The Jewish Holiday Kitchen: 250 Recipes from Around the World to Make Your Celebrations Special [Paperback]

Joan Nathan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 1998

"Joan Nathan is the authority on Jewish cooking, from the folkloric-cultural-historical perspective, and the food angle as well."                --Mollie Katzen,  author of The Moosewood Cookbook

"This is how holiday cooking should be--warm, welcoming, and straight from the heart."
--Anne Willan, author of Cook It Right


Only the best cookbooks stand the test of time, and this rich assemblage of holiday recipes by Joan Nathan, award-winning food writer and host of the PBS series Jewish Cooking in America, has brought the joy and festivity of holiday cooking to Jewish households for more than two decades.
        Here are 250 recipes for main courses, soups, appetizers, breads, and desserts culled from around the world to help you enhance your family's celebrations of the sixteen major holidays. In addition to the foods you remember from your mother's table, there are dishes that date as far back as the Second Temple, as well as contemporary American Jewish creations.  Explaining their origins and the holidays that have shaped them, Nathan peppers these delicious recipes with delightful stories about the people who make them today.
        Try exotic dishes like the Yemenite High Holiday Soup Stew or the Persian Pomegranate-Walnut Chicken. Or, closer to home, choose the Charlestonian Broth and Matzah Balls. No matter what you select, this essential book will bring the rich variety and heritage of Jewish cooking to your holiday table year round.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With recipes from around the world -- from Algeria to Russia, from Italy to Mexico -- this is the most complete collection of specific dishes for the eight major holidays, the Sabbath, and all the special occasions in the life of the Jewish family -- weddings, birth ceremonies, and bar and bat mitzvahs. Each holiday or occasion is considered in terms of its history, religious food requirements, and traditions, with several suggested menus. Nathan updates preparation techniques with modern time-saving devices and new kosher food products without sacrificing authenticity. The classic Jewish cookbook, with over 50 new recipes in this latest edition! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

"Joan Nathan is the authority on Jewish cooking, from the folkloric-cultural-historical perspective, and the food angle as well."                --Mollie Katzen,  author of The Moosewood Cookbook

"This is how holiday cooking should be--warm, welcoming, and straight from the heart."
--Anne Willan, author of Cook It Right


Only the best cookbooks stand the test of time, and this rich assemblage of holiday recipes by Joan Nathan, award-winning food writer and host of the PBS series Jewish Cooking in America, has brought the joy and festivity of holiday cooking to Jewish households for more than two decades.
        Here are 250 recipes for main courses, soups, appetizers, breads, and desserts culled from around the world to help you enhance your family's celebrations of the sixteen major holidays. In addition to the foods you remember from your mother's table, there are dishes that date as far back as the Second Temple, as well as contemporary American Jewish creations.  Explaining their origins and the holidays that have shaped them, Nathan peppers these delicious recipes with delightful stories about the people who make them today.
        Try exotic dishes like the Yemenite High Holiday Soup Stew or the Persian Pomegranate-Walnut Chicken. Or, closer to home, choose the Charlestonian Broth and Matzah Balls. No matter what you select, this essential book will bring the rich variety and heritage of Jewish cooking to your holiday table year round.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Schocken (August 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805211098
• ISBN-13: 978-0805211092
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joan Nathan is the author of ten cookbooks and a regular contributor to The New York Times. She is the author of the much-acclaimed Jewish Cooking in America, which in 1994 won both the James Beard Award and the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award; as well as An American Folklife Cookbook, which received the R.T. French Tastemaker Award in 1985. She most recently wrote The New American Cooking which also won the James Beard and IACP Awards as best American cookbook published in 2005. Her other books include Foods of Israel Today, Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook, The Jewish Holiday Baker, The Children's Jewish Holiday Kitchen, The Jewish Holiday Kitchen, and The Flavor of Jerusalem. She is currently working on a new cookbook on the foods of the Jews of France.

In 2004 she was the Guest Curator of Food Culture USA, the 2005 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC, based on the research for her book, The New American Cooking.

Ms. Nathan's PBS television series, Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan, was nominated in 2000 for the James Beard Award for Best National Television Food Show. She was also senior producer of Passover: Traditions of Freedom, an award-winning documentary sponsored by Maryland Public Television. Ms. Nathan has appeared as a guest on numerous radio and television programs including the Today show, Good Morning, America, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, and National Public Radio.

An inductee to the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who in American Food and Beverage, she has also received the Silver Spoon Award from Food Arts magazine. In addition, Ms. Nathan received an honorary degree from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Culture in Chicago and the Golda Award from the American Jewish Congress.

Joan Nathan was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a master's degree in French literature and earned a master's in public administration from Harvard University. For three years she lived in Israel where she worked for Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem. In 1974, working for Mayor Abraham Beame in New York, she co-founded the Ninth Avenue Food Festival. The mother of three grown children, Ms. Nathan lives in Washington, D.C. and Martha's Vineyard with her husband, attorney Allan Gerson.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important and accessible reference., September 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Jewish Holiday Kitchen: 250 Recipes from Around the World to Make Your Celebrations Special (Paperback)

In this book, Joan Nathan manages to combine history, culture, and very good recipes. More than cooking book, Ms. Nathan offers menus for the same holidays from different Jewish backgrounds. Each recipe is complete, fully annotated and easy to follow. For cooks and/or readers looking to enlarge their knowledge of various Jewish food traditions, The Jewish Holiday Kitchen is a wonderful place to start.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joan Nathen's Holiday Kitchen, April 20, 2009

By 

Abe Glaser "Crazy Abe The Baker" (Vidalia, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Jewish Holiday Kitchen (Hardcover)

For those readers who have lost their Mother's or Bubba's recipes The Joan Nathen Holiday Kitchen is a Godsend. Mrs. Nathen writes more than recipes. She gives us history and why the items work for the holiday. When you are at your wits end trying to put together a holiday meal this is the cookbook you will reach for over and over again.

I liked the book so much I sent copies to all my kids so they would not be caught without the tools to put out a great Passover meal. There are several recipes just for haroset. The recipe for Homentashen is easy as is the one for rugala. You will find recipes for fish when you don't want meat. Try the challah For those readers who have lost there Mother's or Buba's recipes The Joan Nathen Holiday Kitchen is a Godsend. Mrs. Nathen writes more than recipes. She gives us history and why the items work for the Holiday. When you are at your wits end trying to put together a holiday meal this is the cookbook you will reach for over and over again.

I liked the book so much I sent copies to all my kids so they would not be caught without the tools to put out a great Passover meal. There are several recipes just for haroset. The recipe for Homentashen is easy as is the one for rugala. You will find recipes for fish when you don't want meat. Try the Challa recipe. I love this book!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ms Nathan is a wonder-her recipes remind me of my grandma!!, November 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Jewish Holiday Kitchen: 250 Recipes from Around the World to Make Your Celebrations Special (Paperback)

I now own several of Ms Nathan's cookbooks, and I absolutely recommend them to all my friends and give them to family as gifts.!. All the recipes bring back so many good childhood memories. The recipes are easy to use, easy to read, and I love searching for old recipes and finding them in her book!!! thank you Ms Nathan.