Author(s): Clarissa Hyman

Food & Cooking

There is more to Jewish food than cooking and eating. Behind every recipe is a story of local traditions and daily life in far-off towns and villages. The recipes passed from one generation to another tell their own story of a family's past. An historically peripathetic people, Jewish communities can be found in every corner of the globe. Obliged by religion to adher to the dietry laws of kashrut, Jewish cooks have adapted local cuisines to reflect their culture. Similarly, when recreating an old recipe in a new land, they have worked with the available ingredients to produce dishes that unite religion with necessity, and past with present. Delicious hybrids, these dishes tell their own tale of Jewish families, their history and their culture. The laws of kashrut deal with what is permitted or kasher (kosher-fit) and what is terefah (forbidden); with the separation of meat from milk products. Accordingly, Jewish Kitchen is divided into three main chapters - Meat, Dairy and Pareve (neutral).