NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's a Nashville staple with a twist: kosher hot chicken. Teams competed for the top prize at this year's Kosher Nashville Hot Chicken Festival.
"The teams are having a really good time together preparing, making people happy, seeing the effect of the chicken 30 seconds later," said Rabbi Saul Strosberg of Congregation Sherith Israel.
For a city with few kosher options, there's no shortage here.
"All in all there's not a lot of options, so when you can get kosher hot chicken out, that's huge," said Strosberg.
Another Nashville tradition? Live music. The event also played host to the Jewish Arts & Music Festival.
"Which, is a collection of Jewish artists singer/songwriters, and a few bands that are performing Jewish inspired music — American/Jewish music, Jewish/American music — to celebrate Jewish culture," said Strosberg.
It's bringing together around 1,000 people from all walks of life.
"It's important for the Jewish community to have positive experiences, bring us together, show strength in numbers, just be together," said Strosberg. "It's important for the non-Jewish community to see that we're here and to integrate, and to assimilate as much as we can and to bring people together."
Being together is something Strosberg calls important in the face of rising antisemitism across the country.
"The idea is to just keep the conversation going, give people strength, build friendships, relationships and that's what we can do," said Strosberg.
And they're doing it over a delicious Nashville tradition.
