From Publishers Weekly
Jewish food is almost too huge a topic to be covered exhaustively, but Goodman, the "Food Maven" columnist at the Forward, takes a decent stab at it by dividing his book into chapters on appetizers, soups, fish, eggs and dairy, poultry, meat, kugels, breads, and desserts and interspersing them with essays pertaining to peoples, ingredients and dishes. For example, in the chapter on fish, Goodman spotlights a Jewish community in Northern Morocco, where one woman saved the almost lost language Jaquetia (a combination of Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic and Berber). A recipe for Pescado en Colorado (fish in tomato sauce with peppers and paprika), popular in that region, follows. In the poultry chapter, a piece on pomegranates explores the contention that the fruit on the tree of knowledge was not an apple, but a pomegranate; readers then find a recipe for Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce with Walnuts and Figs. In the soup chapter, an essay on chicken soup looks at the dish's legendary healing properties and also at how variations developed in Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Italy and Yemen (instructions for making chicken soups from Eastern Europe, India and Iraq follow). Goodman deftly tackles his vast subject with these enlightening, engaging essays, which, coupled with the volume's 170 recipes, make for a fine tribute to Jewish cuisine. 2-color illus. throughout. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Goodman holds an ecumenical view of Jewish food that emphasizes the cuisine's worldwide nature. Goodman looks not only to the traditional Eastern European Jewish shtetl for recipes but he includes Jewish settlements as remote as India for inspiration. This broad vision yields a particularly wide-ranging and heterogeneous cookbook that demands a new and deeper definition of Jewish food. In addition to the expected Gefilte Fish, Goodman offers Peixe Bahiana, red snapper braised in coconut milk. Supplementing familiar Cheese Blintzes come decidedly modern Huitlacoche Blintzes, in which corn and mushrooms replace the Mexican fungus currently so popular with chefs. Chicken stew from Baghdad complements an even spicier one from the Jewish community of Bombay. A traditional overnight Hungarian Sabbath stew of barley and beans pairs with one from Morocco confected out of chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and dates. Latkes expand from plain potato first to a rendering with carrots and corn and then onward to a colorful version with beets and goat cheese. Goodman includes plenty of lively historical and cultural background for his recipes. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description

For centuries Jewish communities around the world forged dynamic cuisines from ancient traditions combined with the bounties -- and limitations -- of their adopted homelands. In this important new collection, Matthew Goodman has assembled more than 170 recipes from twenty-nine countries, handed down through the generations and now preserved in this historic volume.

The heirloom offerings Goodman gathered range from such iconic specialties as bagels, kugel, and chopped liver to such favorites, mostly unknown in the United States, as Turkish borekas, flaky cheese-filled turnovers; chelou, an Iranian rice specialty; and shtritzlach, a sweet blueberry pastry unique to Toronto. Together the recipes celebrate the ingenuity of Jewish cooks around the world, in Mexican Baked Blintzes with Vegetables and Roasted Poblano Peppers, Syrian Bulgur Salad with Pomegranate Molasses, Moroccan Roast Chicken with Dried Fruit and Nuts, Iraqi Sweet-and-Sour Lamb with Eggplant and Peppers, Italian Baked Ricotta Pudding, and many other unexpected delights.

These dishes have been shaped by the histories of the communities from which they come. This book also features dozens of lively, engaging essays that present the history of Jewish food in all its richness and variety. The essays focus on ingredients, prepared dishes, and cultures.

Food is a repository of a community's history, and here, in its broad strokes, is the history of the Jews. The recipes and essays in this book provide a fascinating new perspective on Jewish food. More than a cookbook, Matthew Goodman's Jewish Food: The World at Table is a book to learn from, to cook with, and to pass on through the ages.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"For centuries Jewish communities around the world forged dynamic cuisines from ancient traditions combined with the bounties - and limitations - of their adopted homelands. In this new collection, Matthew Goodman has assembled more than 170 recipes from twenty-nine countries, handed down through the generations and now preserved in this historic volume." "The heirloom offerings Goodman gathered range from such iconic specialties as bagels, kugel, and chopped liver to such favorites, mostly unknown in the United States, as Turkish borekas, flaky cheese-filled turnovers; chelou, an Iranian rice specialty; and shtritzlach, a sweet blueberry pastry unique to Toronto. Together the recipes celebrate the ingenuity of Jewish cooks around the world, in Mexican Baked Blintzes with Vegetables and Roasted Poblano Peppers, Syrian Bulgur Salad with Pomegranate Molasses, Moroccan Roast Chicken with Dried Fruit and Nuts, Iraqi Sweet-and-Sour Lamb with Eggplant and Peppers, Italian Baked Ricotta Pudding, and many other unexpected delights." These dishes have been shaped by the histories of the communities from which they come. This book also features dozens of essays that present the history of Jewish food in all its richness and variety. The essays focus on ingredients, prepared dishes, and cultures.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly