The Price Library Cookbook Collection Currently (In 2018
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The Price Library Cookbook Collection Currently (in 2018) counting over 110,000 volumes, the total extent of the Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica dwarfs the hundred-some titles in the Price Library Cookbook Collection. Numbers and quantity, also in this case, should not be understood as indicator of quality, however. The Price Library Cookbook Collection is a kaleidoscope of Jewish foodways all over the world, a sample of the multifaceted Jewish culinary literature worldwide that illustrates the cultural significance of cuisine in Jewish life across centuries and regions. The books in the collection are part housed in the Judaica Suite on Smathers Library’s second floor as well as in the northwest corner of Library West’s first floor, mostly among the Judaica Library reference books. They approach Jewish food preparation in various ways: according to geographical origin, seasons and holidays, and types of dishes. Some are reflecting on historical food ways or present new variations and recipes and others are composed by individuals or collectives, and so on. Naturally, a great divide among these cookbooks is whether they adhere to Jewish dietary rules, kashrut. Most of the community cookbooks ignore these rules, while others offer recipes that abide with fundamental religious prescriptions, leaving it to the reader and home cook whether the execution of the recipes will also abide by kashrut. (For example, one of the basic requirements in kosher cooking is to use kosher meat products, which not only means that the flesh of only those animals that are permitted to be consumed should are used in the recipes, but also that the sourced animals are slaughtered according to the rules of kosher slaughter.) Regarding the interpretation of the dietary rules, however, there are differences depending on geographical regions and historical periods. Recently, for example, a debate rose between the Israeli chief rabbinate and Italian religious leaders regarding one of the Roman Jewish cuisine’s staple dishes: carciofi alla judia (artichokes Jewish style). The recent example illustrates rabbinical authorities’ centuries-long practice of debating on different issues, among them those related to kosher cooking and permissible food consumption. Different Jewish communities often apply their own legal interpretation to the prescriptions through which Judaism regulates food production, preparation, and consumption. Aside from the issue of dietary rules, several books in the collection illustrate the importance of the religious holidays (reflecting seasonal changes as well) in Jewish cuisines. Gloria Kaufer Greene’s The Jewish holiday cookbook: an international collection of recipes and customs and The seasonal Jewish kitchen: a fresh take on tradition by Amelia Saltsman are just two examples from the collection. The collection is significant for the regional variety it represents. From Peru to the United States, Morocco to Belorus, Iraq, India, Greece, Hungary, England, Syria or Curacao – like pieces of a larger mosaic, the cookbooks depict a detailed picture of Jewish food ways across the globe. They also illustrate the historical changes Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi cooking experienced: how the incorporation of new ingredients and techniques transformed traditional food ways. A Russian Jew cooks in Peru by Violeta Autumn offers a palpable example of how migration, a central phenomenon of the modern Jewish experience, alters and shapes cooking. Additionally, several cookbooks take a global look on Jewish food, such as Gil Marks’s The World of Jewish Cooking. Equally important, the works of renown contemporary and already departed cookbook authors, such as Esther Levy, Judith Montefiore, Dr. Erna Meyer, Joan Nathan, Ruth Silkis, or Caludia Roden, just to mention a few, are included in the collection. Among them, the mostly female authors pioneering the Jewish cookbook literature in the nineteenth and early twentieth century included in their cookbooks general advices relating to Jewish household’s management, healthy eating and cooking, and more. More recently authored books about Jewish cooking are less holistic in their approaches. Alternatively, they may include short descriptions of the historical and cultural background of the recipes included. Books by celebrated chefs and culinary experts, such as the James Beard Award winner Joyce Goldstein and Michael Solomonov, also belong to this subgroup of Jewish cookbooks. In addition to single-authored books, classics, such as The Jewish manual, or, Practical information in Jewish & modern cookery: with a collection of valuable recipes & hints relating to the toilette by Judith Montefiore, there are collectively compiled cookbooks included in the collection. Cookbooks compiled