Join The Dep's resident vegan maven Emily Zimmerman (and her cabaret singer alter ego, Goldie Luxemburg) for a Passover dinner to tell our stories, comfort our hearts, fill our bellies, and remind us to keep fighting the good fight. The first two nights of the Jewish holiday of Passover are celebrated with a seder: a ritual meal with symbolic food, prayers, songs, activities for children, and the telling of the story of the exodus from Egypt, a millennia-old parable of liberation. These meals are shared with ones extended family and close friends. In modern times, some Jews have started observing a Third Seder with members of their community, guests, and friends, often to focus on the state of the world, and how to use the Passover story as inspiration to fight for freedom and social justice in our own lifetimes. Emily’s annual vegan Third Seder was a mainstay of the Depanneur’s calendar for years. We even staged a virtual one during the worst of the COVID19 shutdowns, with participants receiving delivered meals, and eating together over a zoom channel. We're delighted to be able to celebrate it in person to the new-and-improved Depanneur this year. In a time of increased instability and global tension, can we grow stronger in hope, in strategy, and in our mission for justice, in this millenia-old ritual of shared food, song, and storytelling? Expect delicious plant-based Jewish home cooking and playfully subversive performances. ----- Golden Root Vegetable Soup with hazelnut crema, matzoh balls, and crispy veggie gribenes. (Can be nut free on request.) Manoomin (Wild Rice) Salad with parsley, mint, lemon, cranberries, and local sumac Pedder’s Pie Caramelized onions and mushrooms layered in seasoned mashed potatoes and broiled until the top is crispy. Served with a shallot and wild mushroom jus, and lemony greens. Russian Tea and Cherries smoked-and-spiced black tea and coconut milk custard, with cherry compote, and matzoh toffee. [menu is vegan and kosher for passover] ----- Passover is about the idea of liberation, and there can be no meaningful change, or learning, without joy, hope, and transgression. In that spirit, there will be performances by local drag/burlesque/cabaret artists of Jewish and Palestinian backgrounds: Amuse Boosh, Butt Mitzfa, Chella Bella, and Goldie Luxemburg. We’ll break (unleavened) bread together, make art together, and see how the ancient ritual of this holiday can help spur us on to needed change. Goldie Luxemburg is a wisecracking, torch-singing, leftist rabble-rousing performer of burlesque and cabaret. She takes the art form back to its roots in vaudeville and Yiddish theatre, in Union Halls and Girlie shows. Call her the Revenge of the Red-Hot Mamas. @goldieluxemburg Meet Chella Bella, Toronto's half-Arab, half-ghost, burlesque extraordinaire! By day, she gracefully floats through the air as a trained aerialist, but when the sun sets, she transforms into the frantically fabulous freckled feline of the city's burlesque underworld. @chellachellabella Amuse Boosh serves up a "taste" of her journey of self-expression—a delectable blend of movement with meaning and resilience through joy. Through beauty and the spirit of liberation, she invites everyone to savour the unity that binds us all. @amuse_boosh_ Butt Mitzfa (they/them) is a Jewish genderqueer drag and burlesque performer and DJ who makes grrls, bois, theys and goys scream OY VEY. Join Butt Mitzfa on their coming (out) of age journey with glitter, camp and Jewish lore that your Bubby didn't teach you. Find them at @butt.mitzfa on Instagram. @butt.mitzfa ----- Emily Zimmerman is a chef, community worker, food justice activist, cooking up deluxe, delicious vegan dishes and retro comfort food like whoah. She can be found at food events around the city and at The Depanneur hosting the occasional vegan Supper Club or Workshop. She comes from a large family of loudmouthed, pinko-commie, Brooklyn Jews, who relocated to Toronto 50 years ago, but still root for the Mets. ----- Every weekend The Depanneur invites an amateur or professional guest chef to host a fun, informal dinner party. @thedepanneur