Products

Food is a repository of a community's history, and here, in its broad strokes, is the history of the Jews. The recipes and essays in this book provide a fascinating new perspective on Jewish food. More than a cookbook, Matthew Goodman's Jewish Food: The World at Table is a book to learn from, to cook with, and to pass on through the ages. The pleasures of the Jewish table come alive in this comprehensive collection of traditional and contemporary recipes from around the world interleaved with eloquent essays on ingredients, people, and cultures. Jewish communities throughout the world have forged dynamic cultures from ancient traditions and the bounties and limitations of their adopted homelands. Although many of these communities have disappeared, their legacy lives on in the memories, homes and, especially, the kitchens of Jews throughout the Diaspora. In this important new collection, writer and food columnist Matthew Goodman has assembled 173 recipes from Jewish communities throughout the world, handed down through the generations and now preserved in this historic volume. The recipes range from such icons as bagels, kugel, and chopped liver, to delights mostly unknown in America, such as chelou, an Iranian rice specialty; Turkish borekas, flaky cheese-filled turnovers; and shritzlach, a sweet blueberry pastry unique to Toronto. Bringing these recipes alive are essays scattered throughout on the cultural and culinary histories of these international communities, and the ingredients and dishes that are their specialties. Every reader is guaranteed to learn something, whether it’s the genesis of the bagel or the incredible rise and tragic fall of thriving Jewish communities in Salonika and Baghdad.