Matisyahu Drinks Too Much Wine

On Sunday, a still bearded Matisyahu appeared on the Reality TV Show “Chef Roble and Co” on the Bravo Channel, with his family and a few dozen friends - many from the Crown Heights Community. The show's host, Chef Roble, was trying to prepare a Kosher meal for the Hassidic reggae-rapper and his guests before he went away for several months on tour this past summer. The name of the episode was “Babysitter in the Kitchen,” which referred to the mashgiach from OK Kosher certification agency.

The famous chef (I guess he's famous because he has his own cooking show, but I had never heard of him) not only had to prepare strictly kosher meals for Matisyahu and his guests — but the menu also had to be Thai and Vegan. Oh, and he had to please Matisyahu's mother-in-law and wife, Tahlia Miller (who doesn't appear to be as strictly Vegan as her husband).

It is unusual for such intricacies of hashgacha (kosher supervision) to be publicized on television in such detail. The OK Kosher mashgiach explained that only he could light the stoves, but once the pilot light was lit the chef could adjust the flame. However, the mashgiach never provided a reason for this (it's because of bishul akum — the prohibition on having a non-Jew cook food for Jews). They also showed the mashgiach painstakingly checking each mint leaf for bugs. There were definitely some uncomfortable events that occurred as the catering crew prepared for the sit-down plated dinner. When they opened the boxes with the kosher plates, they found that each one was either chipped or dirty (Chef Roble claimed he found human hair, exclaiming “There was DNA on those plates.”). Nice!

The chef and his team (including sub-contracted servers who had to be dressed modestly) pulled off the dinner for Matisyahu and his guests. Everyone seemed pleased with the Vegan Thai food that was prepared with the babysitter mashgiach in the kitchen. Everyone that is except for Matisyahu's wife who claimed there wasn't enough sauce.

The meal ended with a food/wine fight, Matisyahu throwing a glass of water into his mother-in-law's face, and the event planner being hoisted in a chair.

Bottom line: The food might have been good, but I don't think Matisyahu, his family, or mashgichim (kosher supervisors) were very well represented in this reality TV episode. I think he would have been better off turning down Bravo's offer to film this event and instead just dipped into his own pocket to pay the famous chef to cater the event.