By Ally Morrison
Katie Hausman Grace, community engagement director of Levite Jewish Community Center, is excited to bring back the Jewish Food and Culture Festival after a two-year hiatus.
Originally from Allentown, Pennsylvania, Hausman Grace moved to Highland Park to work for LJCC, where she has held various roles over the past eight years.
The festival originates from the idea of hosting a community event and providing a food experience to the food-loving city of Birmingham.
Hausman Grace said various aspects of LJCC changed during the two years since the pandemic began.
“My role has changed a handful of times since I have been here, especially through COVID,” Hausman Grace said. “There were a lot of staff changes through COVID, filling holes wherever we needed. We really focused on community outreach during this time. Because the JCC was closed for so long, we started distributing food. We had a daily lunch service and weekly food drives with the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama.”
Associate executive director of the JCC, Brooke Bowles, has been with the organization since November and explains that planning the festival has been a learning curve for her.
“Being a non-Jewish person, I had no idea you couldn’t just pick a date and throw a Jewish festival,” Bowles said. “I didn’t know that you can’t get these kosher food items locally or that it takes days to prepare these food items. I had no idea that the kitchen has to be kashered by a Rabbi to make sure everything we do follows on specific dietary laws. It’s definitely a learning curve.”
“To me, the deep respect for the dietary laws and Jewish customs that goes into throwing this event is what makes it so special,” Bowles said.
Supervising the kitchen and food prep is none other than Josh Haynes, owner and chef of Alloy Thai.
“Josh has been cooking for over 20 years,” Bowles said. “He’s done a lot of cooking for the synagogues. He knows all of the rules, and the rabbis trust him. We felt really fortunate that he chose to volunteer his time to oversee the cooking.”
According to Bowles, this would have been the festival’s 20th anniversary had the pandemic not interfered.
During the Food and Culture Fest, Levite staff expect about 2,000 guests to attend, so they prepared heavily with staff and volunteers.
“It’s such a large event with so many moving pieces,” Hausman Grace said. “Since it’s a community event, it’s important to us that our community is involved in our planning process. We have about five non-staff leaders who have taken a large leadership role, and we will utilize about 120 volunteers.”
Connecting With the Community
Hausman Grace explained a lot of the volunteers are JCC members and some are Jewish community members. The event will also have different groups from the community providing support, such as the Junior League of Birmingham and local synagogues.
Proceeds from the event will benefit LJCC’s Jewish programming, which includes everything from clubs to theater programs.
“We haven’t been able to do our programming in the past two years, so we’re bringing a good bit of that back,” Bowles said. “The proceeds from this event directly benefit that piece of what we do.”
“There are six sister Jewish nonprofit organizations here in Birmingham, and we all collaborate closely. Levite’s arm in that sisterhood is bridging the community and bringing people together, Jewish and non-Jewish. This event is the single powerful effort that brings people together to celebrate all things Jewish.”
At the Festival
According to LJCC Communications Manager David Gonnerman, the event will feature fan favorites and recipes passed down for generations, including brisket, falafel, corned beef, matzah ball soup and rugelach.
Being held May 15 at the Levite Field at The J, the festival will include live music, improv comedy from the Extemporaneous Theater Company, bounce houses, Tickled Pink Petting Zoo and the Alabama National Guard’s rock-climbing wall.
