Talk of the Table | The Feast Before the Fast
Vered Guttman highlights the preparations that take place for the Yom Kippur pre-fast meal, and gives a recipe for Moroccan Sfenj Doughnuts.
28
Sep
22
Feb
Recipe | Natif
In her 2003 cookbook Delights from the Garden of Eden, Nawal Nasrallah quotes a recipe she found in a 1950s cookbook for a nougat-like candy called natif using manna as the main ingredient.
20
Jan
Talk of the Table | A Savory Georgian Feast
Nestled between the shores of the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, the country of Georgia is a land where different cultures
16
Sep
Talk of the Table | The Crock-Pot & the Sabbath Stew
Slow cookers are back. Not the clunky ones your mother used to have, but shiny, multifunction contraptions that are now a must-have in every kitchen.
30
May
Talk of the Table | Simple Salads for Summer Nights
Summer Salad Recipes, Fatoush salad, Charred Eggplant salad, Moroccan carrot, matbucha
28
Jan
Manna Is Real and Not So Heavenly
The description of manna in the Bible matches what Danin found in the Sinai Desert. He soon discovered that the white drops on the shrub’s stems were the digestive byproduct of insects that feed on the plant’s sap, known as honeydew. The secretion, formed at night, is loaded with sugar. The sweet liquid hardens to the form of white granules and is still collected from spring to early fall in many places in the Middle East today.
01
Dec
Talk of the Table | Why Feminists Should Eat Dairy on Hanukkah
Hanukkah is associated with the bravery of the Maccabees, the group of heroic Jews who rebelled against the Greek-Syrian empire, defeated it against all odds and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem. They lit a menorah with a little oil that lasted for eight days, sentencing us to centuries of eating fried food to excess.
But there is an interesting feminist alternative to this male-dominated and oil-laden narrative. For some, Hanukkah is a time to celebrate the courage of a Jewish heroine, a woman who defeated, against all odds, a powerful enemy with her wit, daring—and some salty cheese.
This is the story of Judith, a rich and beautiful widow who lived in the Judean town of Bethulia more than two and a half millennia ago. When the army of Assyrian King Nebuchadnezzar led by Holofernes invaded,...
12
Sep
Talk of the Table | The Power of Couscous
Throughout the Maghreb, couscous was traditionally prepared by groups of women, family and friends, who helped each other pass the long hours it took to make. First, they spread semolina wheat, bought by the men and freshly ground, onto a large round platter, sprinkling it with salted water and sometimes flour.
07
May
Talk of the Table | Seven Dishes for Seven Decades
The long tradition of Jewish food, wrote culinary historian Gil Marks, has always been one of “transforming and transferring,” and Israeli food is no exception. On Israel’s 70th anniversary, we look at Israeli history through food: We selected seven dishes, one for each decade. A word of warning: These dishes by no means represent the entire story of Israeli cuisine. But they can provide your taste buds with a reminder of how the country’s culinary traditions evolved—and what they say about Israeli history.
1948–1958
Spurred by austerity, Ashkenazi Jews turn eggplant into “chopped liver”
A key challenge facing the struggling newborn nation was feeding the droves of immigrants arriving at its shores. The shortage of supplies and the lack of foreign currency to import food forced leaders to impose food rationing. Each month, every citizen was allocated, for...