by American Jewish communities from Texas, Florida, New Jersey, and New York, sisterhoods, local Hadassa organizations, and even one published by WIZO, Women’s International Zionist Organization, can be found in the Judaica Suite. Recipes from the Jewish kitchens of Curaçao is available in Library West. Closely related, Tu y yo cocinando, a cookbook produced by the Mexican branch of the international Jewish educational organization ORT, is available digitally at the Jewish Diaspora Collection. Its continuation, Tu & yo cocinando en las fiestas judias by Doris Fleitman is housed in Library West. Three cookbooks, published by the New York Times and the recently closed Ladino Newspaper Aki Yerushalayim, respectively, in addition to The Jewish examiner prize kosher recipe book are also by corporate authors. There are also historically inspired cookbooks included in the collection. András Körner’s A taste of the past: the daily life and cooking of a nineteenth-century Hungarian Jewish homemaker and Miriam’s kitchen: a memoir by Elizabeth Ehrlich exemplify personal memories related to food and cooking. A different approach characterizes In memory’s kitchen: a legacy from the women of Terezin edited by Bianca Steiner Brown: it recollects the food memories of inmates in the concentration camp Theresienstadt during the Holocaust. On a different, but related note, the Lithuanian restaurateur Fania Lewando’s The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook translated by Eve Jochnowitz reconstructs early twentieth-century cuisine and ideas on vegetarian eating that governed Lewando’s cooking. Similarly, The 2nd Ave Deli cookbook: recipes and memories from Abe Lebewohl’s legendary New York kitchen recalls the aromas one of New York’s most famous delis has been producing since the 1950s. Another group of cookbooks focus on specific foodstuffs, such as Inside the Jewish bakery: recipes and memories from the golden age of Jewish baking by Stanley Ginsberg or Michael Ruhlman’s The book of schmaltz: love song to a forgotten fat. In contrast, there are cookbooks which offer recipes that eliminate certain types of ingredients from one’s diet. Chef Simone Miller’s The New Yiddish Kitchen: gluten-free and Paleo kosher recipes for the holidays and every day recreates recipes associated with Yiddish speaking Jewish culture and applies them to specific diets. Finally, a smaller subgroup includes cookbooks that focus on cooking techniques, devices, or collect recipes based on the preparation time or their complexness, such as Jewish slow cooker recipes: 120 holiday and everyday dishes made easy. As the collection continues to grow, this description and the following list of cookbooks will be refreshed in the future. List of books "Balabusta" (ed.). The Jewish examiner prize kosher recipe book. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Judea Pub. Corp., 1937 UF LIBRARY WEST, Judaica Library Limited Circulation TX724 .J49 1937 Amster, Linda (ed.) The New York Times Jewish cookbook: more than 825 traditional and contemporary recipes from around the world. Introduction by Mimi Sheraton. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003. UF LIBRARY WEST, Judaica Library (1st Floor - Northwest Corner) Reference Books Section TX724 .N473 2003 Ansky, Sherry. Cuisine d'Israël: recettes originales de Terre Sainte. Texte et recettes, Sherry Ansky; photogr., Nelli Sheffer ; stylisme, Nurit Branizky ; trad. française, Anne Dechanet. Paris: Les Éditions du Pacifique, 2000. UF LIBRARY WEST New Books Area (2nd Floor) TX724 .A575 2000 Gift in honor of Virginia Flores Godoy Autumn, Violeta. A Russian Jew cooks in Peru. San Francisco, 101 Productions; distributed by Scribner, New York 1973. UF SMATHERS, Special Collection Judaica Suite (Non-Circulating) TX716.P4 A9 1973 Auxiliaries of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital or the aged at Douglas Gardens. From our home to your home: a Collection of recipes from the Auxiliaries of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital or the aged at Douglas Gardens Sinai Parent Association. Miami, Fla.: Auxiliaries of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital or the aged at Douglas Gardens, 1982 UF SMATHERS, Special Collection Judaica Suite (Non-Circulating) TX724 .F73 1999 Gift of Maxine Schwartz Badi, Méri. La cocina judeo-española. Prefacio de Antonio Alvarez Solís; traducido del francés por Carmen Casas. Barcelona, Spain: Muchnik Editores, 1985. UF LIBRARY WEST New Books Area (2nd Floor) TX724 .B2318 1985 Gift in honor of Virginia Flores Godoy Bar David, Molly Lyons. The Israeli cook book. New York, Crown Publishers 1964 UF LIBRARY WEST General Collection TX724 .B27 UF LIBRARY WEST, Judaica Library (1st Floor - Northwest Corner) TX724 .B27 Beilenson, Edna. Simple Jewish cookery. Mount Vernon, N.Y., Peter Pauper Press 1962 UF SMATHERS, Special Collection Judaica Suite (Non-Circulating) TX724