Product Description

For more than 5000 years Jewish families hav e lived in Italy. Cucina Ebraica is a mouthwatering collecti on of recipes that reflect the Jewish roots of many of Italy ''s favourite dishes. '

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #561716 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From Amazon.com
Jews have lived in Italy since Roman times, always part of the cultural landscape, always living in isolation of one kind or another. The word we know as ghetto comes to us from 16th-century Venice. Within the world of Jews in Italy, there are several smaller worlds: those of the native Italian Jews, of the Sephardim driven out of Spain, and of the Ashkenazim moving down from Germany and Eastern Europe. Take all those food traditions and dietary laws, squeeze them in one overarching food sensibility, and you have a very unusual way to view culture and history. Joyce Goldstein, in Cucina Ebraica, demonstrates that culture and history are edible, if not downright delicious.

Take Livornese Couscous with Meatballs, White Beans, and Greens. Couscous came to Livorno with North African Jews in the 1270s. It was a Friday-night meal, and the leftovers were served cold the next day on the Sabbath. Goldstein gives the first honest recipe for Carciofi alla Giudia (crispy fried artichokes in the Roman Jewish style) yet printed. Not all artichokes are alike, she demonstrates, and then shows you a way around the problems no one else ever manages to address to successfully cook this classic.

As she has proved in The Mediterranean Kitchen and Kitchen Conversations, Joyce Goldstein knows how to bring great food to the home kitchen. Her research is impeccable, her technique straightforward. Cucina Ebraica, this wonderful way of looking at an Italian cuisine that must answer to so many other influences, is an obvious project of love and devotion. Not to be missed. --Schuyler Ingle

Jewish Book World
Just when one thinks what the world doesn't need is another book on Italian cooking, there comes along a selection with a different slant. This one, titled 'Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen' is all about kosher Italian cooking. Beautifully illustrated, with photographs by Ellen Silverman, it is a welcome addition to the shelves of both Italian cookbooks and those of Jewish cookbooks. The author tells of the journey of discovery both literally and figuratively, to Italy and describes her research on Italian Jewish food. It is here that she continues to learn and to search out new recipes.

About the Author
Mediterranean cooking expert Joyce Goldstein (San Francisco) is the author of Enoteca and Solo Suppers, among others.

Ellen Silverman (New York) is a still life photographer who specializes in food.