Tag: shabbat stew
Episode 12 – Adafina: Jewish Food Conquers Antisemitism
Since this episode is being released during a period of mourning, on the Jewish calendar, I am looking at how food also reflects one of the near constant negative aspects in Jewish history: Jew-hatred. Adafina is a dish that dates back to medieval Spain, and during the Inquisition, it literally became a matter of life and death. But other foods […]
Episode 3 – Chulent/Hamin: The Dish That Embodies Jewish Culture
The Shabbat Stew — chulent, hamin, dafina, and so many more — is eaten by Jews from around the world every Saturday, and I consider it the most Jewish Food in the world. Even more than the matzah of the previous episode. Here I explore the diversity of this dish, and trace its migrations through the Jewish Diaspora. I also […]
What is Bukharian Food?
This post is the first of a new recurring feature on the site. I will be writing short posts to explain specific Jewish cuisines or dishes that may be less familiar to many readers. These will be less about analysis, and more primers or descriptions. So if you want to know what Bukharian food is, this is your place to […]
From the Jewish Food Bookshelf: The Angel and the Cholent
Okay, so you can probably guess what first drew me to this book, right? Of all the Jewish Food books I own and have read, this one is unique. The Angel and the Cholent: Food Representation from the Israeli Folktale Archives, by Idit Pintel-Ginsberg is not a book of food history, nor is it a cookbook or a book analyzing […]
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 […]
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 […]
My New FREE Cookbook
Hey there! I’m happy to annouce the launch of my FREE giveaway cookbook, Chulent & Hamin: The Ultimate Jewish Comfort Food. As you probably know, I’m writing a book that explores the history of the Shabbat stew. This ecookbook is connected with that larger project, and contains 12 international (and delicious) recipes — a chulent recipe, a few hamin recipes, […]
The Best Way to Make Chulent
Although the book I am writing focuses on the history of the Shabbat stew (chulent, hamin, dafina, etc.), along the way I have also come across lots of interesting side notes and tidbits that accompany the story of the dish itself. In addition to things such as its influence on many other dishes around the world, extra “bonus” foods that […]
Cooking Jewish Culture: Choucroute Garnie
Welcome to the newest recurring feature on my blog: Cooking Jewish Culture. While this site is not a “cooking blog” per se, and it remains focused on my primary topic of Jewish Food History, I am going to incorporate periodic cooking posts. One of the things I’ve noticed as I research Jewish Food culture is that you can sometimes tell […]
Kosher Pork Chops and Other Crypto-Jewish Foods
One of the saddest chapters in Jewish history is also one of the more interesting on a gastronomic level. Following the forced conversions in 15th century Spain, and the Inquisition and subsequent Expulsion, many so-called New Christians secretly maintained Jewish beliefs. Practicing in secret to avoid arrest and torturous execution, they are now known as Crypto-Jews. (1)The better-known term Marrano […]
