Since coming to America, I've become more and more interested in some of the Jewish traditions which we never really practiced back home in Australia. So I was thrilled when my friend Kelly offered to initiate me into the Jewish holiday that celebrates the birthday of the trees, known as Tu B'Shevat. Together we prepared a special vegetarian seder for our friends, featuring certain key fruits and grains, each of which is richly symbolic. It was tremendous fun, and I learned a great deal.
It is traditional to begin the meal with a dish featuring a fruit with an inedible shell, which symbolizes "the kind of human being whose goodness and humanity become accessible through the actions of outside effort and change." [Roberta Kalechofsky and Rosa Rasiel, "The Jewish Vegetarian Year Cookbook," p. 110] We chose the pomegranate to this end, and served a pomegranate, lime, and vodka cocktail.
Next up, one serves a fruit with a soft exterior and a hard pit center, which is likened to "those of us who may give the appearance of being open to receive love and communication but who, when tested, lack compassion and have a heart of stone." [Ibid, p. 111] We set out a dish of briny green olives for this purpose.
It is then time to partake of a fruit which is edible both inside and out, to represent "that part of humankind which can open its heart and its mind to others." [Ibid, p. 113] As is apparently typical, we used figs. We made ciabatta toasts with orange-zest and honey ricotta, topped with sticky figs (loosely adapted from here).
Finally, one consumes food that cannot be used in its raw state, to remind us that "there are some matters that require our active intervention to bring them forth from their state of potential usefulness to actual usefulness." [Ibid, p. 116] As is usual, we used wheat and barley. The wheat was in the form of a bulgur wheat, green grape, toasted almonds, cucumber, scallion, and feta salad. This salad actually served a number of roles, since I believe the meal is also meant to feature almonds and grapes.
We then used barley to make a risotto, flavored with Meyer lemons, thyme, spinach, crème fraiche, and grains of paradise (adapted from here).
Since using dates and carob in the seder is also called for, we finished up with a delicious sticky date, coconut, and carob pudding, with brown butter butterscotch sauce, and whipped cream (loosely adapted from here).
I found the seder quite moving. The dominant themes of renewal and regeneration felt eerily appropriate, given that my homeland has just withstood the most terrible bushfires in Australian history. The figures are numbing - 1800 houses have been destroyed; 7000 people left homeless; and the death toll is now over 200 and set to rise still further. I am mourning the tragedy from afar, and willing that the trees in Victoria bloom again.
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