Who by Fire

This week in Can’t-Stand-the-Heat Kitchen is beginning with a perfect storm. We are seeing record heat temps being recorded. Our AC is causing the whole place to have a power outage. So until we can get a technician to fix or replace, there is is no AC. Ovens and burners of course are working overtime to accommodate the Jewish New Year festivities, which has gone into turbo mode because we are now in full COVID-19 lockdown mode for the next three weeks. I’d say our soul food kitchen this week is located at the crossroads of sauna and pressure cooker, but we are way beyond that address. Perhaps you are familiar with the Jewish New Year prayer Un’taneh Tokef or the lines from Leonard Cohen’s song “And who by Fire, who by water”? I have absolutely no doubt where my fate lies. But, as usual, I am really digressing.

The thing I really want to talk about? It is the absolute height of the hot months here in Tel Aviv, and, all of a sudden, I mean really, out of the blue, people are ordering dishes that have to be fired up for long periods of time. I’m talking about slow-cooked baby back ribs (8 hours), whole sides of BBQ brisket and Colita (8 to 12 hours depending on size), who roasted chickens. Height of the heat, and folks are ordering what I’m told is a winter menu. And the lighter summer fare? Things like salmon in parchment paper or cold soups (I’ve got a killer chilled avocado with cajun shrimp, for example) or citrusy salads: Nada. Crickets. Efes, as they say in Hebrew. Folks are simply ordering heavy fare.

Don’t get my wrong. My eating habits have always been a bit contrarian. My mom, for example, loved to serve up ice cream at the height of the winter months. OK, granted, we are talking about winter in Savannah. But even when she and dad visited me up north in college, they loved to go to Steve’s Ice Cream in January. (OK, Steve’s Ice Cream was a thing up in Boston all year round anyway.)

But I really am at a loss to explain this contrarian eating behavior here: Herd, contrarian behavior. It’s like the whole philosophy of davka (because I want to, I don’t care what anyone says) is playing out in peoples’ stomachs. Maybe folks are feeling as though they missed out on whole the winter season owing to the first wave of VOVID-19, so they are not going to let that happen again. I dunno. I mean, really. I haven’t got a clue.Vivre La BBQ.