NEW YORK - In a room full of estrogen and hummus, thirty women -- journalists
and layperson foodies alike -- gathered Tuesday to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of International Women's Day with an Israeli breakfast hosted by
prominent Israeli chef Einat Admony at her critically-acclaimed downtown
restaurant, Balaboosta.
The breakfast, organized by the Consulate General
of Israel in New York, was a veritable feast of pomegranate mimosas, hummus,
bourekas and shakshuka, accompanied by the music of clarinetist Anat Cohen. The
restaurant is known for its Mediterranean-based cuisine with strong Israeli
influence, inflected with touches of Iraqi, Yemenite and Iranian
cuisine.
Those in attendance appreciated the inherent irony of
celebrating women and a prominent female chef at Admony s restaurant, named "Balaboosta" in a wink and nudge at the conventional idea of "just a housewife."
Rather than just playing a supporting and supportive role in the life of the
world, organizers said, women are now running the show.
Admony, in a
casual tableside interview with Saveur Magazine senior editor Gabriella
Gershenson, talked about her struggles to reconcile being a high-power chef with
being a parent, and the various challenges being a woman poses in her
career.
The idea of naming her restaurant Balaboosta, Admony said, was
intended to celebrate the idea of being "a strong, tough Jewish woman." And, as
everyone sipped their mimosas and partook of their Israeli salads and baklava,
it seemed like there was nothing else the attendees would rather be.
"The
Consulate General of Israel in New York is happy that we had the opportunity to
honor these great women by organizing a women s breakfast which celebrated their
contributions. This year s breakfast celebrated women s contributions in the
field of culinary cuisine. We hope to make this an annual event," said Consul
General Ido Aharoni.