This year’s National Jewish Book Awards have just been announced, and Jewish Food books scored big! Of course, there is the award category for “Food Writing & Cookbooks,” which obviously covers the topic. But even in a few other categories, Jewish Food books were recognized. Michael W. Twitty’s book Koshersoul received top honors, being recognized with the award of Jewish […]
2022: The Year in Jewish Food
I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus while traveling and speaking in England. So a drop late on my annual year in review post, but hopefully not so much that it is irrelevant to you! (Here is a link to last year’s post, if you want to compare and see how much things have changed or progressed.) What Was […]
Announcing My New Website: ChulentBook.com
As you probably know already, I’m writing a book that examines the history of Shabbat stews from around the world: chulent, hamin, dafina, osavo, etc. In connection with that book, I am proud to announce the launch of the new sister website to this one, ChulentBook.com. It of course does and will continue to include information about the book itself, […]
Jewish Food That Bugs You
So those burgers in the picture are not your standard type. But more on that a drop later. I want to focus on a topic that might bug some of you, but really shouldn’t. Kosher edible insects! For those who don’t already know it, hearing about kosher bugs might be somewhat surprising. We don’t eat pork or lobsters, but locusts […]
Traditional Jewish Foods for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday for the Jews. Certainly we are quite familiar with the concept of a thanksgiving feast; in Hebrew it is called a seudat hoda’ah, and it is commonly done for personal reasons by Jews around the world. But since, in America, it is one of the most widely observed holidays, yet does not come with accompanying […]
Upcoming Food Talks
Just a quick announcement of a number of upcoming opportunities to hear my Jewish Food Talks. First of all, this coming Tuesday, November 8, I will be having a conversation with my friend, reknowned cookbook author Adeena Sussman, all about Shabbat Stews! This event is being hosted by the publication I write for most frequently, The Nosher, and I think […]
Jewish Cuisine in Hungary – From the Jewish Food Bookshelf
As the most globalized nation on Earth, the Jewish people are extremely diverse. And our cuisine is thus equally varied, with each subcommunity’s foods representing the specific conditions of that group. Therefore, a huge part of the Jewish Food Bookshelf is comprised of books that look at the unique gastronomy of Jews in a specific region, such as Persia, Algeria, […]
Media Updates
A few recent media updates for y’all… I had a lot of fun chatting with my friend Leah Jones for her podcast Finding Favorites, that explores people’s favorite things, without using an algorithm. Of course, for my favorite thing, we chatted at length about Shabbat Stews from around the world, the topic of the book I’m working on. So if […]
Jewish Food Trivia Quiz #2
It’s time for my next Jewish Food Trivia Quiz! After the feedback on the last quiz that it was too difficult, I consciously tried to make this one somewhat easier, though still challenging. Let me know if I succeeded! By the way, the answers to most of the questions can be found in various blog posts and/or articles I’ve written […]
T’fina Pkaila: Something Old-New for the New Year
When it comes to cooking for the Jewish holidays, people fall along a menu-selection spectrum that runs from fully traditionalist (“I make what my mother made, which is what her mother made”) to rather adventurous (“I want to serve something new for the new year”). I’ve typically leaned towards the latter end of the spectrum, though I still look for […]
