Passover Pastime

Matzo Brie (pronounced bry).

The holiday of Passover lasts for eight days. Many strictly observant jews will not mix their matzo bread with water at all during the first seven days. The reason for this is because there is a collective worry that there may be some flour inside the small tiny bubbles of the matzo with which the water might mix. If that mix is put in the oven and bakes, the person will accidently have baked chametz — any dough and water baked together to the point where the dough rises — which is a tremendous transgession for a religious Jew on Passover. The eighth day of Passover is the day which G-d split the Red Sea for the Hebrews who had an angry horde of charioted and mounted Egyptians chasing them on their heels. Since on this day there was such a great revelation of G-d in this natural world by miraculously intervening, it is believed by modern-day Jews that on this day G-d will not allow there to be a Jew who makes chametz by mistake. Therefore, many Jews make a point to make dishes which mix matzo and water.

I hope that was clear and understandable.

One of the most famous ashkenazaic dishes which is made on that day is matzo brie. Matzo brie comes out as a pie with a moist and inflated texture. It is made by soaking matzo in water in the morning. The you drain it and add other ingredients — whether it be onions or sugar, to be explained shortly — and formed and put into the oven. When it comes out, people just can’t get enough of it. It’s delicious. I’m having a hard time describing to you what the food looks and tastes like.

In my house, matzo brie is served in two distinct ways. Sweet and salty. The sweet recipe comes from my maternal grandmother who is of Hungarian origin. In school, whenever cole slaw served, on of my friends would put on sugar. He explained that that is how his grandmother would make cole slaw — with a lot of sugar — and she comes from Hungary. I derived from this that Hungarian cuisine tends to stress thee sweet tooth.

The salty recipe comes from my father’s mother, who is Ukranian. A prominent part of Russian and Ukranian cuisine can definitely be said to be salt. This is an insight into the influences of different ethnic origins and national tastes, which were in turn influenced by the abundant produce of the country.

This is one of those dishes that will only taste good if it was made on the day which it is supposed to be made. Meaning, if in middle of December time, one were to make this dish, not only would it not as satisfactory, but it may not even be appealing. That doesn’t mean that the dish isn’t good, it’s just that is the way the world works. Some things only work in the right setting with the right people. That’s the beauty of the holidays. It provides a utopia of the right setting with the right people in middle of the year which is generally mundane, and for some more than others it can be the wrong setting with the wrong people more often than not. Holidays — one of the best ideas G-d gave us.

 

 

 

 

 

What Lions Eat

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Mendel Groner

Professor Sarah Sassone

ENG 101

October 13, 2015

Lions and What They Eat

The lion is truly mighty symbol. It signifies majesty, splendor, and kingship. The proverbial King of the Jungle, it rules over all other animals in the fables of men. The graceful lion overlooks the entire animal kingdom and judges it with superb and true honesty. With just its mane, the alpha male can intimidate multitudes of dangerous predators. The real lion, of course, is much different, but fascinating nonetheless. As majestic as the lion is crowning a glorious mane, it is mostly lazy and can be a bully. Lions spend most of their time sleeping and relaxing (outtoafrica.nl). It is usually the female lionesses that go out to hunt (infoplease.com). After the prey is neutralized, the entire pride comes to feast – and it is the alpha male who pushes forward to claim the most meat! It is possible that even the very lioness who hunted the meat will have to wait its turn to feed (macroevolution.net).

But what do lions eat? We know they eat meat, but what sort of meat, from what animals? And how much do they eat, how often? Do they also eat herbs, grasses, or plants, or are they obligate carnivores, meaning that they can only eat meat and nothing else?

Lions are opportunistic hunters, meaning that they will hunt and eat according to the current state of food supply. Is food is scarce, then a lion will eat a lot, so one meal can provide sustenance for a couple of days, even five or six. In fact, “lions can eat up to 90 pounds of meat in one meal if need be. To put it into perspective, we humans will eat maximum four pounds a day”(macroevolution.net). This opportunistic way of hunting and eating which the lions possess, can also lead them to veer to smaller sizes than their average meal. The average meal means the meal a lion will eat when food income is

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steady and prey is being caught almost every day of the week. The average meal is 15 pounds for a

male, and 11 for a female. Sometimes lions will eat also smaller animals weighing about under 100 pounds(animalstime.com).

