Mercy, Mercy, I'm Begging You For Mercy

So let’s get this off the table immediately: We are not talking about Peter Kay’s comic mis-hearing of Mercy by Welsh songstress Duffy as “Birdseed”. I’m talking here about this lovely gesture I experienced on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. It’s a bit of a story.

I was delivering a fairly large order to this family just as the 3-week quarantine went into effect (it doesn’t affect food deliveries by the way). And I was thinking to myself: Who orders a large family, holiday meal, who places that much amount of trust, in a chef whom you don’t know, from whom you’ve never ordered before? It struck me as something I would certainly never do were the situation reversed. Moreover, just that day, a big article had appeared in Mako about one of the well-known celebrity catering chefs here in Tel Aviv blowing off about 50 families at the very last minute. They had no chance to improvise. No holiday meal. Stores closed, Everyone in quarantine. Talk about a royal fuck up. And that’s a celebrity chef.

And here I am, an unknown, toting bbq brisket, salmon en papillotte, roasted chicken wings, sloppy joe’s with homemade sourdough buns, crispy chicken, roasted jerusalem artichokes, sauteed broccoli, sauteed green beans, Yam fritters, apple crisp, key lime pie, and, as our gift, a tomato and pimento cheese pie, all to a family who doesn’t know me from Adam. Most of the dishes are still warm, wrapped in aluminum foil and ready to serve. It took a while.

Anyway, I come to the door with my delivery. My gue3st says, “wait a second, I have something for you,” I sigh. We have a firm policy of not accepting tips. Long story, simple explanation: Our soul food is not cheap, people pay a fair price, and that, to my mind, is enough. She comes back to the door and hands me a package of chocolates, a thank-you gift for holidays. It is the first time anyone has ever thought to give us something for the holidays.

Kindness and Love: Pay it forward.