The Book of Jewish Food

The Book of Jewish Food

An Odyssey from Samarkand and Vilna to the Present Day

Summary

A monumental work that traces the story of Jewish people through Jewish cooking

Every cuisine tells a story. Jewish food tells of an uprooted, migrating people and their vanished worlds. It lives in people's minds and has been kept alive because of what it evokes and represents.

From the Jewish quarter of Cairo where Claudia Roden spent her childhood to the kitchens of Europe, Asia and the Americas, The Book of Jewish Food traces the fascinating story of Jewish cooking and its people. The over 800 recipes - from tabbouleh and falafel to the Yemeni wedding soup Ftut - are the treasures garnered by Roden during almost fifteen years of travelling around the world, tasting, watching, talking and gathering stories.

A celebration of roots, of generations past, of vanished worlds and identity, The Book of Jewish Food is a beautiful book for the reader and the cook.

'No-one will ever produce a richer, or more satisfying feast of the Jewish experience' Simon Schama

'The Book of Jewish Food has done more than simply compile a cookbook of Jewish recipes--she has produced a history of the Diaspora, told through its cuisine' Kyle Dean

'One can't imagine a better food book than this, ever' Nigella Lawson, Vogue

Reviews

  • One can't imagine a better food book than this, ever: for the reader and the cook
    Nigella Lawson

About the author

Claudia Roden

Claudia Roden is a cookbook writer and anthropologist based in the UK. She grew up in Cairo and studied in both Paris and London.

She has published multiple bestsellers including the international award-winning The Book of Jewish Food, and she revolutionised Western attitudes to Middle Eastern cuisines in 1968 with her bestselling cookbook, A Book of Middle Eastern Food.

Aside from her writing career Roden has presented cookery shows on the BBC and she is co-chair of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery.
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