Locusts? Quail? Pheasant? Water buffalo? Of the hundreds of species of kosher animals Noach herded into the Ark, how many of them find their way onto our plates today? Behind the scenes of the “Mesorah Dinner.”
After learning shechitah together almost thirty years ago and then researching the question of the kashrus of the pheasant we realized that with the introduction of modern commercial food production the only birds slaughtered today are those commercially viable to raise. That has severely curtailed the number of mesoros traditions that exist. The old shochtim and rabbis who recognized the wild birds living near their communities in Germany Yemen Kurdistan North Africa and other far-flung Jewish communities of old were fast disappearing. So we started collecting their testimonies on video and in writing in an attempt to preserve these traditions.
As a way to publicize these mesoros in June 2002 we made what we termed a “mesorah seudah” at which we served all of the birds for which we had found valid traditions. This past July we made our fourth such dinner. The goals of the event were a combination of exquisitely presented tasteful food; and more importantly the transmission of the mesoros for each species for which we have collected a tradition so they should not be lost.
Each of the eighteen courses was accompanied by a shiur or lecture on the halachic and historical aspects of the food we were eating. We served fish birds meat and locusts almost none of which are commercially available. So how does a Jew find kosher locusts or water buffalo and arrange to shecht kasher and prepare the unusual fare so that it is appetizing? This is the story of our search which took us to the top and bottom of the country and way beyond — an education we’ll never forget.
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