Tongue in hand, Jewish Food Festival around the corner

LACONIA — Stu Needleman was halfway back from Evan’s Deli in Marblehead, Massachusetts, when he began to have a bad feeling about the tongue.

He had pre-sold 15 pounds of the bovine delicacy for this Sunday’s 22nd Annual Jewish Food Festival at Temple B’nai Israel and needed a total of 45 pounds. The man at the deli only had six pounds, and promised to overnight the rest.

“Driving back, I said something is going to go wrong,” Needleman said. “I didn’t want to roll the dice.

“I can’t open on Sunday without any tongue.”

Needleman arrived in Laconia and delivered the rest of the order, including 85 pounds of corned beef and 100 pounds of pastrami, and then drove back to Marblehead to get the balance of the tongue.

It’s that kind of attention to detail that makes the festival a yearly success.

“I don’t eat tongue, but there are people who do,” Needleman said. “We guarantee all the pre-orders, we’ll fill 100 percent.”

Also available for the festival is 125 pounds of brisket and mass quantities of herring and chopped liver.

A total of 600 pickles are on hand to help cleanse the palate after all that meat. And, after the savory, some people might like something sweet, and that’s where the blintzes, cakes and cookies come into play.

Available for takeout, frozen and ready to heat at home are matzo ball soup, potato latkes, noodle kugel, stuffed cabbage, rugelach and strudel.

This year, bagels made from scratch will be provided by locally owned, family-run Winnipesaukee Bay Gulls, with stores in Gilford and Moultonborough.

Needleman was working at the temple on Thursday, with the assistance of Zach Geduld, 20, of Miami, Florida. Geduld’s grandfather, Loy Gaynor, once ran the Lobster Pound restaurant in Laconia and was instrumental in helping with the festival in its early years.

“We reach out beyond the congregation for people to get involved,” Needleman said.

Geduld, a student at Tulane University, and his family come to the Lakes Region every summer.

He volunteers with the Hands Across the Table community meal program, and likes to help out with the food festival.

“It’s a great group of people,” he said. “I’ll be helping out through Sunday.”

Big crowds are expected. The festival raises money that will help fund temple operations.

A separate committee at the temple stages a concert series to raise money for charitable organizations, including the veterans’ support group, Camp Resilience.

If you go

The Jewish Food Festival will be at Temple B’nai Israel, 210 Court St., in Laconia on Sunday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.