Chinese restaurants thank Jewish customers for the business on Christmas

This is a new one on me. I'm Jewish (though not religious) and I don't believe I've ever been to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas. I don't remember ever hearing of any of my family doing so either. We always had a secular (or pagan, really) Christmas. We had the tree (Celtic) with the baubles and tinsel, and we had the presents (secular festival of greed), and there was always one present labeled as being from Santa (Nordic pagan, I believe).

I don't remember supper being anything special.

For a couple of years, as a young child, I decided that we should light a menorah, but even then I was an atheist, so there were no prayers. And I never knew (still don't) if I was supposed to light one candle each day, or if I was supposed to light one the first day, two the second, and so on up to 8 candles on the last day.

But I tired of that. And I always thought the whole concept was a crock: I figured they snuck in and poured in some regular oil each night to keep the flame going until the "consecrated" oil was ready. I also knew from the age of 5 that there was no Santa Claus because nobody could visit every house in the world in one night. But you don't need a magical fat man to have a festival of greed, and like any child, I was always happy to have a festival of greed.

 

Funny

Another atheist Jew here, vegetarian family. My family likes to eat at home on Xmas but if we didn't, it would definitely be Thai food.

 

Stir fry Gefilte Fish, Sweet & Sour Challah, and a side of Won Ton Matzah Ball Soup!
Sounds good, count me in!

 

LOL, I would like Gefilte sashimi and sushi added to that.

Please see Joke of the Day thread posts 517 and 518

http://priuschat.com/forums/freds-house-pancakes/55914-joke-day-52.html

All my Jewish friends in Los Angeles seem to storm to Chinese restaurants. In fact they may be there now.

 

Not Christmas related, but my grandmother was the only one in the family who didn't have a fit when I quit eating meat in around the year 1967. My step-mother refused to put anything on the table without at least a little meat or meat-related product (e.g. gravy) in it, so that I could no longer eat at her house. But my grandmother just started making vegetarian food when I visited, once a week to play chess with my grandfather. I had long hair back then, and my grandmother was the only one who didn't have a fit about that, too. She said I reminded her of a boy she knew when she was a girl in Hungary.

 

Isn't that an oxymoron? Gefilte fish is cooked by definition. Sashimi is raw by definition.

 

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy has been going strong in San Francisco for 19 years. Disclaimer: I've never actually been to it.

 

My Jewish friend Neil is a meat lover and so am I. Both our wives are vegetarians. When we're at some function we go for the carving station since we don't get any at home (in more ways than one)

 

The reason it comes together is that the Chinese don't like to shut down their restaurants... ever. I worked for one for many years and still go in regularly. We are like family. When I worked there, I had to convince them to take Christmas and Thanksgiving off. Generally they worked and were slow, but made some money. Now they just go slot machining.

So on a day when everything is closed, except a few Chinese restaurants and some gas stations, if you want to go out to eat then Chinese it is.

Who can forget:

 

Oops, 2k1 beat me to it.

So why were they eating Chinese on Christmas?
... the accursed Bumpus hounds from next door of course:

 

A Jewish friend of mine also has a habit/tradition of eating Chinese on Christmas.

Chinese are keen business people. And the vast majority of them are Buddhist. Hence it only makes sense that many Chinese run businesses are open during Christmas. The Taiwanese grocery store near our house was full of shoppers on Christmas day, as were the nearby Chinese restaurants.

BTW, Christmas is hugely popular in China. And I'm sure we all know why.

 

My grandfather told me about giving a passing gentile kid a penny to shut off the lights on Saturday night, since it was considered "work" and prohibited. But I always felt this violated the spirit of the restrictions (not that I believed in the restrictions!) because the Torah says that not only were you not allowed to work on the sabbath, but you were not to have your servants or even your animals work either. It's an example of what I consider the stupidity of religion; in this case the loony way the Torah is interpreted by Orthodox Jews. Another big example: "Thou shall not cook the lamb in its mother's milk," which could be interpreted narrowly to refer to the actual offspring of any given sheep, is instead taken as a total ban on eating meat and milk in the same meal, and further as a prohibition on using the same cookware or plates or utensils for both meat and milk, even on different days after washing. Crazy!

I think my favorite restaurant ever was vegetarian Chinese Buddhist. Maybe the experience was skewed because I was there with my favorite cousin, who I had not seen in years. But the food was 180 degrees away from "conventional" Chinese. Among other things, there was no MSG, and the rice was brown rice.

 

Daniel, if you ever make it to my city I'll take you to a local vegan Thai. I am not in general a fan of vegan eat-out places because the food tends to be bland and yuppyfied, but this place is brilliant.

 

What city is that? Your profile does not show a location.

 

P.S. I agree that some vegan restaurants serve very bland food. There's no reason for this. I suspect it's a lack of culinary training. There are so few vegan restaurants that people without cooking skill figure there's a market niche for them. Or maybe some vegans have philosophical or dietary objections to the use of flavorings. OTOH, when a good chef decides to cook vegan, the food can be as good as any other. (FWIW, I've never been vegan, and since I eat fish now, I'm not even vegetarian any more. But I eat no meat or fowl, and that Buddhist vegetarian Chinese restaurant was fabulous. I do not know if it was vegan or ovo-lacto-vegetarian.)

I love Indian and Thai food.

 

You and me both.

Hometown is Albuquerque

 

I spent a week in Albuquerque once. I was there for the opening of a play that my mother had an indirect connection with. While there, I took my first (and so far only) ride in a hot-air balloon, which was fun, and way too short.

 

Keen business people, yes.
Masters of the plural, no.