When is a general cookbook actually a Jewish one? When it is infused with Jewish context and wisdom. In this edition of From the Jewish Food Bookshelf I’m doing a brief review of a fairly new cookbook, Naomi Ross’ The Giving Table. Ross is a kosher cooking instructor, with many years of experience under her apron, and in this book […]
Category: Books
From the Jewish Food Bookshelf: The Angel and the Cholent
Okay, so you can probably guess what first drew me to this book, right? Of all the Jewish Food books I own and have read, this one is unique. The Angel and the Cholent: Food Representation from the Israeli Folktale Archives, by Idit Pintel-Ginsberg is not a book of food history, nor is it a cookbook or a book analyzing […]
Food Wins at the National Jewish Book Awards 2022
This year’s National Jewish Book Awards have just been announced, and Jewish Food books scored big! Of course, there is the award category for “Food Writing & Cookbooks,” which obviously covers the topic. But even in a few other categories, Jewish Food books were recognized. Michael W. Twitty’s book Koshersoul received top honors, being recognized with the award of Jewish […]
Announcing My New Website: ChulentBook.com
As you probably know already, I’m writing a book that examines the history of Shabbat stews from around the world: chulent, hamin, dafina, osavo, etc. In connection with that book, I am proud to announce the launch of the new sister website to this one, ChulentBook.com. It of course does and will continue to include information about the book itself, […]
Jewish Cuisine in Hungary – From the Jewish Food Bookshelf
As the most globalized nation on Earth, the Jewish people are extremely diverse. And our cuisine is thus equally varied, with each subcommunity’s foods representing the specific conditions of that group. Therefore, a huge part of the Jewish Food Bookshelf is comprised of books that look at the unique gastronomy of Jews in a specific region, such as Persia, Algeria, […]
From the Jewish Food Bookshelf: Koshersoul
Michael Twitty’s is an interesting combination of personal identities. As he frequently reminds us in his new book Koshersoul, he is African American, Jewish, gay, and a southerner. These all combine to create the passionate blend that is his character, and as a food historian and active gastronome, they also filter into his food. This is a big part of […]
97 Orchard: From the Jewish Food Bookshelf
This book was not exactly what I thought it would be when I purchased it. And that was a very good thing! Let me start from the beginning as I explain a bit more about this different sort of entry “From the Jewish Food Bookshelf.” Before I bought 97 Orchard by Jane Ziegelman, I knew that it was connected with […]
Eat and be Satisfied: The Jewish Food Bookshelf
For this edition of From the Jewish Food Bookshelf, I wanted to talk about the second of my top three resources for Jewish Food History. I previously wrote about Gil Marks’ excellent Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, which I reference repeatedly when looking into a topic. John Cooper’s Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food is a different […]
Kosher USA (from The Jewish Food Bookshelf)
I’ve written a bit previously about American Jewish Food, a particularly rich and varied topic. Examples of such posts include my exploration of Jewish-American deli and the review that included books on bagels and knishes. But those posts have only barely scratched the surface, and there will be many more to come. But for now I want to focus on […]
New Passover Foods For Your Seder
I often hear people asking for new Passover foods, bored with the same stuff all the time. And while I clearly respect tradition, for this holiday especially I feel there is at least an argument to be made for not exclusively cooking what your mother and grandmother did. (Years ago, I even wrote an article — with recipes — just […]
