Customer Reviews

The World Of Jewish Cooking: More Than 400 Delectable Recipes from Jewish Communities

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're looking for a glossy coffee-table book with lots of stylish photographs, this is not for you. That said, it is an attractive book, well laid-out, printed in two colours and illustrated with old engravings and photographs. The illustrations are of people and markets rather than the dishes themselves, which underscore the book's focus on the origins of the dishes and the people who made them.

Marks does a great job of explaining why Jewish food is so diverse and how the Jews adapted their recipes to local ingredients, and also adapted the local recipes to the laws of kashrut. He includes recipes from India, Poland and Morocco, and everywhere in between. For many recipes he includes an anecdote or a little bit of history, which bring the dishes to life.

One of the things this book brought home to me was how important food is in Judaism: everything has a symbolic meaning and you don't eat things just because they taste good, but also because they represent something. At Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, apples dipped in honey represent hopes for a sweet coming year, while the challah (bread) is shaped into a round loaf (instead of being braided as usual) to symbolise the cyclical nature of time. Matzo is eaten at Pesach because when the Jews fled Egypt, they did not have time for their bread dough to rise. Thus at every festival meal the participants are reminded of the meanings of the festival and why it is celebrated.

The recipes themselves are clearly laid out and look easy to follow, although I haven't tried any of them yet. I didn't notice any impossible-to-find ingredients and the techniques are mostly within the average cook's capabilities.

The only thing missing in this book (and the reason it got 4 instead of 5 stars) is a more comprehensive section on each festival with a description, which foods are traditionally served, and some sample menus. As it is, if you want to create a Rosh Hashana meal you have to look up the individual recipes in the index. Otherwise a lovely book and well worth the money!

This is one of those rare and wonderful cookbooks in which everything you make turns out the way you hoped it would. I've made many, if not most, of the recipes in this book, with no disasters, and without my usual fiddlings and substitutions--the recipes are great the way they are. Some of them are the basic Jewish fare--honey cake and potato kugel--and some of them are more exotic Sephardi recipes. They're all delicious. It's also a good read, but primarily I like it because I can pull it out for every Shabbos and find things to make that I know will come out.

This is absolutely my favorite cookbook. The recipes are simple and delicious and the variations that are included offer even more ways to prepare the same dish. Everything that I have tried from this cookbook has turned out so good and have resulted in some of our favorite dishes.
Rabbi Marks also includes information about spices and vegetables and Jewish culture making the cookbook a fascinating read as well (I actually read the whole cookbook before I even tried any of the recipes!).
It is well worth the money!

This book is definitely a keeper for anyone interested in the connection between Jewish religion, Jewish culture, and food. The author has done a thorough job of researching the food heritage of different Jewish groups, and really gets in to the nitty-gritty details. Moroccan vs. Yeminite use of spices, for example, or why and how different groups serve chicken on the Sabbath. A truly fascinating, rich piece of history.

That said, sometimes the author tries so hard to be authentic that the resulting food turns out pretty mediocre to the modern palate. Let's face it -- being Ashkanazi in the Middle Ages during the dead of winter left one with few options (perhaps this is why there are so many Sephardic recipes!). A sephardic sweet and sour celery dish was essentially celery boiled in lemony-water, which tastes just about as appetizing as it looked (think pale mushy flavorless celery). A Morrocan Pigon-pie was interesting for its mix of fruit and meat, but really dense and dry. I'm apprehensive about trying many of the Ashkanaz classics, such as gefilte fish and stuffed cabbage, because in comparison with more modern versions these read like they will turn out quite bland and with an undesireably mushy texture. That said, several of his Sephardic dishes have turned out brilliantly and full of flavor, like a Yemenite Chicken stew and several Indian dishes.

All in all, I recommend using this book to get inspired and to explore other Jewish food cultures. However, use your instincts and check out more modern recipes if you're unsure that the final result might be just a conversation piece and not actually yummy.

This book is great. I'm relatively new to cooking and always thought that stuffed cabbage was something fancy that only grandmothers could make. The book gave clear instructions and helped me to make a delicious stuffed cabbage dinner. I also recommend the Tsimmes.

The book doesn't revolve around holidays and instead focuses on incorporating food from Jews all over the world and at different points in history. In addition to the recipes, it includes jewish history and how it relates to the recipes presented.

This book is a great compendium of Jewish recipes from around the world. Just as informative is the history of Jewish cuisine, and food in general! You not only get the recipe for the dish, but the history of it as well

This is right up there with the Joy of Cooking for me as being one of the essential cookbooks I own. In addition to learning more about Jewish cooking, it has also sparked my interest in Ethiopian cooking in general after trying out some of the Ethiopian recipes included in the book. I also was fascinated to learn that the origin of empanadas (which my family makes all the time) is actually Persian and Iraqi, known as sambuzaks. Now I use the sambuzak dough recipe for my empanadas! This books holds tons of little historical lessons about food that are really wonderful to read. The recipes themselves are fantastic. I highly recommend this book!

Probably the best of all my Jewish cookbooks. I keep sending it as wedding gifts -- much appreciated by recipients

Even if you aren't Jewish, this is an interesting book on food history. This is a great resource for finding authentic period foods.