There's Nothing Rye Here: Industry Night July 5, 2024

Welcome back to another episode for Industry Night. If you are joining me on YouTube you can see I am still here at the Capital Jewish Museum. The Capital Jewish Museum celebrates DC’s Jewish heritage — it is full of incredible stories of Jewish people from all around the world who made their way to this city and were integral in laying the foundation for the vibrant community we live in today.
As you know, there is a new exhibit here. “I’ll Have What She’s Having” it explores The Jewish Deli and how American Jews imported traditions, adapted and built community through the experience of food. Not just here in DC but all around the country.
Last week Joan Nathan was here with her gorgeous challah — not a deli creation but definitely a deli staple. Who doesn't go to their local deli on Friday to pick up a challah, especially if they don’t have Joan Nathan bringing them one? Now, you may go to get your bagels & a schmear at the deli but I’m always getting a pastrami on Rye — am I right?
Who better to talk about Rye … Bread than with Michaele Weissman? Food writer; author; writing teacher and coach. Her first book, A History of Women in America, co-authored with her college bestie, has sold a quarter of a million copies and is still in print four decades after publication. And she was on this show probably five years ago talking her God in A Cup book - all about the multi waves of coffee - and now she has written an homage to love, marriage and Latvian rye bread. It’s the Rye Bread Marriage, and you’ll hear more about it in a bit.
I am here while the Deli exhibit is happening, so I thought I’d better bring in some guys with a Deli! Jason Berry of KNEAD Hospitality + Design (you know him from Succotash, Mi Vida, Mi Casa and so many other hot spots around DC) he just opened Beresovsky’s Deli here in DC
So let’s talk Deli and Rye …
Also … Two lines worth writing down found in Michaele’s book:
-How do the stories we live and the stories we inherit play out in our relationships?
-How do individuals learn to tolerate ethnic, religious & national differences?
 

Listen to the full episode here, and watch it all here.