It might be the cutest matzah ball soup you’ll ever see.
This week, Nickelodeon’s “The Tiny Chef Show” premiered an episode in which the show’s tiny stop-motion cast makes an Ashkenazi Jewish staple: matzah ball soup. While Passover is a little over a week away, the episode doesn’t mention the Jewish holiday, nor the word Jewish, for that matter, but it does show plenty of Jewish families eating matzah and the comforting soup, and it has an adorable felt-made miniature saying Yiddish words in the most endearing of voices.
For those unfamiliar with “The Tiny Chef Show,” it is a beautifully made stop-motion kids’ cooking show that is shot in said tiny chef’s abode, a tree stump, and features his sweet assistant, Olly, as well as their friends Henry (a snail) and Ruby, a cute pup-like caterpillar. Each episode features two foods, all the recipes are vegan and the tiny details in the chef’s kitchen and home are just so enchanting to little ones and grown-ups alike.
In this new episode, Henry gets the “sneezles,” and Ruby quickly follows suit, so Tiny Chef decides to make them the best food to eat when you get the “sneezles,” aka matzah ball soup. He describes it as “a nice warm soup that tastes like a hug,” and Olly adds that “it’s got lots of vegetables to make Henry feel better.”
Chef then hosts a little contest to get the secret ingredient in his bag that he needs for the recipe. “OK, mishpucha,” he says, using the Yiddish word for family, and asks who has the “chutzpah” to guess what’s in the bag. Is it bread? An apple? Or matzah?
via Nickelodeon
Well, you’ve probably guessed it. True, most people don’t actually use matzah to make matzah balls, rather, they use matzah meal (which yes, is made out of ground-up matzah), but the show uses it as a good chance to explain what matzah actually is. It describes it as a flatbread made with flour, water and salt, and says that people all over the world enjoy eating it. Who are said people? The show doesn’t explain that they’re Jewish, but we do see plenty of Jewish families eating both matzah and matzah ball soup in a montage it shares.
Chef and Olly sing a klezmery song about making matzah soup with love — and he even calls Olly a mensch — but soon, Chef also catches the sneezles. Which means Olly is stuck making the matzah ball soup all by herself. She struggles at first, but then Chef calls in during the call-in segment of the show — one that usually features exciting guest stars like Josh Gad — and helps her out. Mostly, she just needs to show the temperamental matzah mix some love. In the end, she serves Chef, Henry and Ruby the delicious soup and the soup dumplings. And Chef even gets a matzah ball that looks just like him — and it is truly the cutest matzah ball I have ever seen in my life. The episode ends with Chef reminding us that whenever you have a friend with the sneezles, “Make them something with love.”
via Nickelodeon
The episode is truly heart-meltingly cute, but for those watching with Jewish kids, it’s good to fill them in on little details about the significance of matzah and also the fact that most people do use matzah meal for the dish. You can even make some matzah balls with them afterwards. The recipe that Chef shares is a vegan one. It uses flax seed and tahini instead of eggs and oil, both of which are considered kitniyot, so it may not be a recipe for everyone with Passover approaching (our friends at The Nosher have a good kosher for Passover vegan alternative if you’re looking for one!).
Still, it gets a fundamental thing about matzah ball soup oh-so-perfectly right. It’s always made with love!
You can stream the episode here.
