Published: 17 September 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Gina, my bagel partner-in-crime, and I launched the Pulka Project in North Fitzroy two weeks ago. The idea behind the project was born out a deep sense of injustice over the lack of Jewish comfort food on the north side of Melbourne.
I may have chosen to live far from Jewish institutions and staple food stores, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to nosh on challah on the weekend or have a delicious toasted bagel with butter and vegemite on a Sunday morning.
The Pulka Project would right this wrong and provide quality Jewish comfort food and culture to the Jews of northside Melbourne. We launched the project with a Saturday morning pop-up with the best the south had to offer: challahs from Glicks, bagels and a babke from Avivs, and Shabbat flower posies (because Gina is a brilliant florist).
Our first stop was Glick’s bakery. Despite our strong sense of Jewish identity and knowing that we were the harbingers of all things Jewish to the people of the north, my secularism made me feel out of place in the bakery. Like its bread wasn’t mine to be taking. But when our pre-ordered challahs were identified in a box at the front of the door, I almost cried. “THE PULKA PROJECT” was scribbled across the top of the box, for all to see, as if this project had always been an entity. We were on the Jewish map.
The next morning, in an effort to provide the freshest products possible to our discerning north side customers, I had volunteered to pick up the bagels at 7am from Aviv. As I stood with about dozen others crowded in the shop, one of the staff caught my eye and read back my order to me - remembering, off by heart, exactly how many of each type of bagel I had ordered. “And I’ve thrown in an extra one for you!” she winked. We were in!
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I traced my way back up Punt Road and then Hoddle Street once more that morning, with a box filled with delicious smell. Luckily, I hit a streak of green lights, which stopped me from sneaking a bagel into my mouth.
Our pop-up was the garage of my townhouse, and customers streamed down the side of the house via a picturesque North Fitzroy laneway. People were overjoyed as we handed over their orders, wrapped in custom-made bagel print wrapping paper, and offered them a cup of tea, a slice of babke and an Eskal pickle from an oversized tin.
Some said they had never before had a challah in their home, others asked us to arrange a Shabbat dinner for everyone in North Fitzroy to meet each other.
Gina and I were thrilled to be offering some of our comfort foods to our friends over the north side, but for us it also signified creating a community. This was not a religious act, nor did you have to identify as Jewish to participate. But sometimes, all you need is some delicious baked goods, some pickles, a bunch of beautiful flowers and some friends to remember that the weekend is a time to slow down and look after yourself.
The Pulka Project wil be re-launched next month.
All photos by Kate Rosenberg
