Illustration by Lea Kron

The Man

Aaron Leibert, age 25

1 child

Cybersecurity

Ramat Bet Shemesh

I did it! I cooked a whole Shabbos for Man with a Pan! It was a great experience, and as I sit down to write this, I’m both exhausted and exhilarated.

Before I share my menu, let me mention that I’m from Seattle. Seattle is a five-hour flight from the East Coast and a two-hour flight from LA. It’s in Washington, but not that Washington, the other Washington. We have several shuls, several schools, and no meat restaurants.

Wait... What?! No meat restaurants?? So what type of restaurants do you have?

I’ll explain. The Seattle Jewish
community isn’t large enough to sustain multiple restaurants, so the restaurants must serve the non-Jewish
population as well. Because Seattle is a city with a high percentage of vegans and vegetarians, our kosher restaurants reflect that. We have an Indian vegetarian and an Asian vegan restaurant, as well as a pizza store. (That’s why Seattle is on the map, by the way. What type of city would we be
without a kosher pizza shop?)

Seattle is home to an Ashkenazic community as well as two Sephardic communities, one from Turkey and one from Rhodes. That being said, I grew up on a wide variety of foods and tastes. We ate Indian food, stir-fried tofu at the Asian place, and a wealth of Sephardic food at our neighbors’ houses.

Growing up with such a diversified palate, I wanted to incorporate some of these flavors into my cooking for Man with a Pan. I think I succeeded, but let’s find out!