Nosh-A-Nooga

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Nosh-A-Nooga, Chattanooga’s first Jewish Food Festival, will be held Sunday, August 18 from noon to 2:00 p.m. at the Waterhouse Pavilion, 800 Market Street. The event is open to the public. Learn about Jewish culture through food. Tickets to sample foods are available at www.jewishchattanooga.com or at the door. For more information call 423- 493-0270. This is an education service of the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga.

Yummy Jewish food samples include brisket sliders, matzo ball soup, kugel, rugalach, challah and much, much more. Foods from Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions will be available to sample. Each food table will include definitions and a brief history about the food. Although no recipes will be available, traditional bakers and cooks will be on hand to talk about the food.

Did you know? Challah is the centerpiece of the weekly Shabbat table and many holidays. In medieval times, challah was a plain, simple bread. Braiding it began in 15th century Austria and Southern Germany, with Jewish housewives following their non-Jewish counterparts, who plaited the loaves they baked on Sundays. Braids also symbolized the Sabbath bride’s hair. The wealthier you were, the more strands you could have - a result of having more time, expertise and domestic help. Jews who came to the U.S. for a better life discovered an abundance of new and inexpensive ingredients like eggs, sugar, and poppy seeds. Adding sugar created a much sweeter challah.

Did you know? Around the turn of the 20th century, a wave of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe arrived in America with hope for freedom from persecution and armed with recipes from their motherlands. Called “knysh“ by the Ukrainians and “knysz“ by the Poles, this simple spherical dough pocket came to be known by its Yiddish derivative, knish, and in 1910, it officially went mainstream when the first knish bakery opened in New York City. Comprising a softball-size lump of dough that may be baked or deep-fried, a knish is traditionally packed with mashed potatoes or kasha (buckwheat grains). Pastrami, cheese, sweet potatoes, spinach, mushrooms, and caramelized onions, and combinations are common fillings; however, there are no rules when it comes to stuffing.

Taste these foods and find out about fourteen others at Nosh-A-Nooga on August 18.