10 Authentic Italian Jewish Cookbooks & Recipe Books
Nowadays, Jewish foods have gone mainstream in Italy, especially in cities that have or used to have a strong Jewish presence, such as Venice and Rome. According to some scholars, one of Venice’s most typical dishes has initially been a Jewish one. Moreover, cultural integration has also made more people want to try Italian Jewish cuisine. This post will introduce you 10 Italian Jewish Cookbooks.
The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews: Traditional Recipes and Menus and a Memoir of a Vanished Way of Life
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“A wonderful introduction to the history of the Italian Jewish communities and their cuisine.” – W. Morris
This book is not only a cookbook but also a cultural history of Italian Jewry over 2000 years. Their practices, lives, and cuisines are described through photos, personal reminisces, and historical facts. The recipes are plentiful and lovely, coming with brief explanations.
The specific times when they would commonly be served or ingredient hints and notes are also mentioned. Anyone interested in Jewish history of the 20th century, Italian cookery variations, kosher cooking, or just seek for new taste is highly recommended to this book.
This classic cookbook is also a good source of information in terms of the vanished Jewish communities of Italy’s daily life. Kosher recipes are written based on a commentary of the history of the dish and how best to serve it. The writer collects the cooking from her homeland in Pitigliano, Tuscany, and the recipes of her Italian-Jewish culture, including holidays and diet rules.
About the Author: Edda Servi Machlin was born in a rural village in Tuscany, Italy, in 1926. In 1958, she settled in America and taught Italian and Italian Jewish cooking for ten years while writing her books. One of which is a diary of her growing up in Fascist Italy that has been used in history classes at Yale and Yeshiva Universities.
Her recipes have been posted in dozens of cookbooks by other authors and newspapers worldwide. She now lives in New York City and still keeps writing despite having to sit in the wheelchair.
Classic Italian Jewish Cooking: Traditional Recipes and Menus
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“One of my favorite cookbooks – both for the history and the recipes” – mom2lefty
In this volume of Italian Jewish series, Edda Servi Machlin gave out the secrets of this delicate and unique culinary tradition that has boomed for more than two thousand years.
You’ll find recipes for the ultimate Italian Jewish dishes from Goose “Ham,” Jewish Caponata to Sabbath Saffron Rice, Spicy Chicken Liver Toasts to Fried Squash Flowers, and many more.
Filtered from Edda Servi Machlin’s three most admired books on Italian Jewish culinary, this rare collection of more than 300 recipes are a treasured tribute to a rich cultural legacy and precious gift to food lovers.
About the Author: Edda was born in 1926 in the small town of Pitigliano in Tuscany, Italy, which had long been home to a developing Jewish community. The cookbook writer changed many people’s understanding of Jewish cuisine and culture by writing about her childhood upbringing in Italy’s distinctive Jewish community. Edda Servi Machlin has died at the age of 93.
The Jewish-Sicilian Cookbook
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“It was not meant to be a comprehensive Jewish or Sicilian recipe collection. She didn’t say it was a Kosher cookbook. I took it for what it is and found it enjoyable. I’ve tried three of the recipes so far and found them delicious.” – Robin at Tiffany’s
The Jewish-Sicilian Cookbook is an enjoyable cookbook celebrating the dual cuisine legacy of Italian and Jewish culinary. The book consists of 64 recipes that vary from typical Jewish fare to ultimate Italian dishes, accompanied by the heartwarming tales and recollections of family meals.
Though the author is not a professional chef, and some of her recipe instructions are strange, readers find recipes down to earth and delicious, inspiring them to create their own family cookbooks.
About the Author: Pamela Hensley Vincent is an American actress and author growing up in southern California. She is best known for playing Princess Ardala on the 1979–1981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and C.J. Parsons on the 1982–1985 television series Matt Houston.
After retired from acting, Hensley joined the literary world in 2004 with the publication of a small cookbook called The Jewish-Sicilian Cookbook authored under her married name, Pamela Hensley Vincent. She has been married to noted television executive producer E. Duke Vincent, since 1982. She does not have any children.
The Classic Dolci of the Italian Jews, A World of Jewish Desserts
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“Delighted to have this cookbook! Looking forward to baking from it this weekend.” – Jasinct
This second volume of Servi-Machlin’s Italian Jewish series is an undiscovered classic “recall a cuisine” genre. Machlin’s story of Italian Jewish life before World War II are heartening and touching.
The combination of Ms. Machlin’s recipes and cartoons illustration by Lou Myers will launch a trend in future cookbooks. All straightforward and delicious recipes accompanied by the perfect and playful art make the book treasured and delightful.
About the Author: The book is created by the author Edda Servi Machlin and Illustrator Lou Myers.
Edda Servi Machlin was born on February 22, 1926, in a village in Tuscany, Pitigliano, Italy that had been inhabited by Jews for millennia. In 1979 she graduated from Columbia University, Magna Cum Laude, and entered the university without any formal education after the 6th grade.
She wrote her present famous cookbook, The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews, published in 1981 to great acclaim in the media. She became the inspiration of many other cuisine writers at that time, like Marcella Hazan or Judith Rossner.
Lou Myers is the first cartoonist since James Thurber to publish both his cartoons and short stories in The New Yorker magazine. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, Esquire, Playboy, Penthouse, and Mother Jones.
The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews II: More Menus, Recollections, and Recipes
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“My spouse and I lived in Italy for over a year, and we love Italian food. We own about 150 cookbooks, but The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews is my favorite of them all. The recipes work, the food is sublime and is designed to be made by a cook at home. It is a wonderful, wonderful cookbook that you will use over and over and always treasure.” – O. Kishony
The volume II of this book series is a real treasure of refined and elegant recipes. Machlin offers a fantastic collection of 270 recipes and menus and reveals us to Italian history and culture.
