Cooking alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy

The Jewish presence in Italy reaches back to the days of the Roman Republic. Despite the huge number of books on both Jewish cooking and Italian cooking, it has been years since there was a serious treatment of the distinctive Italian Jewish cuisine. Thankfully, that changes with Cooking alla Giudia.

Born in Milan, Benedetta Jasmine Guetta, co-founder of Labna, a blog devoted to Jewish Italian cooking, treats the subject in respectful detail. Her recipe notes illuminate dishes which are important to holiday celebrations, pay attention to culinary history, and  establish from which community within Italy a dish comes, including an influx of Libyan Jews to Rome who arrived in the 1960s

Guetta's examples demonstrate how Jewish cooks have adapted local traditions to their dietary needs, turning the familiar Italian dish of melon with prosciutto to one of fried eggplant and melon. For prosciutto itself, they developed a version made with goose, saving the rib bones to grill them in a dish called pissaore.

Step-by-step photo sequences illustrate the assembly of more complicated dishes, such as a stuffed turkey meatloaf which is simmered on a stovetop.

 Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.