Kosher Master Chef Visits Boston

Photos: A. Mathiowetz

Cooking Maestro Uriel Stern, a strictly kosher cook and European television celebrity, led a Master-Cooking Class Monday at Shaloh House Jewish Russian Community Center in Brighton. Despite very heavy snow, people from around Greater Boston came to attend the special cooking class.

Stern has become a celebrity in Ukraine where thousands of non-Jewish and Jewish TV viewers tune in regularly to his televised cooking shows. Chef Stern is noted for his warmth and humor as well as his expert techniques.

Rabbi Dan Rodkin, head of Shaloh House, explained that he invited Chef Stern to Boston to spread the awareness that people don’t have to sacrifice their love for delicious food when they switch to kosher cooking.

“Many people trying to make the switch to kosher are concerned that their food options will be limited,” Rabbi Rodkin said. “It’s important for them to know that kosher not only can be delicious but should be delicious. In Judaism, spirituality and physicality – ruchniyus and gashmiyus – are linked and enhance each other.”

Along with his cooking tips, Chef Stern also gave out his personal recipe for family happiness. For non-Jews, the entire family must gather one night a week for a family gathering with the most delicious foods possible, Stern advised. They need to speak to each other with no absolutely no outside distraction as they share their experiences for the past week and their hopes for the week to come. Stern said this technique is a powerful recipe for family bonding.

As for Jews, they need to focus on Shabbos by going “all out” to make Shabbos a memorable event.

“I never saw a commandment that we must cook gourmet every day!” Stern exclaimed. “Who said we have to? But we do have a mitzvah to honor Shabbos.”

Shabbos foods should be outstanding and the Shabbos table should be as attractive as possible, with china and real cutlery, he said.

Stern commented that human beings remember pleasurable experiences – it’s wired into our psyches. Families who make supreme efforts to insure that Shabbos is a pleasurable experience are guaranteeing that Shabbos will also be memorable for the entire family, he said.