Always Eat The Health Salad – Defector
Posted By admin on May 22, 2022
Let me begin by saying this: You cannot overestimate how important Jasper Wang, our vice president of revenue and operations, is to Defector Media. Sure, the rest of us write blogs, whatever that means. But the whole endeavor hinges, not only on us writing blogs, but on us then getting paid for writing blogs. Jaspers job means turning our words into actual paychecks, off of which we live our lives, support our families, and sometimes even take vacations. But possibly more important than any of that, he also ordered us a giant spread of smoked fishes, bagels, schmears, and other Jewish deli specialties for lunch yesterday. He even allowed me to weigh in on the order before he placed it! I told him that he had to order the health salad.
What is health salad? It is the MVP of Jewish deli sides. Yes, that is quite a strong take. But hear me out.
Health salad is one of those dishes where every bubbe is going to make it a little differently. Like chicken soup, theres an element of throwing whatever youve got lying around in this dish. The only elements that are absolutely essential are cabbageand I mean a lot of cabbageand some type of vinegar. From there, the dish reflects its roots with the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe: Youll find probably find some cucumbers, onions, carrots, and radishes thrown in there. But maybe youll also see tomatoes and bell peppers and whatever other vegetable might be in season or lying around the pantry. Yes, this sounds a lot like coleslaw, and you can skip many steps by just buying generic coleslaw mix. But, unlike that dish, you dont mix it with mayonnaise. This is what makes it health salad. Instead, your liquid is some mix of a vinegars (probably apple cider vinegar and white vinegar) plus some oil (eh, whatever you prefer) plus salt and sugar to taste. Do you want a recipe? This one from The Nosher looks good to me.
Its a giant pile of vegetables without mayonnaise! Its clearly healthy! As The Nosher points out, health salads are pretty closely related to the vitamin salads of Eastern Europe, and this style of salad gets its healthy-sounding name because of its contrast to the many richer salads that make up Soviet cuisine, which tend to be made with lots of mayonnaise or sour cream. Which is to say, look, this was before blender technology and nobody had access to endive, let alone a $20 green juice, so we were making do with what we had. I dont know the exact nutritional breakdown of health salad, but its kept my family alive for thousands of years. Sure, it s not the sexiest salad, but nobody calls it sexy salad.
This is why my advice to you is, whenever you are partaking of your favorite smoked fishes and cured meats, to throw some health salad on your plate. You dont need to go crazy, just a solid scoop or two. My personal recommendation is it should take up approximately one quarter of your plate, which still leaves plenty of room for your sandwich and pickle.
Yes, there is a counter-argument: You did not just go all the way to your favorite New York Jewish deli to get the health salad. You really flew 3,000 miles to eat vegetables (strike one)? Youre really giving up valuable plate real estate that could be used for more chopped, scooped organ meat (strike two)? You had to leave Los damn Angeles to get something with health in the name (strike three)???
I cannot go back in time and tell my forerunners that health salad is bad marketing. Please forgive me. But to all the other points, let me say this. I suspect that, somehow, my ancestors knew that the surviving on giant piles of meats that had been smoked or brined or pickled or in some other way preserved was to somehow, some way, sneak in a damn vegetable (that wasnt a pickle). Eons before phrases like balanced meal and eat your colors entered our lexicon, they understood that getting these vegetable things on our plate were key. Dont ask me how these vegetables neutralize the effects of eating pounds and pounds of salted everything, but they do, at least somewhat. Like with chicken soup, I have zero scientific evidence for stating this, but I will swear on this fact to my grave.
Like yesterday. I ate an everything bagel piled high with two types of cream cheese (one half plain, the other half scallion), two types of smoked lox (one half traditional, the other half pastrami-style), plus two servings of pickled herring, and some smoked whitefish that I just ate straight. I also had two giant servings of health salad and today I feel fine. Dare I say, I even feel great. I dont want to sell out anyone at Defector Media, but not everyone feels great today. And you know why some folks dont feel great? They didnt eat the health salad.
