New Jewish food fest promises plenty to eat and more

Those who love Jewish foods won’t want to miss the first Tampa Bay Jewish Food Festival on Sunday, April 2.

Folks can enjoy corned beef and pastrami sandwiches from New York’s Carnegie Deli, as well as a variety of other noshworthy treats, music by the Chai Notes Klezmer band, games for children, arts and crafts, vendors, community organization booths, and a wine tasting room.

The festival will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the grounds of Temple B’nai Israel, 1685 S. Belcher Road, Clearwater.

In addition to the deli sandwiches, the festival menu will include homemade matzo ball soup, kosher hot dogs, bagel and lox, kugel, knishes, rugelach, kosher falafel, Dr. Brown’s sodas and various baked goods. For those preparing for Passover, there will be kosher for Passover wines from Italy, Chile and Spain for sale, and tasting.

“Using food as the excuse, it is our hope to create a greater feeling of a Jewish community in the Tampa Bay area,” said Barbara Bloom, festival chairperson. “But at the same time, we also hope to reach out to our non-Jewish neighbors to learn and be a part of this celebration of our culture.”

There will be a live music stage, a kids’ play area, a bounce house, face painting, balloons and various educational lectures and demonstrations throughout the day. The Sunday Simcha radio show on WMNF-88.5 FM will broadcast live from the fest.

Admission to the event is free and open to the public, but festival attendees are asked to bring a canned good or nonperishable food item to be donated to local food pantries.

The festival will occur rain or shine. The festival website can be found at http://www.tampabayjewishfoodfestival.com/.