Jewish Gardening Cookbook: Growing Plants for Celebrating Holidays & Festivals [Hardcover]

Michael Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1998

Whether you garden in an herb garden, a city apartment windowsill or patio, or on a country acre, with the fruits and vegetables of your own gardening labors, the traditional repasts of Jewish holidays and celebrations can be understood in many new ways!

The Jewish Gardening Cookbook gives easy-to-follow instructions for raising foods that have been harvested since ancient times, such as grapes, figs, dates, and pomegranates. It also provides carefully selected, tasty, and easy-to-prepare traditional and modern recipes using these foodstuffs for holidays, festivals, and life cycle events.

While introducing us to Biblical and rabbinical references to specific foods and agricultural methods, the author firmly grounds gardening and food preparation in the celebration of traditional Jewish rituals and life cycle events, such as Shabbat, Yom Ha-Atzma'ut (Israel Independence Day), the birth of a child, and more. Home cultivation of foods is thoroughly explained--from planting to pruning to the use of your long-awaited harvest surplus.

Clearly illustrated with more than 30 fine botanical illustrations, this pro-active, creative book for beginner and professional gardener alike will inspire and bring insight into your most humble celebrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Brown gives basic instructions on growing and preparing foods that have been harvested since ancient times--specifically, those foods used in the celebration of Jewish holidays, festivals, and rituals. He begins with advice on growing and using seven plants that illustrate the fertility of the land of Israel: figs, grapes, wheat, barley, dates, pomegranates, and olives. Quoting biblical and rabbinical sources, Brown suggests serving particular foods on specific holidays--almonds on Tu Bi-Shevat (New Year for trees), zucchini nut bread on Purim, challah bread on Shavuot, apple-raisin-nut cake on Rosh Hashanah, latkes on Hanukkah, etc. The author includes recipes and a brief history of the holidays and the sabbath. His aim is to bring a bit of the biblical past into the lives of today's Jews. George Cohen

Review

"Forget corned beef, lox, and bagels. Here is a sampling of real Jewish food: the stuff our ancestors ate in Biblical days . . . . What a beautiful book, celebrating the flow of sacred time while deepening our appreciation for the ebb and flow of nature and the miracle of God's good earth. Especially great for families! I wish I had this when I was raising my children." -- Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Professor of Liturgy, Hebrew Union College; author of Israel--A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion for the Modern Jewish Pilgrim

"Introduces us, with charm and distinction, to the beauty of the land of Israel, its traditions, the rhythms of the Jewish seasons, and all of this within the fruitfulness of the garden . . . distills practical recipes from the bounty of the garden's produce which enhance the festivals of the Jewish calendar." -- Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette, author of Twelve Months of Monastery Soups

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing; 1st edition (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580230040
• ISBN-13: 978-1580230049
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,032,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Expert guidance on combining gardening and Jewish life., August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Jewish Gardening Cookbook: Growing Plants for Celebrating Holidays & Festivals (Hardcover)

This book has made my wife and I excited about planting our next year's garden. The book gives easy-to-understand guidance on planting, raising, and cooking many biblical foods, and it explains how the foods relate to Jewish holidays. It's obvious the author loves to garden, and his enthusiasm comes across. The advice is expert and simple. The botanical illustrations are also very pretty. I tried one recipe so far (apple-raisin-nut cake), and it was delicious.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, July 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jewish Gardening Cookbook: Growing Plants for Celebrating Holidays & Festivals (Hardcover)

This is a great book for home gardeners who want to expand their garden to include some "jewish" plants. The book explains how each plant fits in with jewish history and customs. It also tells you how to care for the plants!