So we now know how much they eat, but what do they eat? Lions eat the meat of medium-sized prey. These animals weigh between 110 pounds and 550lb. Most of these animals are deer-like and herbivores, which travel in herds across the Savannah or plains. These animals are also usually hunted by other predators. A list of some: Impala, Zebra, Deer, Nilgai, Eland, Wild Boar, Warthogs, Kudu, Gemsbok, Springbok, Hartebeest, Wildebeest, and Thomson’s Gazelle. The lions will hunt these animals, hopefully kill it first, and carry on to eat it. Most of the time the hunting is done in groups, but sometimes it is done by an individual. If the hunter is with the pride, then when the pride hears the noise of the prey dying or crying out, it signals that the meal is ready. The entire pride will converge and devour the meat, picking it clean, eating every last bit of salvageable meat. During this time, these big cats can get a bit aggressive; there is only one animal to feed on, and a pride of nigh on eighteen to feed. The alpha male will get first picks, and after him the female hunters and cubs. I mentioned they get a bit aggressive; it usually doesn’t escalate into anything serious (animalstime.com).

Listed above were some of the main animals which lions will eat, which are all medium-sized. There is another animal which plays a large part in the diet of a lion, but it is much bigger and heavier: the Cape Buffalo. This animal, also known as the African Buffalo, weighs a lot. Anywhere from 600lb

up to 19000lb (ultimateungulate.com). Lions will sometimes hunt small rhinos, young elepahants, or giraffes, but these less often, as they pose a threat to the lion as a formidable enemy. A giraffe can give a lion a good buck and severely injure it (animalstime.com)

I mentioned above that lions will hunt these animals. It is important to note that in some places more than others, more than half of a lions yearly diet is made up of scavenged food, meaning carrion

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of prey killed by other predators! Sometimes the lions will even chase off predators from prey they hunted. The former will then wait impatiently for the lions to leave so they can scavenge whatever is left. Sometimes, hyenas will do the same to lions too, chasing them away from the lions’ own recent kills (infoplease.com).

Regarding whether or not lions eat grass, the answer is twofold; they are obligate carnivores. They do not possess of digestive tract long enough to support the eating of plants and herbs. From time to time, however, lions will eat grass. The reason for this is so that the lions can clean out their systems. When a lion eats the grass, it will regurgitate it soon afterwards. Sometimes during the feeding process some undesirable things can enter into the system: pieces of bone or lumps of lion hair, or hair of the prey, which will make digestion difficult. At times like these, lions will eat grass to clear out their systems (Yahoo).

Will lions eat humans? A much discussed question. Simply, the answer is no. Lions will not hunt humans the way they would regular prey. If food is scarce, however, it is very possible that a lion will hunt and eat a human. If it feels threatened, it may attack a human as well. There have been some instances where there existed man-eaters, lions which intentionally hunted humans. A possible explanation is that they simply grew fond of human meat. Or that said man-eaters are sickly, and wounded, and hunting is difficult already ad it is, but humans may be easier prey. I repeat: mainly, the answer is that, no, lions will not eat humans, but it is definitely not unheard of, and lions are not safe to be around (unless you’re Kevin Richardson – lion whisperer) (animals.mom.me)

Let us now discuss the current habitat and population situation of the lions. From early historic times, lions were located all over Eurasia, India and Africa. We see lions mentioned in many ancient Roman and Greek texts, proving they populated the Mediterranean. Similar evidence is found about lions in India, Africa, the middle, East, etc. (interesting note: lions are mentioned in Homer’s Iliad quite

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often, signifying a strong cultural presence). By early 2^nd century AD, lions had been wiped off the

European and Middle Eastern maps, completely, having been hunted and annihilated by the societies and peoples there(infoplease.com) Lions are now only found in two places in the world: In the Gir Forest in India a mere approximate 250 lions exist! In 1955 only a few pairs were left, and were placed in the heavily guarded Gir Forest National Park,where they have been since. The second place, is the entire area of sub-Saharan Africa; only there are they numerous, and even so, their numbers are unnerving. The International Union for Conservation and Natural Resources (IUCN) has announced that thelion population has decreased 21% in the past 21 years. The website lionalert.org has estimated this to be a shocking 20,000. The IUCN has also declared the lion a vulnerable species, which is just one step short of being endangered. (lionalert.org)

There are many simple reasons for why the lion is in such a state. People have always had a negative disposition towards lions on two points: 1) They are dangerous and hurt human beings, and 2) They eat from the livestock of animal-owners. This is a nuisance and a loss of money. For this reason, until recent times, especially when lions populated the entire Afro-Eurasia, lions were killed on sight. This is how and why they were made extinct from most of the world. There are two more things: 3)The prize of killing a lion as a trophy, or for the skin, or fur of the mane. 4) As our population grows, and we inhabit more and more space, we take away from the animals habitat, which in turn causes a shortage of space and prey. Carnivores such as the lion require large spaces of habitat to lead their lives. (Latcher, 86)

All in all, this has been an enlightening essay. I learned a lot about the way lions act and interact, and how they go about their lives. Also, a frightening creature has become less intimidating and more understandable to me. Importantly I have learned more in-depth the current situation of a “vulnerable” species. When you just hear that an animal is endangered, it can be accepted superficially,

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but actually learning about lions, and then finding out about the current state of the species had a much stronger impact on me.

