Chinese Food
and Movies:
Th e Christmas Tradition is Back
C JE STAFF
22 NOVEMBER 25, 2021
viafi lms / iStock / Getty Images Plus
hanukah is great and all, but the
real Jewish holiday of the season
may just be Chinese food and
movie night on Christmas Eve or
Christmas itself.

It’s one of the great contributions
of American Jewry. And now, aft er
a pandemic year in which many
sacrifi ced eating out and going to
the movies for the purpose of public
health, the great American Jewish
tradition is back for 2021.

Chinese restaurants and movie
theaters are fully open again. Or
maybe, aft er discovering how much
you could do at home, you’re ready
to adapt the tradition to takeout plus
streaming on the couch.

But however you plan on
celebrating, celebrate you must. Th is
is a tradition that needs upholding.

L’dor, V’dor.

Th e Jewish Exponent staff has
some recommendations for Chinese
food and movie combinations. Like
so many Jewish conversations, it’s a
never-ending debate in which every-
body has a point.

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SASHA ROGELBERG: Eggplant with garlic sauce/“Star Wars: Return of the Jedi”
(1983). Th e general consensus among “Star Wars” fans is that “Th e Empire Strikes
Back” is the superior “Star Wars” fi lm, but the third installment in the original
trilogy was always the one I chose to watch on sick days as a kid and the fi lm I turn
to again and again when I’m craving a bit of comfort and nostalgia.

Eggplant with garlic sauce, too, is my default when ordering takeout, even
though lo mein seems to be the “Empire Strikes Back” of the Chinese food menu.

Th e Sichuan eggplant’s combination of sweetness, spiciness and funkiness means it
never gets old, just like the Max Rebo Band and Sy Snootles’ performance of “Jedi
Rocks” in Jabba’s palace.

Th e sleeper hit of melt-in-your-mouth eggplant and steaming rice is a can’t-miss
option, and is sure to add a layer of comfort to your dinner, but without the tremen-
dous richness that would upset my sensitive Ashkenazi gut.

“Star Wars” isn’t offi cially a Jewish fi lm. (“Th e Star Wars Holiday Special” — with
both Darth Vader in a Santa hat and famous Jew Bea Arthur making a guest appear-
ance — has a reputation of being the most bizarre of George Lucas’ creations.) But if
it was good enough for Mel Brooks to satirize, it’s good enough for me.

Courtesy of 20th
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JARRAD SAFFREN: Eat out/go to the theater. I’m not the biggest Chinese food guy.

I like it; I’m just not craving it nonstop. I also think we’re living through a pretty
barren period in American cinema. (Have we had a great comedy since “Th is Is
the End” in 2013?)
So my suggestion for a Chinese food/movie pairing this Christmas is not a sugges-
tion about which specifi c dish/movie you should order up. Instead, it’s more of a
lifestyle suggestion for (almost) post-COVID America: GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE!
In 2021, (almost) post-COVID, Americans increasingly work, shop and, yes,
even watch movies from home. If we don’t realize this and make the eff ort to get
out, we might just become virtual creatures living in Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse.

Th is is, of course, a very exaggerated point to make about one little night on the
calendar. So to bring it back down to the level of intimacy, let me say this: My best
childhood memories of the Chinese food/movie tradition are of my family getting
together with our best friend’s family, seeing a movie in the theater and then going out
to eat/running into all the other Jews in town. One year, we even ran into our rabbi.

I don’t remember what we saw or what I ordered. I just remember being together.

NOVEMBER 25, 2021
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