When we think of Shavuot, we think of cheese, but how did this tradition begin? I asked Gil Marks, whose fascinating cookbook, “Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World” (Wiley Publishing), won the prestigious James Beard award for best vegetarian cookbook. “The use of dairy to celebrate […]

Janna Gur is the founder and editor of Al Hashulchan (literally, “On the Table”), a leading Israeli food and wine magazine, and author of “The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey” (Schocken Books), at once a cookbook, a beautifully photographed coffee table book and a fascinating culinary history lesson on the diverse cuisine […]

Passover 1975. It seemed like a good idea. I’d introduce the subject of prayer to my religious school class at my local synagogue (Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton, CA) by asking my eager, precocious teenagers to write a telegram to G-d. I expected thank you’s and gimme’s. Imagine my reaction to this: “Dear G-d stop […]

Most dishes we think of as “Jewish food” are delicious borrowings from whatever country our ancestors happened to find themselves in, but one of the very few foods that Jews actually did invent is matzoh, the unleavened cakes the Hebrew slaves ate in their haste to depart Egypt. Today strict rabbinical rules govern every aspect […]

When Jayne Cohen and her sister returned home after their grandmother had passed away, they were determined to recreate the holiday dishes they had grown up on. But neither had ever attempted these traditional recipes. Those had been Grandma’s province. “We had never thought to copy down her recipes,” Cohen lamented. “But we shared a […]

I can tell when the High Holidays are approaching, because I start getting those phone calls – from my family, my friends, my mother’s friends…even strangers! “Can I make the brisket ahead and freeze it?” “How about the kugel?” “What can I do with my burnt honey cake?” (Yes and yes to the first two […]

It has been revered since Biblical times as a symbol of fertility, good health and immortality. Celebrated by King Solomon in the Song of Songs, this tangy, many-seeded fruit with its crimson-hued, leathery shell was abundant in the Garden of Eden and is even thought by some scholars to have been the real “apple” that […]

Passover is the most observed Jewish holiday of the year. Even those who never step inside a synagogue pull out all the stops for this one. With our celebratory meal, the Seder, we retell the 3500-year-old story of our ancestors’ flight to freedom from the land of Egypt. And everything on the table is laden […]

It has all the elements of pulp fiction biblical style: the foolish king (Ahasuerus), the spurned wife (Vashti), the wicked first minister (Haman), the brave and beautiful maiden (Esther) and her honorable protector (Mordecai). Add to the mix an assassination plot foiled and a people saved, leading to millennia of rejoicing. Fast forward 2,500 years, […]