"I'm Frum* Sacred Chow!"

Like me, you probably love walking into restaurants or delis and ordering a Reuben with the works. Wow, what a taste sensation! But a “Tempeh Reuben”? Don’t laugh, Jewish fusion is coming to a Main Street near you. For a people defined by a diaspora for thousands of years, it was only a matter of time before Jewish food cross-pollinated. In America, when you think of Jewish cooking, you imagine matzoh ball soup, borscht and potato pancakes. But recently, a new and more sustainably-balanced kosher, “Jewish-inspired” brand, has emerged, and rushing to the fore-front to rescue creation is the customer that wants to eat kosher but also reduce carbon emissions for the generations. As I overheard someone say: " I'm Frum* Sacred Chow!" Whether a pun, a joke or an ideology, it says it all!

Trying to adjust ancestral menu mores to accommodate our lives, our city, our planet and creation requires the greatest meditation from all of us, but especially for observant diners searching for the true meaning of Passover 2008. With cross-cultural flair infusing such offerings, it is hardly utilitarian; it is not just about placing a box of matzoh on a table with some butter, pepper and salt, although that is truly delicious, but it's also about seeing redemption, freedom and an opportunity for invention.

Sacred Chow was born with such inventive flair in mind, now at 227 Sullivan St., NYC. This place fuses a mixture of ingredients that are 100% kosher-certified, plant-based, heart-healthy, organic, low-carbon, and of course, sustainably-balanced. Sacred Chow takes kosher to new heights, low-carbon and flavorable food inspired from cultural roots in America, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The person who pieces this act together, Cliff Preefer, grew up eating tons of kosher, animal proteins. He remembers sucking out bone marrow from a bowl of his Grandma Lillie's mushroom-barley soup, eating her roasted chicken feet and unborn eggs, being served a plate of her marinated cow brains and homemade schmaltz (melted chicken fat) spread on matzoh, and calves's hooves with chopped boiled eggs and lots of raw garlic... But his cranky, loving grandmother would also swirl incantations of magic with her tiny Jewish fingers into her breads, stews and sweets, and her little boychick would attentively watch and listen at his Bubbie's side. He says he has absorbed it all.

A kosher-vegan vision thing. He became interested in cooking primarily with plant-based ingredients after living in Israel. He loves that part of the world but couldn't shake the violence he saw and wondered how he could help make the world a bit more peaceful. His interest in low-carbon ingredients from sustainably-balanced sources came together during his law school studies and legal career, which morphed into a study of low-carbon living from his stint at Natural Gourmet Cookery School, other cooking establishments, and thereafter, the famed Sacred Chow.

This Passover 2008, dishes such as smoked and hocked Romanian eggplant, gefilte bean curd soup, yucca latkes, slow-roasted seitan brisket with horseradish sauce, Peruvian quinoa with roasted asparagus and carrots, halva chocolate pie, classic kosher sangria and wines, and many other creations will be on hand. Matzo too!

His goal is to create something unique, yet evoking familiar and nostalgic flavors. I say, "Frum* here to eternity!"

*Frum is a Yiddish word. It originally meant "pious." In Europe, when all Jews were Torah-observant, "frum" meant one who was exceptionally religious and righteous.
Today, when so many Jews are not Torah-observant, "frum" has come to mean anyone who believes in the Torah and is observant of its laws.

Here’s Jew Fusion

Text by Nancy Davidson