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Works Cited

“African Lions”. Outtoafrica.nl. September 19, 2007. Web. October 13, 2015.

“Cape Buffalo”. Ultimateungulate.com. January, 21, 2004. Web. Octeober.

“IUCN”. lionalert.org. Augut 28, 2015. Web. October 13, 2015.

“Hunting and Habitat”. infoplease.org. April 16, 2009. Web. October 13, 2015.

“Lions”. Macroevoution.net. June 14, 2012. Web. October 13, 2015.

“Lions Facts”. animalstime.com. March 28, 2010. Web. October 13, 2015.

Latcher, Thomas, E. “Encyclopedia of Deserts.”

Secret Restaurant Recipe

Before I begin, I want to remark that when I first started out with this assignment I was thinking “how am I going to do this?” The only time that I had ever opened a cookbook was begrudgingly when I was ordered to make a certain dish. I also didn’t realize how much content that cookbooks contain; I thought it was just a boring book of recipes.

What I found instead was a book full of tips , techniques and advice. And it was all saturated with character. It is comparable to a book which teaches w=how to play guitar or an instrument, or any other skill, but a bit different. With instructional books teaching a new skill, to properly reap benefits,f the reader is required to read all the material in order, and is considered a student. With cookbooks, it’s different. Anyone can cook. And you can just leaf through and pick something which catches your attention. And the voice which narrates every recipe and story is like having a friend who is really good at something show you some of his/her own tricks and tools.

And now, to it!

The book which I’m going to discuss today is titled “Secret Restaurant Recipes” written by Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek. What’s really cool about this book is, as the title implies, the recipes are those that were served to you last night by a professional chef in a four and five-star restaurants. The book has recipes for everything from starters to desert. The layout is very simple. It is organized by dish, not restaurant. By each dish is a little word about that specific restaurant and chef, sometimes mixed with it a personal experience or connection of one of the authors with it. Also with each dish is a quote from the chef, many times an encouraging word for home cooks. Because that is mainly the demographic of this cookbook. Those who wish to serve five-star meals for their families or a dinner party, etc.

One of the things which I liked about this book is that I recognized mostly all of the restaurants myself personally. Some I myself ad gone to, some are household words, and some my friends had gone to and told me about. Interestingly, the fact that these places were mentioned in this cookbook, and regarded with reverence put in me a desire to return to some of those which I had already been to, now that I see them in a different light. Also, I feel now that I have an arsenal of good dishes to order when I go to restaurants, something which I find very hard usually.

In the book, the authors will frequently reveal the method which they used to serve the dish in the picture. That is something which I also find very interesting — how the photos of the food is taken. Because the way it looks in the picture is alway fantastic compared to the way it comes out in real life in many cookbooks. That is very usual. In this book the authors will describe the way they set up the food as well as other options.

Going through and analyzing this book inspired me to attempt cooking some of these classy dishes myself and serve to family and friends. It would be very valuable to attain a skill to cook some recipes, and actually make them well. It would also be nice to cook something on my own for those who I love, I would feel really good. It would be something special of my own accord.

So, yeah, all in all, I think this book is a great cookbook, the authors did a great job. You have great recipes from great chefs in great restaurants all over the world — the jewish world, that is. This is a kosher cookbook. There are also some neat techniques and tricks. Also they have certain things — like fries — which they sort of tell you in the beginning because it is such a focal part of every restaurant menu. So they teach you specific ways to do that really well. They tel you which potatoes are the best (Kennebec) but since that is too expensive, they suggest a more staple one (Idaho). They have a similar piece on thin pizza crust, including a tip to prevent it getting soggy. Because if you like thin crust, you know how that happens, and it sucks. Two methods which I remember is 1) Putting the cheese directly on the crust and then spooning some sauce on top of that. Or 2) Bake the crust a little bit, so it gets hard, and then put on the sauce and cheese.

Check it out online, it’s a cool book. It costs $22 on amazon. This is not a staple cookbook which I’m suggesting. If you want to try some fancy or hip dishes and learn some neat tricks, I suggest you buy it. The fact that it’s kosher only means that there won’t be any dishes which have meat and dairy together, and you won’t see certain ingredients — chiefly among them, any that come from the notorious chazer — pork, bacon, ham.