Lucy Cohen Blatter


A Meatless BBQ Hearty Enough for Carnivores

By Lucy Cohen Blatter

Leah Koenig, author of the “Hadassah Everyday Cookbook,” and Forward Ingredients columnist, describes herself as 95% vegetarian, since she only eats ethically sourced kosher meat. So she understands the appeal of meat, but knows a whole lot about veggies. Here’s her meatless (and fake meat-less) barbecue menu:Read More


A Deli-Lover’s Barbecue

By Lucy Cohen Blatter

Charlie Kleinman is the chef at San Francisco’s Wexler’s — a modern barbecue restaurant. (For those interested in New York Jewish history, Kleinman’s grandfather was the owner of the storied Lower East Side kosher Garden Cafeteria — which stood next to the original Forward offices and often hosted Jewish intelligentsia — from the 1940s through to the 1980s.)Read More


Stars on the Bimah

By Lucy Cohen Blatter

Stars on the Bimah
Most American Jews have at least one good bar mitzvah story to tell… even celebrities. Actor Harvey Fierstein’s drama queen grandmother faked a heart attack during his ceremony (he kept on singing the Hebrew prayers); comedian Judy Gold stood 6 feet tall — towering over the 5-foot, 2-inch rabbi — at age 13, and comedian Howie Mandel had to slow down the hora so that a sketch artist (hired in lieu of a photographer) could get the right angle.Read More


Kosher Calls: Online Ring Tones

By Lucy Cohen Blatter

When a cell phone goes off in synagogue, it usually elicits dirty looks and snickers. But when one California-based entrepreneur heard a fellow shul-goer’s Matisyahu ring tone, a light bulb went off in his head. “I wanted to find more kosher mobile content that could appeal to the religious community as well as to kids,” said Daniel Aharonoff, an Orthodox Jew who has helped kick start several digital media companies. Now, he is bringing his business prowess to his own community through Yidtones, the first-ever Jewish-themed direct-to-consumer mobile phone content company.Read More


Havdalah Hustle’s Healthier Holiday

By Lucy Cohen Blatter

Two-day Yom Tovs are decadent enough, but double-day holidays that run into the Sabbath are nothing short of gluttonous. This fall, observant Jews are facing a series of three-day festivals that will surely result in marathon large meals, loosened pants and discarded belts. But one group of New Yorkers living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side compensates for excess eating with an aerobic event they call the Havdalah Hustle.Read More