03 Sep
Uncategorized

The Desalination Solution

Increased use of desalinated water by Israel and its neighbors will eventually translate into less water diverted from the Dead Sea. Desalination has been a goal since Israel’s early years. In 1948, soon-to-be Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion uttered what is now seen as a prophetic statement. “The purification of seawater by an inexpensive process is not only vital for Israel—it is a necessity for the world…if Israel succeeds in desalting the water of the sea, it will bring great benefits to the entire human race.” Only 12 years later, Sidney Loeb—a UCLA scientist who later immigrated to Israel—invented the first filter capable of efficiently separating freshwater from saltwater. In a process called reverse osmosis, salt water was pushed through a semi-permeable membrane, speeding up the separation process and requiring considerably less fuel than early...

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03 Jul
Latest

Mimi Sheraton Talks Jews and Food

Mimi Sheraton, restaurant critic for the New York Times from 1975 to 1983, hasn’t stopped writing about food: Sheraton’s memoir, Eating my Words, came out in 2006, and as recently as last summer she published a piece in the New York Times Dining and Wine section about searching for some of the best classic “New York” foods that have disappeared over the years. However, Sheraton is perhaps best known for her cookbooks, which include The German Cookbook and The Whole World Loves Chicken Soup—filled with recipes for comfort food the likes of which our bubbe’s bubbe would have made. I talked with Mimi about growing up in a family of foodies, New York’s changing food culture, and the secret to making good gefilte fish. Here is an extended version of the interview, the first part...

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