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How I found the best way to feed a room full of Jewish journalists

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-Chief

Published June 16, 2026

As regular readers may know, I was in New York City last week for the American Jewish Press Association conference, alongside colleagues Jordan Palmer and Angie Rosenberg. The gathering coincided with the end of my three-year term as president of the organization, and I wanted to go all out for one last conference under my watch, especially since it was in my native New York.

We had plenty of special programming and impressive guests lined up, but I figured little else would make a bigger impression than the Manischewitz Food Truck. I mean, hey, this was a gathering of Jewish journalists — food is our love language. Besides, if my lasting contribution to the AJPA turns out to be pastrami rather than policy, I’m OK with that.

ABOVE: Lonny Goldsmith, editor-in-chief of TC Jewfolk in Minneapolis, ‘hams’ it up in front of the Manischewitz Food Truck. (Ellen Futterman)

Thankfully, the folks at Manischewitz were happy to comply, and sent their Glatt Kosher food truck to park at our meeting locations during the conference. The vibrant orange truck features Jewish comfort food such as matzah ball soup, hot dogs, mini knishes, mini eggrolls, rugelach and “franks and blanks,” which apparently is the kosher way of saying “pigs in a blanket.”

After making its debut in 2025, the truck has been a fixture in the streets of New York City and New Jersey, and even “wintered” for a couple of weeks in January in south Florida.

While the food selections were a treat, the main attraction was the smiling man in the truck, Sam Yusupov, who enthusiastically dished out each item hot from the oven wearing a T-shirt that read: “Manischewitz . . . The Soup with Balls.” After 2½ days of discussions about the future of Jewish journalism, that may have been the quote everyone took home.

The session everyone wanted seconds of

Speaking of food, the most delicious session of the conference celebrated Jewish diversity through food and fellowship, serving a mashup of cultures — primarily Ethiopian and Yemenite — courtesy of Beejhy Barhany (pronounced BEE-jay bar-HAH-nee) and Ari’el Stachel.

Barhany, an Ethiopian-born Jewish chef and cookbook author, until recently operated Tsion Café, an acclaimed Ethiopian Israeli restaurant in Harlem. Stachel won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his Broadway debut in “The Band’s Visit.” Together, they host Taaim Diaspora Shabbat Dinners, immersive communal gatherings that celebrate the diversity of Jewish life through food, wine, storytelling, live music, performance and shared Shabbat rituals.

Barhany brought food samples for conference attendees to taste, including some of the Ethiopian dishes that have made her cooking so beloved. After sampling her flavorful sambusa (crispy lentil-filled pastries), malawach (flaky Yemenite pastry) and injera (fermented flatbread), I could only imagine how extraordinary her full three-course Ethiopian-Yemenite kosher Shabbat dinners must be.

The dinners are on hiatus for the summer but are expected to resume in the fall. If a trip to New York is in your future, this is the kind of cultural — and culinary — experience worth planning around. More information is available through Tsion Café’s events page at https://www.tsioncafe.com/events.

About the Contributor

Ellen Futterman, Editor-in-Chief

A native of Westbury, New York, Ellen Futterman broke into the world of big city journalism as a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner in the latter part of the 20th century. Deciding that Tinsel Town was not exciting enough for her, she moved on to that hub of glamour and sophistication, Belleville, Ill., where she became a feature writer, columnist and food editor for the Belleville News-Democrat. A year later the St. Louis Post-Dispatch scooped her up, neither guessing at the full range of her talents, nor the extent of her shoe collection. She went on to work at the Post-Dispatch for 25 years, during which time she covered hard news, education, features, investigative projects, profiles, sports, entertainment, fashion, interiors, business, travel and movies. She won numerous major local and national awards for her reporting on “Women Who Kill” and on a four-part series about teen-age pregnancy, ‘Children Having Children.'” Among her many jobs at the newspaper, Ellen was a columnist for three years, Arts and Entertainment Editor, Critic-at-large and Daily Features (Everyday) Editor. She invented two sections from scratch, one of which recently morphed from Get Out, begun in 1995, to GO. In January of 2009, Ellen joined the St. Louis Jewish Light as its editor, where she is responsible for overseeing editorial operations, including managing both staff members and freelancers. Under her tutelage, the Light has won 16 Rockower Awards — considered the Jewish Pulitzer’s — including two personally for Excellence in Commentary for her weekly News & Schmooze column. She also is the communications content editor for the Arts and Education Council of St. Louis. Ellen and her husband, Jeff Burkett, a middle school principal, live in Olivette and have three children. Ellen can be reached at 314-743-3669 or at [email protected].