Food

In an era when you can listen to Cuban cowboys, Japanese ukulele players and Irish mariachi bands, it’s not that much of a conceptual leap to consider tasting hybrid Jewish foods—like the Tunisian-Jewish breek, for instance. There are surprising Jewish culinary styles and cookbooks of all varieties: California kosher, Chinese kosher, Sicilian Jewish, savories from Samarkand, and dishes in Sephardic Jewish kitchens from Morocco to India. If your taste runs toward the unadulterated, you may prefer traditional Israeli recipes—but of course, there’s also much more to Jewish cuisine than just the internationally known staples of matzo balls and gefilte fish.

The Food Of Israel: Authentic Recipes From The Land of Milk And Honey, by Sherry Ansky and Beth Elon, is part of the Periplus World Of Cooking Series distributed by Tuttle Publishing (132 pages). Although Israel is only about the size of Massachusetts, it does have a rich, multicultural culinary lineage, with immigrants from 70 countries contributing to its distinct array of foods and cooking techniques. 

The Food Of Israel is filled with vivid color photos by Nelli Sheffer, but this is more than a glossy cookbook—it’s an introduction to culinary traditions within a historic and cultural context for appreciating Israeli food. Authentic Israeli ingredients are explained, from the familiar (tahina is described as “a thick paste made from fresh, ground raw sesame seeds”) to the less familiar (such as bahar of ambah, a spicy yellow mixture for seasoning pickled vegetables). According to the authors, Israeli cuisine is built on seven ingredients: olives (a symbol of peace), figs (representing knowledge) and pomegranates (associated with immortality and love), along with dates, wheat, barley and grapes. The mouth-watering pastry triangle called patira, which is stuffed with spinach and herbs, is one of many appealing recipes, listed with both American and Imperial measurements.

Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury Of Jewish Vegetarian Recipes From Around The World, by Gil Marks, was published by Wiley in 2005 (454 pages). Like its title suggests, this is a true treasury, celebrating a mosaic of Jewish culture. Jewish vegetarian recipes from Alsace to Uzbekistan are found in this award-winning book, which was an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) fi nalist and James Beard winner. In lieu of photos, maps delineate the spread of stuffed cabbage, the predominant cheeses of the Old World, and the primary grains harvested throughout Europe and North Africa. The scholarly author, who is a rabbi and historian, offers an encyclopedic scope of his subject. “Even though Jews were scattered throughout most of the known world,” he writes, “they were generally still able to maintain a degree of unity, both through shared texts and traditions, and sometimes through direct contact. Hence, the cuisines of Jews from Cochin (southern India), Yemen and Ethiopia, regions separated by the Red and Arabian Seas, reveal discernible similarities, especially in their spice combinations, due to commercial and occasional social interactions.”

Recipes here run the gamut from Sephardic cauliflower patties and Ethiopian collard greens to Calcutta curried potatoes. Some recipes are accompanied by interesting back stories—cases in point: the Iraqi noodle omelet (popular before fasting), Georgian walnut sauce (the shells from walnuts, one of the oldest foods, were tossed in front of newlyweds as a symbol of prosperity), and Azerbaijani rice pilaf (where there are over 100 varieties of rice pilaf with a signature subtle tartness).

The Hadassah Jewish Holiday Cookbook: Traditional Recipes From Contemporary Kosher Kitchens, by Claudia Roden, Steven Raichlen, Joan Nathan, Joan Schwartz Michel (editor), and photographer Louis Wallach, was published by Universe in February 2008 (264 pages). This oversized compendium is organized seasonally, with personal accounts of festive times to introduce each recipe. Informative sidebars tell of the curative powers of garlic (warms the body, makes the face shine, soothes a toothache, banishes tapeworm, and protects from the evil eye), the aphrodisiac property of pine nuts, the relaxing charms of dates (said to lessen the pain of childbirth), and the nutritious nature of pistachios (filled with cholesterol-fighting vitamins and a favorite delicacy of the Queen of Sheba).

Not only is this cookbook a great resource for learning about Jewish holidays, but it also offers some surprising entries. Have you ever wondered what schmaltz was? “In Yiddish schmaltz means fat,” the authors explain. “No, not just fat, but flavorful fat. In America schmaltz has come to signify excessive sentimentality…” The entry goes on to offer a recipe for making schmaltz with the fat of a large chicken. The 250 traditional recipes in this cookbook are attributed to individual cooks, so if you’re looking for reliable holiday recipes with such names as “Matza Balls Like Mama Used to Make,” “Traditional Chicken Soup” or “Almond Macaroons,” this is your answer.

Arthur Schwartz’s Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited was published by Ten Speed Press in January 2008 (270 pages). Brooklynbased author and food critic Arthur Schwartz writes about Central- and Eastern-European rooted Ashkenazic foods—the main ingredients in the Yiddish-American cooking of his youth. There’s a reason The New York Times Magazine has called him “a walking Google of food and restaurant knowledge”—even when tackling as familiar as bagels (once known as “cement doughnuts”), he consistently sheds new light. Schwartz tells us that municipal records dating back to 1610 reveal that bagels are originally from Poland and the Ukraine, but he also shares a legend about a Jewish baker in Vienna who “wanted to thank the King of Poland for protecting his country from Turkish invasion. He made a roll in the shape of  a riding stirrup (bugel in German means a bracelet or ring), commemorating the king’s skill as a horseman.” More recent bagel history here also covers Lender’s, Kellogg’s, Thomas’ and Dunkin’ Donuts, while the practical tips claim that The Bagel Hole in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood serves up some of the best.

Chock full of recipes and full-page photos, this user-friendly tome is also sprinkled with fascinating facts (“Why Jews like Chinese food”) and Jewish jokes (“If you want a green vegetable, eat a pickle”), as well as Yiddish anecdotes and terms. Always entertaining, Schwartz writes in a vernacular that makes cooking fun, not a chore. “The New York Jewish delicatessen is a venerable institution that dates back to the mid-19th century,” he says. “And, by definition, it is a store that sells delicacies, not Cheese Doodles.” But perhaps most importantly, Schwartz invites you to eat as a way of connecting with your past.

Enjoy exploring these cookbooks and savoring Jewish cuisines, and remember the age-old traditional Jewish toast to life: “L’Chayim!”