste of doro wat was in Shashemane, Ethiopia, during Peace Corps training in 1972. From where I sit right now I can see three clay figures made by Falasha Jews, each with their hands in prayer, a man and two women. Last weekend I took my granddaughter out for Ethiopian food at a local restaurant and we practically hummed as we at our way across the tray. I haven't met a single 'ferengi' (foreigner, or non Ethiopian) who can make doro wat the way I love it—hot with lots of onions.
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The name they prefer to be identified with is as,
Bete Israel.
I learned the hard way when I used Falashas to introduce an acquaintance, which didn’t make him happy. Not politically correct apparently.
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Yes, a local Beta Israel gently corrected me that Falashas is not so much in-PC as downright pejorative.
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Just another reason being Jewish is a great deal. Obviously the Chosen People were Chosen to eat some really great food and to embrace our co-religionists from all around the world.
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The abominations my mother, may she rest in peace, wrought upon briskets and roast chicken remain unforgiven to this day.
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Guess you never heard the old Jewish joke "They tried to kill us. They failed. Let's eat."
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thank you. I never knew this about Ethiopian jews and Hanukkah. very interesting.
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