Every cuisine tells a story. Jewish food tells of an uprooted, migrating people and their vanished worlds. It lives in people's minds and has been kept alive because of what it evokes and represents.

From the Jewish quarter of Cairo where Claudia Roden spent her childhood to the kitchens of Europe, Asia and the Americas, The Book of Jewish Food traces the fascinating story of Jewish cooking and its people. The over 800 recipes - from tabbouleh and falafel to the Yemeni wedding soup Ftut - are the treasures garnered by Roden during almost fifteen years of travelling around the world, tasting, watching, talking and gathering stories.

A celebration of roots, of generations past, of vanished worlds and identity, The Book of Jewish Food is a beautiful book for the reader and the cook.

Why aren’t the recipes for this book available on ckbk?

We are building our collection of cookbooks all the time. This book is on our wish list, but it is not yet available on ckbk.

Books which are part of ckbk's collection show one of these two logos:

now available on ckbk
coming soon to ckbk

Recommended by

Rachel de Thample

Head of Fantastic Food at Abel & Cole

Reaching the final book in my list of all-time favourite cookbooks has brought to light an unintended theme: all of the books I've chosen are much more than just a collection of recipes. They take you on a journey. They broaden your horizons, and some shine new light on old territories. Claudia Roden's Book of Jewish food does just this. She is one of the most thoughtful, insightful food writers. This book is the work of 15 years travelling the world, meeting people, talking, sharing, and discovering the vast complexity of Jewish cuisine and culture. It's one of the most lovingly tailored books I own. The collection of more than 800 recipes - many of them, never before documented - is interwoven with stories, reminiscences, history, jokes, childhood memories, travel adventures and more. The recipes are more than just something to cook, they're an invitation to share in a delicious culture.

Susan Low

Food writer

I’m a huge Claudia Roden fan. I love all of her books and I wavered between this one, The Food of Italy and The Food of Spain but finally the sheer scope and scholarship of The Book of Jewish Food book swung it for me. Roden’s knowledge is immense and her research is painstaking – but its her warmth and humanity that shine through. There’s inevitably a sense of melancholy, of loss, to this book but these are just the qualities that make it a brilliant read.

Allan Jenkins

Editor, Observer Food Monthly,

For me the best food writer alive, the last of the peerless three, with Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson. This is everything a cookbook should be, a conjuring of a culture through its history and cooking. Immaculately researched, wonderfully written, vigorously tested, a book to be read in bed but kept in the kitchen.

David Prior

Author

As much a masterwork of anthropology as it is of food writing. Roden's tracing of the Jewish diaspora via its recipes is an extraordinary work of scholarship that is never dry. An important work that will stand the test of time and should not only sit in every kitchen but in every library.

Gizzi Erskine

Chef and food writer

An undisputed classic. You will not find a more comprehensive book on food: a vast wealth of recipes collected over so many years and from so many people, but also a social history of the Jewish people as told through the food they eat and the traditions they share.

Recommended by

awards