This book is a self-portrait of a gifted Italian-Jewish cook of a certain age, composed of the recipes with which she prepares her family’s meals. Readers find these pages inspired by both the dishes and the example. More than two hundred kosher recipes combine the best of two of the world’s great cuisines, with each recipe adapted for the modern American kitchen.
About the Author: The book is created by the author Edda Servi Machlin and Illustrator Janina Rubinowicz.
Edda was born in 1926 in the small town of Pitigliano in Tuscany, Italy. Her cookbook series has changed many people’s understanding of Jewish cuisine and culture by writing about her childhood growing up in Italy’s distinctive Jewish community.
Mama Joanie’s Family Cookbook: Celebrating Jewish & Italian Holidays
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“I loved the recipes and how they related to real people.” – Carolyn.
Jewish and Italian families are always proud of their multicultural traditions. Readers will get custom in this volume of cuisine secrets that Joan has refined for years. She has brilliantly adapted the exquisite and unique culinary traditions that have been handed down through generations. We bet that This is a cookbook to be treasured for ages due to easy recipes to follow and a wide array of delicious dishes.
About the Author: The writer of this book is Joan Bongiorno. She shared that her love of entertaining and cooking led her to write this book and hope people will enjoy these recipes as much as she does.
Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen
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“This book is a treasure, filled with great recipes from a cuisine that is marginalized in both Italian culture and Jewish culture. I have cooked a few recipes since I got the book a month ago, and each was great. The recipes are well written with easy to follow instructions, and history of the Jewish population in Italy is woven throughout.” – ddd0302
For the first time, little-known Jewish culinary heritage is given the attention it has long deserved in Cucina Ebraica. In this cookbook, well-known chef Joyce Goldstein offers a vast collection of superb (and completely kosher) Italian Jewish dishes, as well as a fascinating and essential culinary history.
Filled with lively photographs that recall the prosperity of the Italian Jewish legacy, Cucina Ebraica brings readers a collection of notable recipes leading to surprising joys and secrets of Italian and Jewish cookery.
About the Author: The book is created by the author Joyce Goldstein and photographer Ellen Silverman.
Joyce Goldstein is a chef, author, teacher, and expert on both Jewish and Mediterranean cooking.
Ellen Silverman is a well-known food and still-life photographer based in New York City.
The New Mediterranean Jewish Table: Old World Recipes for the Modern Home
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“Excellent recipes from the hands of a true master. I relate to the Mediterranean foods as an Italian. I enjoy the vegetable treatments, not too different from my Sicilian heritage.” – Teresa D. Schooler
The New Mediterranean Jewish Table is an authentic manual about Jewish home cooking from North Africa, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, and the Middle East. The book is fulfilled with both classic and updated vibrant, seasonal recipes that take advantage of fresh fruits and vegetables, small portions of meat, grains and legumes, poultry, and fish; and a healthy mix of herbs and spices.
The story of how Jewish cooks become successful thanks to bringing the local ingredients and traditions into their kitchens is also included. With this varied and attractive selection of Mediterranean Jewish recipes, the book promises to inspire Jewish and non-Jewish generation cooks with dishes for everyday meals and holiday celebrations.
About the Author: Joyce Goldstein is the chef and owner of the groundbreaking Mediterranean restaurant Square One in San Francisco. Previously, she was a chef at the Chez Panisse Café and a visiting executive chef at the Wine Spectator Restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa.
Now she works as a cooking teacher, consultant to the restaurant and food industries, and a prolific cookbook author. Her most recent book is Inside the California Food Revolution: Thirty Years that Changed Our Culinary Consciousness (UC Press, 2013).
Food Of Italy
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“Fantastic recipes and information.” – P. Mistretta
This edition is a reorganized version of the prior Knopf 1990 edition of “The Good Food of Italy, Region by Region,” printed in paperback as “The Food of Italy.” It is especially interesting to see the split in Italian cuisine below Rome into the very Mediterranean cooking of Campania, Jews, Calabria, Apulia, and Sicily rather than the more European cooking Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, and Friuli.
The writing recipes are gorgeous, with great photos that teach you so much about Italy. Methods need you to know a bit about the necessary techniques for cooking but are authentic and varied.
About the Author: Claudia Roden was born in Cairo, educated in Paris and London, where she has lived for many years. Widely admired as both a great cook and an excellent writer, she has written classic works on Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cookery and, most recently, her award-winning The Book of Jewish Food.
Steve Solomon’s My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m in Therapy! Cookbook
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“The cookbook is great. Lots of recipes and jokes. Fun for the whole family!” – Chris Gregory.
This cookbook is a new approach to classic Italian and Jewish recipes by pulling readers to a show My Mothers Italian, My Fathers Jewish & I, ‘m in Therapy. The perfect combination of comedy essays and funny gags by the star and creator filled the show with non-stop laughs as he makes vocal impressions of his crazy Jewish and Italian family. The cookbook does not only offer abundant recipes but also brings fun to the cooking.
About the Author: The book is created by the author Steve Solomon, editor Jane Evers, and Illustrator Mel Abfier.
Steve Solomon grew up in the multi-ethnic neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and is happy to bring his show My Mother s Italian, My Father s Jewish & I m in Therapy! to New York City. “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish & I’m In Therapy” has met with rave reviews and great audience acclaim throughout the country; and became one of the most extended one-person running shows in Broadway history.
We hope you like this post and finally find out your favorite Italian Jewish cookbooks. Meanwhile, we welcome you to explore our site and discover more cookbook recommendations from the same cuisine below.