Photo courtesy of the Levite Jewish Community Center.
The Levite Jewish Community Center’s annual Jewish Food and Culture Fest is known for its diverse food offerings.
The Levite Jewish Community Center’s annual Jewish Food and Culture Fest is fast approaching. The highly anticipated event is set for May 18, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Celebrated as one of the area’s premier outdoor food events, the festival has been highlighting the richness of Jewish culture in the Birmingham area for nearly 25 years.
“One of the coolest things about the festival is that even though it has become this big event that hosts about 2,500 people a year, it still manages to stay very community centric,” LJCC Event and Volunteer Manager Emma Herr said. “The volunteers still lead all of the cooking sessions. It’s their recipes that we’re using. I think we have about 150 volunteers altogether throughout the cooking sessions and the actual event day itself, and it really feels like this gigantic team effort with the J community.”
Attendees can look forward to a diverse menu featuring more than 20 beloved Jewish dishes crafted from recipes passed down through generations. While the final menu is still being finalized, past festivals have delighted guests with offerings such as sweet and savory braised brisket, falafel, giant corned beef sandwiches, pickles, babka, pomegranate walnut chicken, stuffed cabbage rolls, rugelach, challah, sweet noodle kugel casserole, Israeli salad, whitefish salad, couscous, savory potato burekas, matzah ball soup and mandelbrot.
These culinary delights offer a taste of Jewish heritage and are sure to satisfy a wide range of palates.
“It’s always a competition to see what’s going to be the most popular,” Herr said. “The sampler plate has held out as the winner for a good amount of years here — that has an inclusion of everything. Right after that is the brisket plate, and then we also have this Sephardic dish of pomegranate walnut chicken that’s been slowly rising in the ranks. So we’re gonna see if there’s any competition with the brisket this time.”
Along with the food, festivalgoers can enjoy cultural experiences and entertainment in the form of bounce houses, live music, Krav Maga demonstrations and a shuk — a typical Israeli open-air market. New additions to this year’s festival will include a station to paint your own hamsa, a hand-shaped symbol of protection and good fortune, an interactive hora dance, and possibly a pickle eating contest.
The event is free to the public, with the only cost being for the food. All proceeds go back into the event itself and help support the LJCC’s mission of being a welcoming facility to people of all faiths, ages, genders, sexual identities and socioeconomic backgrounds.
“We really consider this like a gift to the community,” Herr said. “So it’s been very important to us to be as inclusive as possible and always have free entry to the event itself.”
Overall, the festival offers participants an opportunity to walk away with not just good food, but a deeper appreciation for the richness and diversity of Jewish culture.
