Knaidel Tastes as Good as it Spells

When Bayside, Queens student Arvind V. Mahankali won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last week by spelling “knaidel,” the Yiddish word for dumpling, America decided we needed a taste. And it turns out, knaidel are available right here in the Hamptons.

Goldie Baumgarten of Chabad Lubavitch of Hamptons in East Hampton explains. “Knaidel is traditionally a Friday food,” Baumgarten says, noting that it’s a classic accompaniment for chicken, or matzoh ball, soup, which is eaten at the Friday meal and Passover seder. Though the word usually refers to matzoh balls, Baumgarten says, “Knaidel is any food ball.”

A meatball, for example, is called a fleish (Yiddish for “meat”) knaidel.

Go try the real thing at the best place to get it. Chabad Lubavich serves knaidel each week at their Friday Dinner and will make it to order through their KosherHamptons.com kosher food catering and delivery service. In its ongoing effort to “help every Jew, body and soul,” Chabad Lubavitch offers a wide variety of Glatt kosher foods for Shabbat or throughout the week.

Chabad Lubavitch of the Hamptons is located at 14 Woods Lane in East Hampton. Call 631-329-5800 to make a Friday Dinner reservation or to order knaidel and other kosher delights to your home. Scroll down to watch a video of Mahankali winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee (doesn’t he look ecstatic?).