The Foods of Israel Today: More Than 300 Recipes--And Memories--Reflecting Israel's Past and Present Through Its Many Cuisines

I would emphatically disagree with the person who characterized this as a coffee table book! It only leaves my kitchen so I can read it on the train or before I go to sleep! It has completely changed the way my family eats! I have often bemoned not being able to have fresh bread with dinner because my wife and I both work. Now we have homemade pita most days with dinner, and couscous has completely replaced pasta as our staple starch. My wife and 6-year-old love everything I've made from it -- from the Moroccan meatballs with tomato-olive sauce to kubbanah (a sabbath bread baked overnight) to fishballs in a spicy tomato sauce to chocolate challah! I now even make my own harissa (Tunisian hot hot hot sauce)! Joan Nathan, already one of my favorite cookbook authors, has really created a masterpiece. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with it -- it is such a joy and opens the door to the cuisine of Israel to the American home cook. My only suggestion for improvement -- and it is small -- would have been to include a resourse for purchasing some of the exotic or esoteric cookware mentioned in the book. I would love to own a kubbanah pan and a large couscousierre, but don't know where to get either in the states. I love this book and will probably buy a second copy to tuck away for when I wear this copy out! I wouldn't want to live without it! Bravo, Ms. Nathan!

The Foods of Israel Today is a delicious tour of Middle Eastern tastes and sights. The black and white photos of Israel's early days and the beautiful color photos of contemporary life in its varied ethnic communities provide a vivid picture of the country's history and the complex textures of its vibrant daily life today. I love reading all of Joan Nathan's books almost as much as I enjoy cooking from them. The dishes I choose to emulate are enhanced by the stories of the people who have already fed these goodies to their own families. Where else can you find recipes for life alongside recipes for casseroles? The cooking instructions themselves are easy to follow. I don't read a cookbook like a science text; I don't much care if what comes out of my kitchen is exactly like the original. The fun is at least partly in the process. And with The Foods of Israel Today, as with all of Nathan's books, there's an added reward: while your friends and family are enjoying their dinner (and complimenting you for it) you can regale them with the stories of the interesting folks who made these recipes possible.

When was the last time you took a cookbook to bed with you? This is a book that you'll read from cover to cover, and not necessarily in the kitchen. Well researched and expertly written, "The Foods of Israel Today" is actually a history of food traditions in Israel with a bonus of assorted recipes. Joan Nathan, formerly an assistant to Teddy Kollek, knows all the right people and has been to all the right places. The book is filled with delightful food-related anecdotes about well known Israeli personalities. This makes for a great read. For example, a full-page anecdote about a visit to Arik and Lili z"l Sharon's ranch with a photo of Lili and a description of their kitchen, precedes Lili's recipe for roast lamb. Her secret? A whole head of garlic pressed into the lamb.The introduction to this book is a fascinating history of the development of agriculture in Israel and how that influenced Israeli cuisine. The book has several full page color photographs, but more captivating are the many small black-and-white photos of Israel in its early years. There are other handy items such as recommendations for favorite Hummus haunts in Jerusalem, pita bakeries and where to get Baklava in the Galil. The recommended places are not all kosher, but the 300 recipes appear to all be kosher. This book is a must-have.

Joan Nathan has extended herself beyond her previous books to a land less limited in its audience appeal. She reaches past the realm of Jewish food in America, even beyond her previous work with Israeli food in her first book, "The Flavor of Jerusalem." This new book crosses cultural lines both by extending respect to the particular cultures of Israel today as well as in its universal appeal. If only peace processes involved food, an apreciation of differences and a utopian co-existence could be reached, as it is within the pages of this remarkable book. Nathan is no longer a cookbook writer alone, but clearly has earned her mark as a cultural anthropologist working towards peace and understanding in the most troubled of worlds. I highly recomend you join the adventure.

With 300 recipes, two pages of suggested Israeli restaurants, two web sources for ingredients, and nine suggested menus, Nathan shows the diverse cuisines of Israel?s sabras and immigrants. THIS IS ISRAELI CUISINE that is being eaten in Israel. Includes turkey schnitzel, quick kibbutz apple cake, eggplant salad, and halvah chocolate cake. Includes Transylvania Green Bean Soup, a dessert salami (made of cookies) and the Chocolate Cake recipe from the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem. It includes over a dozen poultry recipes, including Doro Wat, a spicy chicken of Ethiopian Jews; and Hamim, an overnight chicken dish with cloves, spaghetti, cumin, cinnamon, and cardamom. Ms Nathan felt compelled to write this 400 page book on the night Itzhak Rabin was assassinated (Nov 4, 1995). Three decades ago, she lived in Israel for three years and worked in Jerusalem for Mayor Teddy Kollek for over two years (where Nathan co-wrote her first cookbook). The book is in the style of her earlier American Jewish Cooking book, namely, each recipe is preceded by an oral history, and there are histories, classic photos, and stories between the recipes. For example, to complement the recipe for Shakshuka, the reader learns about the Doktor Shakshuka Restaurant in old Jaffa and its owners. For the burekas recipe, we read about eating burekas at Jerusalem?s city hall in the Seventies. While discussing the Friedman?s farm in Rosh Pina, we get lots of farm recipes. A recipe for Kaiserschmarrn is coupled with an old picture of Beit Ha?Pancake?s roadside gas station and a story about the search for the dish?s Viennese roots. In addition to salad, tahina, and hummus recipes, Nathan lists 19 of the best places for hummus from Jerusalem to Akko to Haifa. Plus 12 happening places for falafel. There are 23 salads, including Hamutzim (pickled vegetables). Some of my favorite recipes are Mish Mish Apricot Jam (with cinnamon stick); Egyptian Coconut Jam; Triple Citrus Marmalade (coupled with a story on Etrog picking); Israeli Onion Jam (from Neot Kedumim), a guide to how to make your own Za?atar spice; Carmelized green Olives; Shortcut Potato Burekas; Marhooda; Bulgur Patties from the Black Hebrew community in Dimona; and a Revisionist Haroset (from Hemda Friedman). The Palestinian Fruit Soup uses cinnamon stick and was found in a 1930's Cleveland cookbook of all places. There is a Bukharan style Tomato Gazpacho and Bulgarian Eggplant Soup with Yogurt. Speaking of Za?atar, Nathan includes the recipe for Abouelafia?s Sunny Side Up Za?atar Pita Pizza (if you haven?t had it in Jaffa, either buy the book or fly ElAl to the bakery immediately). Speaking of soup, she has the Hummus Soup recipe from Keren Restaurant, as well as Aramaic Chicken Soup; and the Goulash Soup recipe from Fink?s Bar (on King George at Ben Yehudah mall). The Olive Bread recipe uses black and green olives and oregano. The Mahlouach recipe is from Nahlaot, and the Chocolate Bread recipe is from