Abbie Hoffman Makes Gefilte Fish

On Christmas Eve in the Chelsea Hotel, social and political activist Abbie Hoffman prepares homemade gefilte fish from a family recipe. At the time, Hoffman had gone underground.

00:00Copy video clip URL “Abbie Making Gefilte-Fish.” Laura Cavestani narrates. Abbie Hoffman and Laura begin to cook the gefilte-fish, describing their tears caused by chopping a pound of onions. Hoffman sings while cooking. Footage of them cooking. They describe some of the ingredients they are adding in. He describes the final dish. As he continues to cook, he describes the textures and smells to the camera.

11:30Copy video clip URL Hoffman tells a story about cooking gefilte-fish in the Virgin Islands. He describes the difficult cooking process, and then having it be an insult to the person they were cooking for. He returns to preparing the fish. They plate the fish to eat. They start to eat.

19:27Copy video clip URL “With Laura Cavestani. Video: David Schweitzer, Frank Cavestani.” The final few seconds of the video loops. Credit: “Produced with the help of a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.”

21:04Copy video clip URL Tape ends.