Product Description

Tells the saga of the Italian Jews through this collection of some of their most beloved recipes. Their history, and their cuisine, is a fascinating melange of Middle Eastern, Spanish and Sephardic incluences, which lovingly traces through ingredients and culinary techniques.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #601124 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 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

San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"Goldstein rediscovers a little-known culinary legacy in this savory blend of kosher tradition with the ingredients of Italy, Spain and the Middle East."

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.