Nash Didan Jews “don’t have a country…. There’s no nationality” says Danielle Rehfeld Colen, who grew up in a Nash Didan family in New York. Instead, “there’s a common language that binds them.” Lisha
During the Holocaust, Ilona Kellner, known as Ica, was imprisoned at Auschwitz and Hessisch Lichtenau, a munitions factory that was a subcamp of Buchenwald. Like all prisoners, she faced deep hunger,
In 1961, when cookbook author Kim Kushner’s mother Judy was just seven-years-old, her parents told her and her sister they would travel to France to perform in a show with a group of children. They pa
This recipe was shared by Frida Goldberg and Mimi Bozo. Read more about their family in "How One Cook, Who Knew No One, Built a Syrian Community Around the Table" and try their recipes for laham b'aje
In 1905, when a pogrom against Kyiv Jewish community broke out, part of Claude Polonsky’s family, his paternal grandparents and their parents, fled by boat and planned to resettle in the United States
“We acquired the centuries old skill from the nuns of the convents of Toledo, handcrafting freshly ground almonds with sugar syrup into orange blossom scented ‘masapan,’” Stella explains. It’s an esse
This recipe was shared by Sasha Shor. Read more about her family in "The Cold Borscht That Marks the Start of a Soviet Summer."
Food stylist Victoria Granof remembers cousins from a vast family network in France, Venezuela, Peru, and the U.S. appearing at her dinner table in Los Angeles when she was little. The visiting relati
Jacky Boudreaux’s mother Helen and aunt Rose “looked like twins, but they were extremely different people,” Jacky recalls. Rose lived in Queens and rarely cooked, immersing herself in city life, while
In 1905, when a pogrom against Kyiv Jewish community broke out, part of Claude Polonsky’s family, his paternal grandparents and their parents, fled by boat and planned to resettle in the United States
Food stylist Victoria Granof remembers cousins from a vast family network in France, Venezuela, Peru, and the U.S. appearing at her dinner table in Los Angeles when she was little. The visiting relati
“I have to start by saying that the argument over what is the right way to make a matbucha,” is like debating how to make shakshuka correctly, says chef Nir Sarig. Everyone has an opinion and thinks t
Twenty years ago, when Alexandra Zohn was packing up her life in Mexico City to move to New York City, she brought just two kitchen items with her: a tortilla press and a heavy pan with small circular
Fall’s string of Jewish celebrations comes to a close with the harvest festival Sukkot and Simchat Torah. Unlike Passover when matzo is mandatory, there aren’t any prescribed Sukkot foods. But it's tr
This recipe is featured in our cookbook "The Jewish Holiday Table: A World of Recipes, Traditions & Stories to Celebrate All Year Long." For more holiday recipes from around the world, get your copy!
Growing up in the 1950s in Montreal, Italo Camerino remembers his father Enzo going to the fishmonger and asking for fish eggs that were typically discarded. He would take them home and drop them into
This recipe is featured in our cookbook "The Jewish Holiday Table: A World of Recipes, Traditions & Stories to Celebrate All Year Long." For more holiday recipes from around the world, get your copy!
“Growing up in Iran we all lived in a couple of blocks away from each other,” explains Robina Shapiro, the mother-in-law of Jake Cohen, a food writer and a recipe tester for the Jewish Food Society. “
“Greek phrases were heard frequently at home,” writes retired museum professional Annette Fromm in the book “Jewish Mothers Tell Their Stories: Acts of Love and Courage.” “My mother spoke them in ange
On the Jewish calendar, spring arrives with a rush of excitement for Passover — particularly for those of us who love to cook. We spend the weeks before picking out Passover recipes and inviting frien
Food stylist Victoria Granof remembers cousins from a vast family network in France, Venezuela, Peru, and the U.S. appearing at her dinner table in Los Angeles when she was little. The visiting relati
Cooking in a college dorm is like being on a reality cooking show: You might have a stove — or not. You could have a microwave that smells like popcorn no matter how many times it’s cleaned. Sometimes
David Glick spent Thanksgivings when he was a little at his grandmother’s home in the Bronx. Next to the turkey and other American classics, there was always yapsuk, which David describes as “a potato
Read more about Stella Hanan Cohen in “For His Bar Mitzvah, a Grandson Is Learning His Ancestors’ Recipes From Spain and Beyond” and try his recipes for stuffed grape leaves stewed with white beans an
While it’s not a Jewish holiday, Thanksgiving is a favorite amongst our team. For many American Jewish cooks, Thanksgiving recipes and traditions are an integral part of their family’s culinary canon.
In the 1930’s, looking for a place to live more comfortably as a Jewish family, Moselle Tobias’s grandmother moved over 7,500 miles from Aleppo, Syria to Mexico City. “A lot of Aleppo-born Jews at tha
🌽 Crispy and sweet corn latkes perfect for summer corn season. For the recipe and family story follow the recipe link OR visit our digital recipe archive.
“I grew up in Milan. And, we didn't have any Jewish upbringing,” explains Lorenza Pintar, who now lives in Brooklyn. “It was my great grandparents that ended that.” They lived in Italy under Mussolini
Read more about Rottem Lieberson in “The Shavuot Pasta on the Laundry Line” and try her recipes for pasta with yogurt, beans, and herbs, and meatballs with cherries.
The Jewish kitchen is one of perseverance. Nowhere is that felt more deeply than in the recipes of those who survived the Holocaust.
When jeweler Alissa Haroush was growing up in Southern California, shoeboxes of sweets would arrive at her family’s doorstep. There were hamantaschen for Purim, mandel bread, and sometimes, for no occ
Esther Serruya Weyl, an extern at Blue Hill at Stone Barnes, is our cook-in-residence. Read more about Esther in "The Recipes That Connect This Brazilian Community to Its Moroccan Roots” and try her r
Inspired by her Taiwanese heritage, Jamie Wei’s brisket is flavored with star anise, Sichuan peppercorn, and cloves, then cooked low and slow in a deeply aromatic braising liquid with shaoxing wine, b
Everyone who lived in the Israeli absorption center Elazar Tamano called home in the early 1990s was a new immigrant or the child of one — like him. But at school, Elazar was one of only a handful of
“Growing up in Iran we all lived in a couple of blocks away from each other,” explains Robina Shapiro, the mother-in-law of Jake Cohen, a food writer and a recipe tester for the Jewish Food Society. “
Just before spring, Jewish communities around the world celebrate Purim, commemorating when Esther and Mordechai saved the Jews of ancient Persia. Traditionally, it’s marked by reading the Purim story
For many Jewish cooks we’ve spoken to since we launched the Jewish Food Society, family recipes are almost intuited, learned by spending time in the kitchen at a grandmother or mother’s apron strings.
In 1905, when a pogrom against Kyiv Jewish community broke out, part of Claude Polonsky’s family, his paternal grandparents and their parents, fled by boat and planned to resettle in the United States
“Food has a magical way of connecting us to our roots and creating cherished memories,” says Ilanit Israeli Nagar, whose grandmother was born in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. When Ilanit craves the
In the 1970s and 1980s, Julia Silverberg Nemeth’s childhood wasn’t like many others. Her parents and grandmother, who lived with them, built a homestead in the woods of northern Minnesota 20 miles out