Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South

When African Americans and Cajuns cooked Eastern European Ashkenazic dishes for Jewish families in the deep south, the cultural and interracial blending of flavors resulted in the fusion of three cuisines. Jews in New Orleans often enjoyed matzo ball gumbo or dirty matza(rice). At the same time, those in Mississippi ate matzah-meal fried chicken, brisket with Coca-Cola, sweet potato-pecan kugel, and black-eyed peas with kishka.

Come savor some of these culinary delights as Rabbi Birnholz explains the history behind this unexpected convergence of ethnoreligious traditions.