Chef Dennis Wasko explores the rich history of the Bene Israel and how they adopted the cuisine of their Maharashtra neighbors.
Chef Dennis Wasko explores the rich history of the Bene Israel and how they adopted the cuisine of their Maharashtra neighbors.
As India and Israel ramp up trade, Jews of Indian origin are viewed as the key to forging closer ties. New Delhi has a plan to foster closer connections between Israelis with Indian roots and their ancestral homeland.
When Juliet and Romiel get married and relocate to Israel, they rent out their Apartment 107 in Ahmedabad's Shalom India Housing Society to Jews. Each character who inhabits the house has a story to tell: about run-ins with the other residents, the diminishing community of Jews, cross-cultural conflicts, and the difficulty of choosing between India and Israel. Prophet Elijah, whom the Bene Israel Jews of western India believe in, plays an important role in their lives, appearing at critical or amusing moments and wreaking havoc with his mischief, but ensuring that ultimately peace prevails. Bombay Brides - as most Jewish men of Ahmedabad are married to women from Mumbai - is drawn from Jewish homes in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kochi, Kolkata and Alibaug. This is a story about home, heritage, rites, rituals, roots and what it means to be one of the last survivng members of a community in a vast multi-cultural country like India.
Muslim engraver Mohammad Abdul Yaseen serves the tiny Bene Israel or "Sons of Israel" community in Mumbai, whose origins in India go back about 2,000 years.