See more here:
Always Eat The Health Salad - Defector
- Two restaurants from Malaga among best in Europe - The Olive Press - June 26th, 2022
- Column: Theyve been making the worlds best pastrami sandwiches for 75 years. Can they keep it up? - Los Angeles Times - June 26th, 2022
- Yatir Winery Launches a New Independent Brand That Comes Straight from the Israeli Desert Wine Region - wineindustryadvisor.com - June 26th, 2022
- The surprising landscape of Indian Jewish food - BBC Travel - June 4th, 2022
- Cheesecake, dairy, coffee and the evolution of a holiday - JNS.org - June 4th, 2022
- Food Network Star Molly Yeh's New Restaurant Is Coming to East Grand Forks, Minnesota - Eater Twin Cities - June 4th, 2022
- 5 Reasons You Need To Experience This Amazing Food Tour In Rome - TravelAwaits - June 4th, 2022
- Cheesecake, dairy, coffee and the evolution of a holiday - Cleveland Jewish News - June 2nd, 2022
- Fourteen books to read this summer - Jewish Insider - June 2nd, 2022
- Award-winning Culinary Writer Anya von Bremzen Visits Thessaloniki | GTP Headlines - GTP Headlines - June 2nd, 2022
- 23 of the Best Restaurants in Rome Including Pizza, Street Food, Cafes and Markets (2022) - 2foodtrippers - June 2nd, 2022
- Skirball Exhibit Showcases Jewish Deli and Immigration History - Jewish Journal - May 27th, 2022
- In the Kitchen With Ricky: Become a pitmaster with this smoked brisket - The Spokesman Review - May 27th, 2022
- Where to Eat, Drink, and Stay on the Lower East Side in NYC - Thrillist - May 27th, 2022
- Out & About: Area entertainment and cultural events starting Wednesday, May 25 - Martinsville Bulletin - May 27th, 2022
- Everything you need to know about Boston Calling 2022 - Boston.com - May 27th, 2022
- Crepe escapes: You can travel the world just by eating pancakes - The Boston Globe - May 27th, 2022
- The Week that Was: News and features around Harrisburg - The Burg News - May 27th, 2022
- Column: Orange Garden, Chicago's oldest Chinese restaurant, has a long history, with a gangster legend, an iconic neon sign and a family hoping to... - May 27th, 2022
- Around the World in 7 NYC Dishes - AFAR Media - May 22nd, 2022
- Going On in Greek-American Community - The National Herald - May 22nd, 2022
- Out & About: Area entertainment and cultural events starting Wednesday, May 18 - Martinsville Bulletin - May 22nd, 2022
- UN PLAZA GRILL Launches 'Cuisines from Around the World' with Guest Chefs Through 2022 - Broadway World - May 18th, 2022
- Eitan Bernath Is on Top of the 'World' - Tablet Magazine - May 18th, 2022
- Best Things To Do This Week In Los Angeles And SoCal: May 16 - 19 - LAist - May 18th, 2022
- Don't Miss the Beauty In Your Own Backyard! - Jewish Journal - May 18th, 2022
- How the Peninsula's pastrami experts at The Refuge were inspired by French fine dining - The Almanac Online - May 18th, 2022
- Things to do in Cincinnati this week: Events and concerts planned for May 16-22 - The Cincinnati Enquirer - May 18th, 2022
- Preserving recipes helps families mantain their history and traditions - BethesdaMagazine.com - May 18th, 2022
- On Origins: Two Books Concerned With Food And Nation - Forbes - May 2nd, 2022
- Inaugural Juneteenth Celebration at The Walt to feature music, poetry, food - Cleveland Jewish News - May 2nd, 2022
- Spices with funny Jewish names fight college hunger J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - May 2nd, 2022
- Pray for the realisation of an enduring peace - Australian Jewish News - May 2nd, 2022
- Things to do in LA This Week [5-2-2022 to 5-6-2022] - We Like L.A. - May 2nd, 2022
- Jessie Ware and mum Lennie take Table Manners on tour - reviewed - Manchester Evening News - May 2nd, 2022
- 22 Bold Black-Owned Brands To Support This Mothers Day - Essence - May 2nd, 2022
- Readers reply: why there is no culture of salami-making in the UK? - The Guardian - May 2nd, 2022
- Foodstuff: Gather 'round the Tabl | AspenTimes.com - The Aspen Times - March 20th, 2022
- Getting The Most Out Of Your Instant Pot - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - March 20th, 2022
