The Book of Jewish Food

by Claudia Roden

Original publisher: Knopf

Date of publication: 1996

ISBN: 0394532589

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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.

Marisa Leaf

Founder and co-CEO of Hubbub

A gift, this book is as much social history as it is recipe book. Packed full of the classic Jewish Ashkenazi recipes that remind me of my grandparents' cooking, and have delighted in discovering many less familiar Sephardi dishes too.

Jason Goodwin

Author and historian

As much a culinary history of the Jews as a cookbook, this adds up gradually to a journey through vanished times and the places you dream about. It is thorough and fascinating, like all Roden’s books.

Rachel McCormack

Writer and broadcaster

Encompasses the food and culture of an entire people. What they eat, why they eat it, how and when. The recipes work and her knowledge and research is unparalleled

Misti Traya

Food writer

This is a cookbook that tells a story as rich and vast and magical as the recipes it holds inside. The Gateau a l'orange and the borscht are among my favorites.

Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra

Food writer and author

Even superlatives fall short when describing Claudia Roden's work. This is simply a wonderful book that demands to be read and cooked from in equal measures.

Caroline Eden

Food and travel writer

The one and only Claudia Roden. This book is an absolute treasure trove and is encyclopaedic in its depth. I often read it over breakfast, and in bed.