Dr. Eli Landau just accomplished the saddest thing I have heard (recently): he wrote Israel’s first pork cookbook.
While some might argue that this is horrible because it is an Israeli cookbook about pork. I, on the other had, see this as horrible because it is only Israel’s first.
Landau’s precedent shattering work is called, “The White Book,” which is a reference to “white steak.” “White steak” is a euphemism used in Israel to allow customers to discretely order and restaurants to discretely sell pork products.
Now, this is not Judah Ari Gross telling you to chow down on swine. I keep kosher, I have all my life and I will probably (who deals in absolutes?) never taste any of Landau’s suilline creations. But I have to ask, how could it possibly have taken this long?
Israel, although it is a Jewish nation, is hardly a religious one. But despite the secularity of Israel, pork has been taboo since the 1950s. At that time the government made it illegal to raise pigs on Israeli soil. And, while some farmers circumvented this law by covering their land with boards, and thus not raising pigs directly on Israeli soil, as a result most Israelis have never tried pork.
To address this grave injustice to their palates Landau, who is pictured above buying some bacon, set out to write this cookbook. “I want to make it easier for chefs and personal cooks to bring it home and to the menus,” Landau, a retired cardiologist, said in a New York Times article. “If that happens, I’ll be more than happy.”
This kosher taboo has not nearly affected American Jews as much. If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is turn on the Travel Channel to watch Man v. Food’s noticeably Jewish host Adam Richman tear into a Detroit Triple Threat sandwich (made with ham, pulled pork and bacon) or visit fellow member of the tribe Dave Herman’s restaurant, “Porchetta,” whose menu is devoted entirely to the roasted pork dish of the same name. This year even saw the opening of Brooklyn’s own “Traif,” which dedicates itself entirely to—you guessed it—the serving of pork and shellfish.
And while this is Israel’s first pork cookbook, Meir Adoni, the chef of Catit Restaurant in Tel Aviv, does not think this will be the last. “The younger generation keeps less and less of the rules,” he explained.
Landau, 61, anticipates Israelis going the way of their American counterparts and embracing the other white meat, though he does expect progress to be slow. “In 20 or 30 years, it will be a natural thing. I don’t think I will be around to see it.”
I just hope I will.
