Where are My Matzohs?

     The other day I went into a Publix grocery store and searched for my customary Manischewitz "Everything" Matzos.  They're not the plain, Passover-ready variety; rather, they are loaded with every salt, spice and seed imaginable, sort of like the "Everything" bagels that beckon Northerners from bakeries every morning.

     (Sorry, Southerners.  Brueggar's Bagels are good....but they don't compare the authentic ones I grew up with.)

     But when I stepped into this store, I noticed that the entire "Ethnic" section was gone.  Even the signs had been taken down.  "Ethnic" was the designation for everything that isn't the typical, middle of the road grocery items.  "Ethnic" is where one can find the authentic, almost too hot to consume ginger sodas (Ginger Beer) from Jamaica, the happy candies with the wierd 3rd world flavors (Tamarind, anyone?) and the delectable cookies that contain two things missing from their American cousins:  Real butter and pride.  All of them were found in the "Ethnic" aisle, my little corner of civility in an uncivil world.

     In all likelihood, the items were shipped to another store, in a neighborhood a little closer to more "potential" customers (meaning, Latino, Black, Asian, Jewish, etc.).  But then again, the items may have been marked down as "CLEARANCE" and sold to one of the many "discount grocery" stores that dot my region.   Don't laugh; you'd be surprised at what you can find at Big Lots or Dollar Tree!

     Still, I wonder if this mirrors what it means to be an American:  Spend most of your life developing your persona, your "Brand"; then watch it get flushed away in some administrative (or legal or cultural or political) purge.  I wonder if - ultimately - any of this even matters.

     All I know is that I like Manischewitz "Everything" Matzos.  And I will gladly travel to the next county to get them!

     Always B Positive!