Marks - Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

Encyclopedia of Jewish Food

Gil Marks

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright 2010 by Gil Marks. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Marks, Gil.

Encyclopedia of Jewish food / Gil Marks.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-39130-3 (cloth)

1. Jewish cookery. 2. Cookery, International. I. Title.

TX724.M31947 2010

641.5'676dc22 2010000112

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my parents, Beverly and Harold Marks for their love and support

Acknowledgments

This book owes an enormous debt to many people, both in America and abroad. Among those who shared their recipes, ideas, comments, and time with me are Adam Anik and Annie Wright, Stephen Anchin, Dalia Carmel and Hebert Goldstein, Michelle Comet, Lillian Cooper, Rae Dayan, Louise Defez, Poopa Dweck, Diane Feldman, Sharon First, Israel Fridman, Julie Goell, Yochanan and Janet Gool, Liselotte Gorlin, Sheilah Kaufman, Sol Kirschenbaum, Phyllis Koegel, Emile de Vidas Levy, Lily Weiss Levinson, Barry List, Menachem Lubinsky, Paranavithana Ruwan Manjula, Faye Reichwald, Aaron and Laya Scholar, Stanley Allan Sherman, Mathilde Turiel, Eva Weiss, Stan Zimmerman, and David and Dr. Cynthia Zimm.

Very special thanks go to my family Beverly and Harold Marks, Rabbi William and Sharon Altshul, Rabbi Elli and Dr. Efrat Zipporah Schorr, Moshe Raphael Schorr, Adira Tova Schorr, Meira Bracha Schorr, Nechemia Yitzchak Schorr, Penina Miriam Schorr, Rabbi Asher Yaakov and Anat Altshul, Shira Tifara Altshul, Talia Adi Altshul, Rabbi Naftali and Ora Rivka Derovan, Elchanan Matanya Derovan, Shiri Tehila Derovan, Esther Chana Altshul, Aryeh Dov and Zahava Altshul, Emunah Altshul, Merav Shalva Altshul, Adam and Eliana Bracha Pomerantz, Rabbi Jeffrey and Shari Marks, Shlomo Yosef Marks, Miriam Malka Marks, Efrayim Marks, Tehila Marks, Ashira Marks, Rivka Leah Marks, Rabbi Arthur and Aviva Marks, Rivka Marks, Moshe Marks, Leah Marks, Shmuel Marks, Ahron Marks, Yeshai Marks, Yakov Marks, Daniel Marks, Devora Marks, Rachel Marks, Rabbi Labby and Carol Vegh, Yosef and Chana Tzipora Steinberg, Dovid Steinberg, Menashe and Shifra Miriam Berger, Batsheva Bracha Berger, Avrohom Boruch Vegh, Elisheva Vegh, Yisroel Vegh, Adina Rivka Vegh, Moshe Yakov Vegh, Akiva Shabsi Vegh, and Menachem Meir Vegh who bore the brunt of my culinary development and experimentation.

Very special thanks go to my dear friend and agent, Rita Rosenkranz, for her perseverance and counsel.

I want to express my gratitude to all the people at John Wiley & Sons involved in the production of this book. Most especially I want to thank my editor, Linda Ingroia, for her professionalism, enthusiasm, encouragement, insight, and advice; the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food sprang from Linda's vision and trust in me. I would like to thank Alda Trabucchi, the production editor for her attention to detail and care with keeping this book on schedule, Jeff Faust for his beautiful cover design, Deb Glasserman for an attractive interior design that makes so much information enjoyable to read, and Micaela Walker for her diligent photo research.

Miriam Rubin not only served as a skilled line editor, but also a confidant and counsel during the editing stage. My gratitude also goes to Carrie Bachman for handling the publicity with cheer and dedication.

I also want to acknowledge the hundreds of people I have interviewed and cooked with from Jewish communities around the world for their insights, recipes, and memories of Jewish food from their perspective. All these people were indispensable in transforming a two-decade dream into reality.

Photo Credits

Alamy: , David Gee.

Art Resource, NY: , Erich Lessing.

Bad Museum: , Bad Museum, Pacific School of Religion

Bridgeman Art Library: , DaTo Images.

Chameleon's Eye/Rafael Ben-Ari: (both images):

Corbis: , Alessandro Della Bella, Keystone.

Forward Association:

Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup: .

Getty Iimages: , Menahem Kahana.

Levy's: Arnold Products, Inc., a subsidiary of BBU, Inc.: .

Sercaz, Moshe Lev: .

Stockfood Munich: Jacket cover, title page: , Michael Paul.

Introduction

"But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection."

Marcel Proust, Swann's Way (1913)

To any individual or community, food is more than merely the fuel sustaining life and more than a matter of sensory stimulation. Culinary habits are an expression of a community's history and culture, an accumulation and expression of its environmental influences, experiences, conventions, beliefs, aspirations, and behavior. Food is an enduring element of individual and collective memory. Like its history and culture, each community's food is distinctive. It is a part of and a window to who a community is, how that community came to be, how it exists at a particular moment in time, and what it values in the present and hopes for in the future. No other aspect of existence more closely touches and reveals a community's life both its everyday routines and its periods of celebration than food. The contents of the dining table, engendered by a myriad of environmental, technological, demographic, and cultural influences, bespeak the experiences, capabilities, and sensibilities of the population. To know a community is to know its food.