You’ve probably heard of David Beckham: celebrated British athlete, generally handsome man, Posh Spice’s husband, and a Jewish celebrity you often forget is Jewish.
Recently, the 48-year-old has been popping up a bit in the news due to his wife Victoria Beckham getting into the holiday spirit and posting various thirst traps of the soccer star. However, we’re here to talk about a much more adorable event within the Beckham clan, which was David’s recent trip to New York City with his 12-year-old daughter Harper.
In the recent photo dump of their vacation that Beckham posted to his Instagram, the duo can be spotted participating in classic father-daughter touristy activities, such as taking a selfie on top of the Empire State Building, skating at Rockefeller Center and (gasp) eating a pastrami sandwich from Katz’s deli.
In the shot (presumably taken by Harper) Beckham is center of the frame, demurely posing with his iconically stacked sandwich in proud dad-like fashion.
As Jewish food lovers, it’s obviously exciting seeing such a major star publicly take part in this long-held tradition of eating comically large deli sandwiches, but it’s also a meaningful reminder of Beckham’s Jewish roots.
We’ve drooled over Beckham’s love of Jewish food before, like when he spoke with chef Ruth Rogers, owner of London’s renowned River Café, on her podcast about his love of matzah ball soup and his childhood memories of his grandad preparing the dish for him.
This anecdote, along with this new post lovingly showing off his daughter, is a subtle reminder of how meaningful sharing in these Jewish food traditions can be. The comments on this post are overwhelmingly positive, with litters of heart emojis and of course, people eying up the pastrami sandwich.
Though Beckham identifies as “half-Jewish,” this subtle moment of personal pride done the Beckham way is a heartwarming thing to see, and given Beckham’s love of food and cooking, we’re hoping these little instances of Jewish food joy might lead to a cookbook in the future.
Too much? Well, we can always dream. For now, as always, we’ll have what he’s having.
