Egg Rolls and Egg Creams

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EGG ROLLS AND EGG CREAMS

Chinese and Jewish Culture comes together on Eldridge Street on New York

A street fair was held today in New York to celebrate the cultures of two immigrant groups who are part of the neighborhood New Yorkers know as the Lower East Side. The fair was held on Eldridge Street where the Historic Eldridge Street Synagogue stands. It was opened in 1887 for congregants made up of Jews who immigrated from Russia and Poland for a new life in the United States. With its soaring 50-foot ceiling and exuberant Moorish-style interior, the Eldridge Street Synagogue provided an inspiring contrast to the crowded tenements, factories and shops of the Lower East Side. By the 1940’s and on, many of the Jewish immigrants and their children began to leave the Lower East Side to get away from these same slums and tenements. The synagogue managed to survive with a few worshippers but the building itself began to deteriorate. In 1997, an effort was made to raise money to restore it. The Synagogue was declared a national landmark and  by 2007, the restoration work was completed for what was to become the Eldridge Street Synagogue Museum with a still functioning Orthodox congregation. 

While this took place, the neighborhood changed. What was a predominately Jewish neighborhood became Chinese. Street signs, originally in Yiddish and Hebrew, now are Chinese. Chinese had become the lingua franca now for its inhabitants. The two cultures are side by side and to celebrate this, the Egg Rolls and Egg Cream Street Fair was held. Ben Bagel and his family included the Fair as part of their own Lower East Side Walking Tour. Members from both communities both local and from far and wide came to celebrate. Crafts such as chinese knot tying, yamakule decorating and others were on display. Most importantly, both the classic egg cream along with egg rolls were served up. Also, Chinese classical music concerts were conducted both on the street and in the Synagogue itself (if only the Rabbis and Cantors of years past could have seen and heard this!).

Everyone had a fun time. Quick quiz: What do both the egg roll and egg cream have in common? They both have no eggs in them! In fact, the Chinese refer to them as spring rolls. However, I am sure that many Jews would consider egg rolls to be true Jewish ethnic food but this is a topic for another blog.

To get to know the Lower East Side with its history, culture and food, as well as  other historic neighborhoods of New York, take a New York City walking tour with Ben and Marty’s Bagel Tours of New York conducted by none other than Ben Bagel himself.