Naama Shefi & The Great Nosh Picnic

And a picnic-perfect potato salad from Naama's cookbook.

Naama Shefi is the founder of The Jewish Food Society, an eight-year-old organization dedicated to documenting and preserving Jewish recipes and culture from around the world. But they do much, much more (proud board member here), and this summer Naama and JFS have cooked up something new—something that promises to be THE signature new large-scale Jewish event this year and for years to come.

It’s called The Great Nosh, taking place June 22 on Governors Island in New York. It features some of the biggest names in Jewish food—from Eyal Shani, Jake Cohen, Gail Simmons and Mike Solomonov (and many non-Jewish kuminaries as well) coming together to celebrate Jewish/New York food culture (they are indeed so intertwined!) in fresh, new, connection-building ways. Itis going to be SOMETHING! Its 2,000 tickets sold out within days and there’s a waiting list of more than 1,000.

I talked to Naama about how the idea for the picnic came about, its dynamic programming, and plans for making it even bigger in the future.

Congrats on the incredible response to The Great Nosh. What was the inspiration behind the festival?

Obviously, New Yorkers who love food and culture were a huge inspiration. Also, bringing people together over food during some very divisive times. And although there is a Jewish focus, we will reach many non-jewish guests as well, and that’s expressed through the collaborations with restaurant like Tatiana and Dame, very hot spots that don’t necessarily have Jewish DNA. We are trying to have it be a celebration of all New York in all its food aspect. A celebration for everybody.

Tell me about the three main core elements of the festival.

The first is The Marketplace. I wanted to create a really lush installation of Jewish food showcasing something super dynamic. There is going to be a display of huge challahs, really elaborate assortment of cheeses, a huge array produce and dried fruits - this is not going to look like any other food festival.

So people won’t be lining up at stalls?

No, less of that. The idea is that people will take their time and create connections. Some people will come with friends, some people will make new friends on the ferry along the way, people will take their time and cherish the citation.

The second major element of the festival will be the so-called “Friendship Popups.” Tell me more about those.

That’s a set of 12 different popups celebrating friendships across cultures. For instance, well-known New York pastry chef Caroline Schiff is partnering with the iconic Junior’s, famous for their New York cheesecakes. Their collaboration is so creative, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. It’s so interesting to watch these partnerships develop together. Another fantastic one is Zoe Kanan of the new Elbow bakery on the Lower East Side and Sunny Lee of Sunn’s who specialized in the small Korean plates called banchan. Each individual in these pairings is so talented, and the sum is even greater than the parts.

Then there is the Grandma Tent.

The Grandma Tent is really the essence of what we’re all about, and the backbone of Jewish cooking—family recipes, and home cooking. With all of the innovative, more modern elements of the Great Nosh we also wanted to highlight traditional recipes and stories. So there will be recipe demonstrations and actual stories told, in conversation with Gail Simmons an Pati Jinich. And we’ll be recreating a traditional grandma kitchen right on the grass. It’s going to be so cozy!

How does this all tie back to the Jewish Food Society’s mission?

We live in a city with such reach and vibrant Jewish history and culture, and it’s aways moving forward, which is why it was extra important for us to have the grandma tent to highlight diverse family traditions. We are trying to strike a balance.

How is the event actually going to work? And tell me about the choice of Governor’s Island.

For the longest time we considered many places, venues that would set it apart from other events in the city. The idea is to invite people to take a journey and to make a day out of it. That way, we will be able to inspire people more. Every guest is going to get a picnic blanket, a tote bag, and a deck of cards. We are hoping that people will come and get in touch with their sense of play. We are going to have an “Old Jewish Men” section with chess and sheshbesh (backgammon) and other games, arm wrestling. And the incredible jeweler Susan Alexandra who has such a sense of whimsy and nostalgia but through fresh eyes, is going to do summer camp-style beading workshops. There will also be curated vending machines filled with Jewish art, a collaboration with Havurah.

And the wonderful artist Racheli Shalev will be going blanket to blanket to draw live family portraits all day!

Is there a picnic style recipe you would like to share with us?

I am sharing a potato salad from our archives, inspired by my friend chef Peter Hoffman’s recipe that he shared with us. It’s a simple salad of potatoes and seasonal herbs, very forgiving and easy to make. What I learned from Peter is how to soak potatoes in vinegar and olive oil while still hot. Then I love to add cornichons for crunch, lots of dill, chives, parsley, scallions, and shallots.

Herby Potato Salad

(Recipe From The Jewish Holiday Table by Naama Shefi and Devra Ferst, © 2023 Artisan Books.

Photo by Penny De Los Santos

Serves 6 to 8

10 to 12 medium waxy potatoes (about

2 pounds/900 g), such as Nicola or Yukon

Gold, peeled

Kosher salt

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or more to taste

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, or more to taste

1 cup (30 g) roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup (7 g) roughly chopped fresh lovage

1/4 cup (7 g) roughly chopped fresh tarragon

1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh dill

Herb flowers for garnish (optional)

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with water, salt the water generously, and bring to a boil. Boil the potatoes until they're easily pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.

Drain the potatoes in a colander and run them under cold water for a few seconds. When they are cool enough to handle (but are still quite warm), cut them into 1-inch (2.5 cm) chunks and put them in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon salt, then whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is creamy and emulsified. Pour the dressing over the still- warm potatoes and gently fold to distribute it.

Add the parsley, lovage, tarragon, and dill and gently fold again to mix. Taste and adjust with more olive oil, salt, and lemon juice if necessary.

Garnish the potato salad with herb flowers, if using, and serve at room temperature.