Why is this year unlike all other years?
Because of the 11th plague — the polar vortex — which created a shortage of gefilte fish, the appetizer equally loathed and loved by generations of Jews.
Gefilte Fish Is Scarce This Passover. Taste Buds Are Ambivalent.
The main ingredient in modern gefilte fish is whitefish, along with the traditional carp and possibly pike or mullet or, for the cosmopolitan, salmon. The vast majority of whitefish used by fishmongers, gefilte makers and home cooks in the United States comes from fisheries on the Great Lakes and in western Canada, according to Randall Copeland, vice president for operations at Manischewitz, the largest producer of gefilte fish in the world.
Though it may finally feel like spring in the rest of the country, up to four feet of ice still lingers on the lakes, which froze almost entirely during the winter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/nyregion/gefilte-fish-is-scarce-this-passover-taste-buds-are-ambivalent.html?hp
