Why I Don’t Like Cheesecake – A Shavuot podcast with special guest Joel Haber

In his most personal podcast reveal ever, Ben Bresky shares the shocking truth about his dislike for the traditional Jewish Shavuot delicacy of cheesecake. He interviews Jewish and Israeli food connoisseur Joel Haber, licensed tour guide and host of the 18 Jewish Foods podcast about how cheesecake and dairy food came to be associated with the Shavuot holiday. Learn about Arnold Reuben, the New York deli owner sometimes credited with creating “Jewish cheesecake,” frozen cheesecake by Sara Lee, and the Bikkuim (First Fruit) parades that used to be held on Shavuot by the kibbutz and moshav Zionist pioneers to celebrate the harvest from the newly revived agricultural societies in the Land of Israel.

For more on Joel Haber visit https://www.tasteofjew.com/

Jewish children celebrate the revival of the Bikkurim ceremony which once brought first fruits of the harvest to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and was revived by the early Zionists. Credit: Oded Yarkoni Historical Archives of Petach Tikva.

A poster from the late 1940's depicting the Shavuot (Feast of Pentecost) Holiday. Credit: Israeli Government Press Office.

Arnold Reuben, owner of Reuben’s Delicatessen in New York is sometimes credited with creating New York cheesecake.

Cheesecake photo credit: Nicole Lin, Flickr.

NOTES:

• Shavuot Foods – Deeper Than Dairy by Joel Haber

• Cheesecake, dairy, coffee and the evolution of a holiday - JNS News

• Why Eat Dairy on Shavuot - Chabad

• First Fruits (Bikkurim) - My Jewish Learning

• Shavuot Bikkurim Celebrations In Pre-State Eretz Yisrael by Saul Singer

• Shavuot Marked in Israel by Ancient Ceremony of Offering ‘First Fruit’ - JTA, 1960

• Reuben’s Deli, Sara Lee and the creation of New York Cheesecake

• History of Reuben’s Restaurant and Delicatessen