My thoughts on Jewish food.
The Hebrew Scriptures mention almonds ten times, the first mention being in Genesis, where the almond is referred to as “among the best of fruits.” Maybe that’s why the seven-branched candelabra used in the Temple was designed to resemble almond branches topped with blossoms. Also, the almond tree is the first tree to bloom in …
All week long, Jews of modest means wait for the Sabbath when all manner of delicacies are served. As one popular Shabbat zemer goes, the Sabbath “is a time to delight in all kinds of pleasures: fatted geese, quail, and fish.” The more, the merrier. Ashkenazi Jews often ate gefilte fish on Shabbos, because fish …
For Jews who spent time in Central and Eastern Europe, a ¾ done dill pickle made a perfect teething ring. A pickle has everything you could want in abundance: it’s cold, crunchy, salty, sour, and redolent with dill. A real dill pickle is fished out of a barrel. Pickles are like most Jewish food, born …
The story of Jews in the Diaspora was one of making things stretch. Clothes, food, wood, coal. All of these things were to have every last drop of use squeezed out of them, in the case of Kvass, quite literally. Kvass was a rough homemade liquor made out of the stale ends of Russian black …
When it’s too hot to cook, you want simple things you can make. Things without a lot of ingredients but with lots and lots of flavor. Borscht, the dairy version, fits the bill. It’s plain, healthy, and can be served cold. It’s so easy to make it’s almost not a recipe. If your mom opened …
Coffee a Jewish food? Why not? A new study shows that coffee is the key to longevity. What’s so Jewish about that? Think about it: what do Jews say when they toast each other? They say, “L’Chaim,” to life! Wishing someone longevity is definitely a Jewish thing, ergo coffee is a Jewish food.
Food writer Patti Shosteck wrote a wonderful book back in 1981 called A Lexicon of Jewish Cooking, that gives the reader the history and religious background of various Jewish foods. The first entry is for Adafina, of which Shosteck writes: “Uncovered, the aroma and taste of adafina enticed Jew and non-Jew alike. Compared to the sardines, …
Moroccan carrot salad is one of the most popular salads on the Shabbat table or at a simcha. There’s a reason for that: the salad is cool, but spicy, light, yet somehow substantial. It makes your palate tingle for what comes next, which is the purpose of any good salad worth its salt. To make …
A very simple herbal dip for challah and other bread, zaatar is a type of wild thyme, but the dip, a mixture of herbs, sesame seeds, olive oil, and salt, is also called by this name. Everyone Israeli has a favorite rendition of this nose and palate-opening opener. Here is an adaptation of Claudia Roden’s …
Eggs are a staple no matter who you are and where your ancestors came from unless you happen to be a “veggan” and no, that’s not a typo. If you’re Jewish, depending on where you come from, you eat eggs and onions—which is pretty much chopped liver without the liver—or shakshuka, a delectable dish of …