A Zissen Pesach!

For the first night of Passover, I went to a delightful seder organized by the NYC Jewish Veg*ns Meetup group. Even I couldn't believe that all this delicious food, including so much traditional Passover food (most of it kosher for Passover by Ashkenazi standards), was 100 percent vegan. The meal included matzoh ball soup, salads, nutloaf, farfel, kugel, kishkas, kale with potatoes, macaroons, and seven-layer chocolate matzoh cake. The seder plate featured beets and an avocado pit instead of a shankbone and egg, respectively. Kudos to the organizers for putting together such a terrific seder.

Just when I thought that three Passover-themed posts this year would have sufficed us (dayenu!), it seems that I've acculumated enough material for one more roundup:

• Farm Sanctuary's Making Hay blog featured a link to Isa Chandra Moskowitz's 2007 Passover guest post on heebnvegan. Making Hay also linked to "the fabulous" heebnvegan.
• Moskowitz's Post Punk Kitchen blog had a great Passover post, which included the line "And if you want to do some heavy lifting this Passover, the heeb’n'vegan is always up to something to keep your brain in shape."
• The Jew & The Carrot featured a post titled "Vegan Matzoh Ball Cook-Off: Tofu Versus Flax." Both versions came from Moskowitz's recipes. The vegan matzoh balls I had tonight (see the photo at the top) contained neither tofu nor flax. The cook said that she didn't work with a recipe, and she said potato starch was the key ingredient.
• The Jewish Week ran a fantastic piece called "No Chametz, No Legumes, No Meat, No Dairy? No Problem!" The article featured Moskowitz ("something of a superstar in the subculture of folks who abstain from all animal products") and Jewish Vegetarians of North America president Richard Schwartz.
• The Forward ran a must-read article about how the Ashkenazi ban on kitniyot (legumes) during Passover might be dying out in Israel. Good riddance!
• NYC kosher vegan restaurant Sacred Chow offered catering for Passover seders. The restaurant's menu included "Dried Fruit Seitan Brisket with Yucca and Yukon Golds; Fennel-Apple Charoset (gluten free); Bitter Herb Hummus (gluten free); Savory Scrambled Matzo Brei; Auntie Vera’s Spinach-'Chik'n' Soup (gluten free); and White Cocoa Halva Pie (gluten free), ranging from $5 to $15 a dish." The same dishes will be served at Sacred Chow's Passover party (not a seder) tonight at 7 p.m. Note: It appears that this food is not certified kosher for Passover.
• In December, I wrote that Jewish punk band Electric Menorah planned to release a Passover EP. Check out the band's MySpace page to listen to the brand-new punk versions of "Dayenu," "Let My People Go," and "ChadGadYa." My 2 zuzim's worth is that Electric Menorah's take on "ChadGadYa" is a work of art.