"jewish food" news and stories

We'd be too afraid to knock Grandma's matzoh ball soup (and, seriously, it is delicious), but Josh Ozersky has no such qualms. He argues in his TIME magazine piece that Eastern European Jewish food just isn't that tasty.

Dissing on kugel? He should probably watch out for all those bubbes out there--they're fierce when wielding wooden spoons.

Passover begins tonight, and before heading out to your first Seder, you might check out this article in the New Jersey Star-Ledger to get into the spirit of things (and to remind yourself of the rich traditions of Jewish cooking, way beyond matzo).

The Jewish festival, of course, commemorates the release of the ancient Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Everything that's served at a traditional Seder is steeped in symbolism -- which doesn't always make for the type of dish that you might dream about eating all year (celery with vinegar, anyone?).

But what about creamy noodle kugels, piquant cold borscht or the perfect marriage of warm potato dumplings topped with brisket? These and a host of other recipes culled from the memories of Holocaust survivors have been collected by June Feiss Hersh in a soon-to-be-released cookbook, Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival.

The Star-Ledger profiled the work of Hersh and talked to some of the survivors she features in her book, which apparently also showcases some surprising recipes, like a tres leches cake and gnocchi alla romana, collected from Jews who fled the Nazis for places like the Dominican Republic or Italy.

'Love and Knishes: An Irrepressible Guide to Jewish Cooking'
Recipes by Sara Kasdan
Illustrations by Louis Slobodkin
The Vanguard Press, 1956
Buy it at Amazon

Dedicated "To the Wonderful Women Who Never Cooked from a Book," Sara Kasdan's Love and Knishes (1956) is both a very traditional Jewish cookbook (with recipes for knaidlech and kugel) and a fascinating, funny historical document of mid-century attitudes about cooking, ethnicity, and health. Kasdan wrote her book at a time when, as she writes witheringly in a chapter titled You Can Be Normal, Too, Why Not? "Nowadays, everything is psychology...everybody has complexes." Interspersed with her recipes for tzimmes and kasha varnitchkes is a caustic sense of humor that makes the tome compulsively readable. Kasdan's audience is a generation of women whose instincts and traditions were about to get run off the road by everything from Julia Child and processed foods to cookbooks purporting to teach them what they already knew.

Takeaway Tips: Look for the double entendres: Kasdan's one-page chapter about salads is called "Papa Called it Grass." She suffers none of the pretensions or guilt of modern cookbook writer, and the book is a festival of schmaltz, sour cream and refined carbohydrates. A helpful glossary defines foods like lox ("A partner to bagels") and kreplach ("Chinese definition: Won Ton; Italian definition: ravioli.") And all of the chapters come with lengthy anecdotes about everything from picky husbands to Rosh Hashana strudel.

Quality of Illustrations: Crude but hilarious.

Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown tonight and kicks off the High Holy Days. As we head into this season, I thought I'd feature my very favorite Jewish holiday cookbook. Called The Jewish Holiday Cook Book, it was written by Leah W. Leonard and was printed in 1955. The recipes in it are homey and make me think of the food that my Aunt Doris used to make (she was an hors d'oeuvres hobbyist).

The book is organized by the Jewish holiday calendar and so opens with recipes appropriate for celebrating Rosh Hashanah. A key at the beginning of the book reminds us that traditional foods for this holiday include Honey and Apple (to remind us that life is sweet), Honey Cake (delicious stuff if done right) and Tzimmes of Carrot (which according to the recipe in this book includes carrot, potato, sweet potato and beef brisket, although I find that it is most frequently made as a carrot-based sweet side dish).

While this cookbook has an unfortunate fondness for foods molded in rings (also, much like my Aunt Doris) the recipes are wonderful for people who want to evoke a sense of classic, Americanized Jewish holiday cookery. In addition to offering recipes for every Jewish holiday, it also offers sections on Sabbath cooking as well as recipes to make home celebrations (like weddings and bar/bas mitzvah ceremonies) more festive.

Purim, the springtime Jewish holiday commemorating the Jews' escape from being destroyed by the evil Haman, is a favorite festival for Jewish kids everywhere. The day frequently involves costume parades, carnivals and feasts, with much eating, drinking and merry-making all around.

When I was seven I came down with chicken pox the morning of our temple's Purim carnival. I was devastated. No dressing up as good Queen Esther in a paper Burger King crown and frosted pink Bonnie Bell Lip Smacker. No waving my noisemaker to blot out the name of the evil Haman. Worst of all, no hamantaschen. I cried for hours.

Hamantaschen, or Haman's pockets, are triangular cookies traditionally filled with fruit, prune or poppy seed centers. Less traditional, though still delicious, are chocolate chip and peanut butter hamantaschen. When made right, they're delicious - crumbly rich dough with a sticky, not-too-sweet center. But when made badly, as commercial hamantaschen often are, they can be dense and depressingly bland. Try this great recipe from Jewish cooking maven Joan Nathan.

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