- Think twice before you punish a 'Russian' over Putins horrible war - New York Post - March 20th, 2022
- Things to do in Long Beach this weekend including... a pandan dessert festival and craft (home)brews the Hi-lo - Long Beach Post - March 20th, 2022
- The Absolute Best Salads In The US - Mashed - March 8th, 2022
- Murdoch-Owned Outlets Ignore Their Own Role in Hate Crime Surge - FAIR - March 8th, 2022
- The Crown of the Persian Kitchen: Jeweled Rice - Jewish Journal - March 8th, 2022
- High Street Place officially opens in downtown Boston, after two year delay, with 20 vendors ready to welcome - MassLive.com - March 8th, 2022
- How Iraqi and Israeli Immigrants Teamed Up to Create One of Napas Great New Wine Brands - Robb Report - March 8th, 2022
- I can help them: one mans journey from Portland to Ukraines frontlines - The Guardian - March 8th, 2022
- American Jewish cuisine - Wikipedia - February 24th, 2022
- Cruising through cuisine with Tripping Kosher - Baltimore ... - February 24th, 2022
- A return to vegetarian Jewish cuisine - BBC Travel - February 24th, 2022
- 10 reasons we love Friday in Israel - St. Louis Jewish Light - February 24th, 2022
- Where to Eat in Northeast Philly: The Ultimate Guide - Philadelphia magazine - February 24th, 2022
- Local home chef appears on Food Network's 'Guy's Grocery Games' - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix - February 24th, 2022
- Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives creator Page to speak in Beachwood - cleveland.com - February 24th, 2022
- Dig deep into the evolution of good, old Italian pasta - Khaleej Times - February 24th, 2022
- Award-Winning Writer Michael Twitty Will Teach MasterClass About Lineage Tracing Through Food - Because of Them We Can - February 24th, 2022
- 25 Soft Food Ideas That Will Leave You Feeling Full And Satisfied - Tasting Table - February 24th, 2022
- Solon mayor highlights another trail project in State of the City address - cleveland.com - February 24th, 2022
- Things To Do This Weekend In London: 26-27 February 2022 - Londonist - February 24th, 2022
- 15 Outstanding Independents That Dare to Stand Apart - Progressive Grocer - February 11th, 2022
- Adventures in cooking with Rabbi David Weis - Jewish Community Voice - February 11th, 2022
- Drink 'L'Chaim' with Passover Wines for Every Mood, All Kinds of Food, and Any Budget - wineindustryadvisor.com - February 11th, 2022
- How two Black parents in Texas took action after feeling ignored in the critical race theory fight - The Dallas Morning News - February 11th, 2022
- The Big Nosh to highlight Jewish cuisine - Greater Wilmington Business Journal - January 30th, 2022
- Dickinson-based Lutheran church rocked by allegations - The Dickinson Press - January 30th, 2022
- 7 FOOD HALLS THAT SIZZLE - Leisure Group Travel - January 26th, 2022
- Top Chef Spike Mendelsohn Is Leading the Plant-Based Renaissance - LIVEKINDLY - January 26th, 2022
- Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and the Legacy of Afro-Asia - lareviewofbooks - January 26th, 2022
- The light that failed: Why liberalism is in crisis - The New Statesman - January 26th, 2022
- The History of the Jewish Deli in NYC - Untapped New York - January 22nd, 2022
- The secrets of chicken soup - Spectator.co.uk - January 22nd, 2022
- Israeli cuisine in N.Y.C. has never been hotter. Here are the top restaurants right now - Haaretz - January 22nd, 2022
- The plant-based bread schtick of Ben and Esthers Vegan Jewish Deli - San Diego Reader - January 22nd, 2022
- Where to Get the Best Breakfast Sandwiches in Sonoma County - Sonoma Magazine - January 22nd, 2022
- The 30 best comfort foods youll find at Boston area restaurants - The Boston Globe - January 22nd, 2022
- Uzbek cuisine - Wikipedia - January 18th, 2022
- The Best Italian Cookbooks Are the Classics - Saveur - January 18th, 2022
- Best Soups in Houston: 10 Soup Places For Warm Goodness Near You - Houston On The Cheap - January 18th, 2022
- Where to Get the Best Bagels in Sonoma County - Sonoma Magazine - January 14th, 2022
- Tune in: San Antonio's The Hayden cooks up national TV appearance - mySA - January 14th, 2022
Comments