Random House Publishers asked me to review this book, which I was thrilled to do. And as I started going through the recipes, the gorgeous photos, and the stories, I knew I was in for a serious treat.
The text covers the foods Israelis savor every day: salads, chummous, soups, stuffed vegetables. Recipes focus on authentic, homey food like Shakshuka (6 recipes for shakshuka!), the spicy chreime fish from North Africa, and kubbeh soup. But I was also intrigued by sophisticated recipes that evolved out of local ingredients. The Couscous and Roasted Vegetables Salad, for example, which looks trendy – and delicious.
Then there are pages devoted to street food and shopping in the shuk; then recipes for Shabbat, Jewish holidays, and Ramadan. Also, I loved discovering occasional little jewels scattered throughout, such as the recipe for garlic confit tucked into the meze section. The book finishes with an excellent selection of recipes for basic condiments to keep on hand. You’ll find preserved lemons and spice mixes there. The very last is a “Special Ingredients” section explaining the uses of special ingredients: pomegranate juice, date honey, and more.
The tone is conversational, sometimes humorous, and so vivid that (with the fabulous pictures) you can almost breathe the atmosphere of Israeli life.
We’re offered glimpses. An elderly, bearded baker in Jerusalem, prayerfully focused on manipulating his dough. A Tel Aviv café where people sit at small tables, in the sunshine. Children solemnly lighting Chanuka candles. A young Arab woman arranging concentric circles of date and sesame cookies with care. A winemaker sitting thoughtfully beside a huge faucet pouring red wine into an open tank.
The Book of New Israeli Food is a book to savor at leisure first, away from the kitchen. You lose yourself in the rich narration, fill your eyes with the beautiful, sensitive photographs by Eilon Paz. You mark recipes as you turn the pages. When you put it down, you go to the kitchen fired with the desire to get cooking, the faster to eat some of those mouth-watering recipes.
Local ingredients. A distinctive Israeli accent in the cooking and the text. Photographs that make you hungry, and easy-to-follow recipes. All things I like.
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I received no financial compensation for this book review.
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Thanks for this, Another book i need to make room for. Do you kow if you can get it from amazon?
Mimi, it sounds like the book you could (should?) write! I can’t wait to buy and read that one.
You’ve made this book sound pretty irresistible, though.
Mouth-watering! What is garlic confit?
Sounds like a feast for all the senses. And six different shakshouka recipes, my goodness. Green shakshouka is one of my favorite cafe breakfasts lately.
The question is, if I buy one do I keep it for myself or give it as a gift to an American relative who would find it exotic…
Hi, Kitchen Magic,
Yes, Amazon has it.
Anoncy,
I was reading it and sighing and thinking, Jeez, I wish my blog were so beautiful!
Garlic confit is lots of garlic carmelized in olive oil slowly repeatedly, till it’s like jam. Their version has a hot green pepper in it too.
I’m not giving my copy away, I’m going to cook out of it! I want to try the Yemenite lahuch bread first.
Oh! A wonderful looking cookbook! Mimi, can you share about the lahuch???
Also, how do I get books from Amazon here in Israel?
I saw this a few months ago at my inlaws. Beautiful book and you captured it wonderfully.
I loved the spice mix recipes and the description of cafe life.
Is this an updated version of the one that came out in Israel a couple of years ago?
There are some fantastic recipes in there but I was appalled by a recipe for soup that called for chicken bouillon. Yuck!
What a good book review Mimi! I have been eyeing that book for months;it is really beautiful with all the lovely pictures.I have the smaller book, by Janna Gur,,also in English, that came out about the same time as that bigger book you are reviewing.I have given it as a present in Finland and sent it to the USA, and they loved the book.
awesome!
i’m looking forward to see some of the recipes made by you!
so I can show my boyfriend and jump around asking him to buy me that book!!!
Hi, Tikva,
Sure I’ll show how the lahuch goes. I’ll probably make my first attempt later this evening. I must spend the day running errands in the rain – on purpose. When it’s raining, there are almost no lines at the post office or government offices, so any such errands I can put off for a rainy day, I do.
As for ordering from Amazon or any other online dealer, just go to their site and put your order through as usual. They will calculate and show the cost of shipping, according to the method you chose.
I had the book in abridged form; it’s called Fresh Flavors From Israel. My mafroum was taken out of it and slightly adapted. But I was entranced by the hard-cover edition.
Harry, the book was first published in Israel two years ago by Al HaShulchan Media in soft cover. It seems to have been taken over by Random House/Schocken soon after; I guess they’re responsible for the coffee-table quality of this hard-cover.
I scanned the soup recipes quickly after seeing your comment and didn’t see reference to bouillon. They must have edited that out of this edition. I agree, soup cubes and powders are gross.
Yaelian, you would be just the one to love this book.
Hi, desperatehouseviz (I do have to chuckle when typing out your blog nickname) -
You can show him my mafroum. I took the recipe out of the shorter, Israel-published edition about a year ago. It is delicious, and I make it every so often for Shabbat.
I took a look after posting its on it way. I’ll lket you know how I get on with it
It sounds like a fun cookbook.
I’m wondering why it is good food-blogger ethics not accept payment? I guess then one would get an impartial review? But I can’t imagine you trashing a book. You would probably just not write it. Curious…
Recently a long-overdue guideline to ethical reviewing has been established by respected food forums – eGullet is one. The ethics involve stating if I’ve received payment of any kind – or not – for reviewing a book or restaurant.
You look at a resto review one way if you know that the reviewer arrived anonymously and rated food, atmosphere, service, cleanliness, etc. with no constraints or sense of obligation. If s/he had been invited by the establishment, you may feel that the review was biased. Same for books or other products.
You’re right that I prefer not to mention a book I don’t like rather than trash it. I also don’t blog about restaurants I don’t like. Several other food bloggers I’ve spoken to feel the same way. I suppose if I actually got food poisoning somewhere, I might – but that hasn’t happened
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As if I needed another cookbook! I’m joking; your review is great but I now feel like adding this book to my collection.
[...] I can also read The New Book of Israeli Food by Janna Gur which I received this week. I will tick the recipes which inspire me and start once [...]
[...] Gur is the author of The New Book of Israeli Food and editor of Al HaShulchan, Israel’s most widely-read and respected food magazine. A few [...]