Tuesday, January 19, 2010
London's kosher crisis
I now live half of the week in the heart of Le Marais in Paris. My life in the historic centre of Paris and also of France's Jewish community is a definitely a change from Guildford or my South Bank office. As someone who dines kosher, one of the early pluses of my new life in Paris is definitely better food and wine.
There are over 200 kosher restaurants in Paris which serves half a million Jews living in the French capital. A proud Jewish Parisian informed me that this makes the city the kosher gastronomical capital of the world with more restaurants per capita than New York, Los Angeles or London. I was too polite to bring up Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.
A discussion with friends over kosher sushi resulted in the general consensus that there had been a massive improvement in Kosher Japanese and Chinese food in Paris in the last few years as better chefs had been brought in to run the kitchens. The quality of food seems to be important and bad restaurants have no place. In London, we have far fewer kosher restaurants and for years, in a very British way, we have smiled and accepted mediocrity with the attitude that "if we don't use it, we will lose it". Those of my London friends who are not strictly kosher have often given backhanded compliments to the effect that our best restaurants in London "are not bad for kosher places". We put up with it in the same way that commuters put up with the lack of seats on trains. Just like the train service, the restaurants are slowly getting better but remain expensive.
The attitude to food in Paris is definitely different. It is part of life and culture here and there is no sentimentality. Near me, Jo Goldenberg, a restaurant dating back to the pre-war Yiddish community and itself a Parisian landmark, visited by successive French Presidents, has been closed and transformed into a fashion boutique. Its historic significance did not save it. Other restaurants in the area come and go in what is a cut-throat business. Paris had a kosher Indian restaurant before London which takes its place alongside French, Italian, American, Yiddish, Moroccan, Chinese, Japanese and Middle Eastern kosher restaurants.
Naturally, there are always exceptions to the rule. There are bad kosher restaurants in Paris and good ones in London. However, it's high time that the food critics took on bad kosher gastronomy in London whilst raising the status of the few good restaurants. Some of the best-known food critics in Britain are Jewish. Many of them have transformed attitudes to food and restaurants in London in the last 20 years. Perhaps, it is time they turned their attention to Kosher establishments.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jan/19/kosher-food-paris
There are over 200 kosher restaurants in Paris which serves half a million Jews living in the French capital. A proud Jewish Parisian informed me that this makes the city the kosher gastronomical capital of the world with more restaurants per capita than New York, Los Angeles or London. I was too polite to bring up Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.
A discussion with friends over kosher sushi resulted in the general consensus that there had been a massive improvement in Kosher Japanese and Chinese food in Paris in the last few years as better chefs had been brought in to run the kitchens. The quality of food seems to be important and bad restaurants have no place. In London, we have far fewer kosher restaurants and for years, in a very British way, we have smiled and accepted mediocrity with the attitude that "if we don't use it, we will lose it". Those of my London friends who are not strictly kosher have often given backhanded compliments to the effect that our best restaurants in London "are not bad for kosher places". We put up with it in the same way that commuters put up with the lack of seats on trains. Just like the train service, the restaurants are slowly getting better but remain expensive.
The attitude to food in Paris is definitely different. It is part of life and culture here and there is no sentimentality. Near me, Jo Goldenberg, a restaurant dating back to the pre-war Yiddish community and itself a Parisian landmark, visited by successive French Presidents, has been closed and transformed into a fashion boutique. Its historic significance did not save it. Other restaurants in the area come and go in what is a cut-throat business. Paris had a kosher Indian restaurant before London which takes its place alongside French, Italian, American, Yiddish, Moroccan, Chinese, Japanese and Middle Eastern kosher restaurants.
Naturally, there are always exceptions to the rule. There are bad kosher restaurants in Paris and good ones in London. However, it's high time that the food critics took on bad kosher gastronomy in London whilst raising the status of the few good restaurants. Some of the best-known food critics in Britain are Jewish. Many of them have transformed attitudes to food and restaurants in London in the last 20 years. Perhaps, it is time they turned their attention to Kosher establishments.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/jan/19/kosher-food-paris
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