Savannah may be deep South, but Congregation Mickve Israel is Savannah is the third oldest synagogue in the country. Mickve Israel was founded in 1733. There is a history of Jewish people living in Savannah that predates the recent migration south of New Yorkers to the city.
This year marks the 27th annual Jewish Food Festival, which is aptly named, Shalom Y’all. The smells of the food wafting through Forsyth Park on Sunday reminded me of being at Katz’s or 2nd Avenue Deli in New York. Last week, I was reminiscing about Mo Pitkins which was one of the first restaurants to start the revival of Jewish cuisine.Though Mo Pitkins was more of a music and comedy venue, the original menu had an appreciation for Jewish food.
A few years later, Mile End popped in Brooklyn, and David Sax wrote Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. At the Shalom Y’all Jewish Food Festival in Savannah, there was plenty of food. There were latkes, blintzes, challah bread, matzoh ball soup, sweet kugel, Hebrew National hot dogs, pastrami, Sephardic lamb and more. Potato kugel is the one that wasn’t there that I really wanted, but it was nice to smell the food and heard the sounds of Brooklyn. All of a sudden, people was speaking Yiddish with a Southern drawl. I was half expecting to see Marty Markowitz walking among the crowd.