Christmas, The Chinese and The Jewish People

Sent to me by most faithful of correspondents, a truly delightful little side-thought by playwright David Mamet at http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/54112/a ... l-message/

In all seriousness, I have heard an explanation of the link between Jews and Chinese food. One part of it is that way back when, most restaurants in big cities served continental cuisine. Jews were not particularly welcome in these establishments and were not very comfortable there. In Chinatown, however, they were just another bunch of round eyes. The Chinese didn't know they were Jewish and treated them like anyone else. Also, Continental cuisine frequently mixes meat and dairy using cheeses, sauces, etc. While it is certainly not kosher, Chinese cooking does not really have a dairy component, so it's less "not kosher" than elegant European food. This also contributed to the Jews comfort level in Chinese restaurants.

I have no idea if the above is true, but it makes a certain amount of sense to me.

PS... It's Christmas and I just came back from a Chinese restaurant.