Comments on: Book Review: The Book of New Israeli Food by Janna Gur

By: Interview with Janna Gur » Israeli Kitchen

Interview with Janna Gur » Israeli Kitchen — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:15:20 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: After Work Thursday Musings « Ilana-Davita

After Work Thursday Musings « Ilana-Davita — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:21:16 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: ilanadavita

ilanadavita — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:39:39 +0000

As if I needed another cookbook! I’m joking; your review is great but I now feel like adding this book to my collection.

By: mimi54

mimi54 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:18:32 +0000

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 .

By: Leora

Leora — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:30:49 +0000

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…

By: Kitchen Magic

Kitchen Magic — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:48:32 +0000

I took a look after posting its on it way. I’ll lket you know how I get on with it

By: mimi54

mimi54 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:47:18 +0000

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.

By: mimi54

mimi54 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:41:23 +0000

Yaelian, you would be just the one to love this book.

By: mimi54

mimi54 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:39:29 +0000

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.

By: mimi54

mimi54 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:30:41 +0000

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.