Jewish? treat at the Georgian Bakery

Several times now I've eaten the delightful sweet poppy seed treat at the Argo Georgian Bakery (corner of Devon and California). Only yesterday did I look at the sign and realize they are called "humintash." While I do not believe the bakery is jewish, these three cornered poppy seed wonders are essentially hamentashen. I asked one knowledgeable source who, whilie not familiar with this specific food, said that there are small jewish communities in several far flung ex-soviet states, and it was not surprising to him that a food from the jewish culture could spread to the majority culture.

They're traditional for purim, the Jewish Festival of Lots from the book of Esther (lots were drawn to see who would be killed in Babylonia... go look it up on the web somewhere), and the three-cornered cookies evoke the three-cornered hat from the villain, Haman.

Poppy-seed filling, or munn, is one of the traditional fillings.

Actually, the lots were used to determine the date on which all the Jews were to be killed. The point of my post, however, was the curious fact that a non-Jewish establishment should be serving not only a Jewish food, but one that is associated with a particular religious holiday. While I am no expert on this, I also found this particularly curious given that the culture of most ex-soviet states was not particular friendly towards the Jewish population.

Jonah

There's a few things in your post. First, are there/were there Jewish populations in the various nations of the former USSR (beyond Russia). Second, could the local cuisines be influenced by Jewish foodstuffs. Third, and this was not implied in the original post, but makes sense too, are the owners of the Georgian Bakery Jewish (hence the Jewish fare).

So, first, yes, there are/were Jewish populations in places like Uzbekistan and Georgia. The Uzbeki owners of Russian Tea Time in the Loop are Jewish I believe. In NYC, there are several Uzbeki/kosher restaurants. At one time Bukhara has a large Jewish population (long gone though). Our tribe gets around. Although there were places like the Ukraine that were traditional pretty closed off to Jews.

Second, obviously there is interaction between cultures/peoples when it comes to food. So much of what is considered "Jewish" food, is food of Russia, Poland, Germany, etc. I mean I was at Grota, the Polish buffet last night, and there were blintzes and latkes. It would seem, as the lawyers would say, ipso facto, that the influences work both ways.

Third, are the owners of the Georgian Bakery Jewish. I am pretty sure not. But there is a curious relationship between religion and a lof of the more recent (last 20 years) immigrants from Russia and related areas. As people may or may not know, the USSR ruthlessly discriminated against Jews and did their best to try to destroy the religion in the USSR. Many Jewish people who remained in the USSR stopped practicing or even identifying with their religious past. So, when these people came to the USA, their Judism was not exactly strong--hence the various hams and related products at the Russian deli's. On the other hand, as the immigration laws gave certain benefits to Russian Jews, more than a few Russians came to the USA masquerading as Jews. It does blur things.

The way I look at it, the Georgian bakery and some of the other stores around there, like 3 Sisters, are some of the more interesting chow we have. What ever the religious issues, it leads to good eating.

Rob