Passover: A Time to Crunch

This program from award-winning producer Johanna Cooper replaces Good Food on this date.

An eploration of the Jewish Festival of Spring and Freedom, from the origins of that dry flat "bread of affliction," matzah, to the sophisticated nouvelle cuisine spreads now found at the Passover table. The notion of "Crunch" is experienced both in the culinary and the psychological sense: stories and interviews that bring home sometimes humorously, sometimes dramatically - the "crunch" of surviving in the face of imminent danger. Comedians, writers and musicians also weigh in on the meaning of the Israelite slaves' biblical Exodus from Egypt.

Program highlights: Actor Mandy Patinkin describes his favorite Passover dishes with his mother, David Mamet holds court on his new book, The Wicked Son; comedian Julie Hermelin's new take on the old Biblical flight of the Hebrew slaves; performer Michael Wex, author of bestselling Born to Kvetch, does what he does best--kvetch; staff at an old-world matzah factory provide a grand tour; and composer Steve Reich premieres his new work honoring the memory of journalist Daniel Pearl.