When it comes to the world of Jewish food, lots of people have a rather narrow idea of what that actually means, says celebrated Jewish cookbook author .
According to Koenig, "For people who grew up with Eastern European Jewish food traditions like brisket, challah, matzo ball soup and stuffed cabbage, there is often a misconception that that's all there is to it.
"But really Jewish food is an incredibly global cuisine. There are subsets of Jewish cuisine from Morocco and Italy, India and Ethiopia, Uzbekistan and Mexico - and everywhere in between."
Koenig is known as an authority on Jewish food, having published six books on the subject and written for the likes of The New York Times, Taste, New York Magazine, Serious Eats, Wall Street Journal, Bon Appetit and plenty more.
Her latest tome, The Jewish Cookbook, is a Bible-like (or should that be Torah?) collection of four hundred recipes collected from home cooks across the world. The recipes are modern takes on some dishes, with Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East and North America all represented.
Koenig is known as an authority on Jewish food, having published six books on the subject. Source: The Jewish Cookbook
AROUND THE GLOBE
About Jewish food
The ever-popular potato latkes are delicious, there's a sweet version of the kugel stuffed with jam and poppyseed, plus there's baked salmon salad and meat-stuffed kreplach, which are triangle-shaped dumplings that are either boiled and served in soup or fried and enjoyed on their own.
For Koenig, who lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, this book was about creating a broad picture of what Jewish cuisine is and explores its fluid geographical influences. An added bonus is that Koenig was able to add to her considerable bank of Jewish food knowledge and test out some recipes herself, finding some new favourites along the way.
"I loved making and eating Moroccan stuffed artichoke bottoms; it's a labor intensive dish that I learned from a Moroccan-Jewish woman who lives in Montreal, but the result is astoundingly delicious."
It wasn't a dish she knew about prior to working on the cookbook but it has since become a "completely necessary dish" for her own table.
"It reminded me how truly diverse the cuisine is."
Given she grew up eating Jewish food and has carved out a career writing about, it might be easy to assume there's little Koenig doesn't know. But another benefit of creating The Jewish Cookbook is that she got to delve into worlds she didn't have access to before, like Moroccan Jewish traditions.
Jewish food has definitely taken on something of a 'cool' status.
"I learned so much with this book! One favourite example was learning more about the Mimouna tradition, which is a special celebratory meal that Moroccan Jews enjoy at the end of Passover," she says.
"I'd heard about it before, but for this book I got to delve into the holiday's dishes, like these delicious fried crepes called mofletta [or mufleta] that are topped with jam, butter, and chopped nuts and rolled up into delicious little parcels."
Unlike many other cultural cuisines that have penetrated the mainstream in recent years and become firm favourites with people from all cultural backgrounds, Jewish food remains on the peripheral. But Koenig believes that situation will change, and soon.
"Really, Jewish food is an incredibly global cuisine," says Koenig. Source: The Jewish Cookbook
"Here in the United States there seems to be another nouveau Jewish delicatessen or modern Middle Eastern/Israeli restaurant popping up in another city every week. And on my travels abroad in places like Budapest and Berlin - Jewish food has definitely taken on something of a 'cool' status.
DISCOVERING NEW FOOD
Mufleta
"I think Jewish food has something to offer the world beyond the Jewish community, so I think this will only grow."
Jewish food, Koenig says, is ever-changing, which is what makes it so exciting and diverse.
"Some people regard Jewish food like it is this fixed, never-changing thing - the same food it has been since the time of the Bible. But Jewish food by its very nature as a diaspora cuisine is constantly evolving," she explains.
"Whenever Jewish communities move and settle in a new place, which is something that Jews have historically done over and over, there's a merging of traditional dishes and the new/adopted culinary landscape that encourages delicious evolution. It's a big part of why Jewish food is so varied and exciting."
, published by Phaidon, RRP$65, is out now.
