Écrivaine culinaire et photographe, Benedetta Jasmine Guetta fait partie des vainqueurs de la dernière édition du National Jewish Book Award avec son Cooking Alla Giudia. A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy, son premier livre de cuisine en anglais. “Je voulais préparer les biscuits de Pesach, j’ai commencé à bavarder avec une dame, puis …
By Michaela Hoenig* As Jews around the world were preparing to celebrate the High Holidays, I scoured the internet to discover some Italian traditions for Rosh Hashana, and consider how they compare to the American Ashkenazi traditions that I practice. For our dinner, my family makes sure to include a fish with the head attached; …
By Sam Elias* As a Sephardic Jew whose mother is a first-generation Italian-American, eggplant parm was a frequent sight on my kitchen table at home. When celebrating the High Holidays, we often ate what we referred to as ‘Sephardic’ eggplant, which was essentially fried eggplant with fresh tomato sauce. These first-hand experiences led me to …
By Adam Smulevich He was one of the most skillful and creative offensive playmakers of his generation, and also one of the legendary players who won the 1982 FIFA World Cup title for Italy. Giancarlo Antognoni at age of 62 seems to be experiencing a new youth: the same hair and the slim physique …
By Francesca Matalon To speak about kasherut is also to speak about quality, according to Jacqueline Fellus, responsible for K.it, the Italian national kosher certification initials released by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), of whose board Fellus is a member. K.it was a protagonist at Cibus, the prominent food and agriculture fair held …
By Pagine Ebraiche Staff A six-episode show devoted to the cucina giudaico-romanesca (Jewish-Roman cuisine) is going to air on Italian TV culinary channel Gambero Rosso starting next month. Introducing the dishes to the public will be chef Laura Ravaioli. Announcing the show to Pagine Ebraiche was a member of the Jewish Community board Giorgia Calò, …
By Francesca Matalon Everybody remembers TV super-star chef Gordon Ramsay fighting against culinary nightmares in every corner of the world shouting, throwing dishes and then later reconstructing them in order to make the worst of taverns become the trendiest foodies’ paradise. With that in mind, it is hard to be surprised by the metamorphosis of …
By Adam Smulevich A growing number of consumers is interested in kosher products. There are many explanations for this interest: the quality, the attention given to ethics, plus the strict control of every phase of production. “It’s an international trend and there are many kosher products available in Italy today. We have to work in …
By Ada Treves A growing success and outstanding results, based on generosity and the idea of mutual support: “Beteavòn”, the first Kosher Kitchen in Italy was born in January 2014 to provide take away meals for free, for whoever needs them. Food is prepared following the laws of kashrut, the Jewish diet, by the educational …
By Rossella Tercatin In the Jewish world when you say Purim you hear Hamantaschen. The triangle-shaped cookies traditionally filled with poppy seeds (but also jam, chocolate and more) are the typical Ashkenazi food associated with this holiday. Hamantaschnen is offered and eaten all over the world. And yet the truth is that in the same …
By Ada Treves The tenth edition of Salone del Gusto-Terra Madre, the five days event that transforms Turin in the capital of the food world will close today. With the Expo 2015 only six months away, in the year that the United Nations declared “International Year of Family Farming”, Slow Food, Regione Piemonte and the …
By Rachel Silvera Yom Kippur is one of the most important days in Jewish life: you cannot drink or eat anything, you cannot dress leather shoes and you have to pray. This is the Day of Atonement, of Teshuvah. And when fast is over, the typical Jew all around the world has just one thought: …
By Rossella Tercatin Everyone knows about apples and honey. But when it comes to Rosh HaShanah dishes, there is much more to say. “May You bring upon us a sweet New Year (Shanah Tova Umetukah)”, the words one is supposed to say before eating an apple dipped in honey is fairly well known, considering that …
By Benedetta Guetta* Stracotto, a simple pot roast in tomato sauce, is a traditional Jewish food from the Ghetto of Rome. Forget the meals-in-minutes approach to cooking: this beef roast will stay simmering in the pot for hours, just until all the family is gathered around the table for Shabbat dinner. Despite the long cooking …
By Ada Treves It is well known that food has a great importance in Italian culture. At least as much as it has in Jewish culture. And the only Italian University where all courses and subjects have to do with food is the promoter of an international seminar about Jewish Food. Professor Simone Cimotto, an …
By Benedetta Guetta* Eating a dairy meal on Shavuot is an enduring tradition for most of the Jewish people in the world. As we all know, there’s a number of reasons for this habit: some say it started when we received the Torah at Mount Sinai, when the meat was all of a sudden not …
By Benedetta Guetta* The combination of pine nuts, raisins and vinegar probably dates back to the Middle Ages: most of the oldest Italian cookbooks feature a vast collection of sweet-and-sour recipes, in which the sourness of vinegar is balanced by the sweetness of ground raisins, prunes or dates; our match of fish, pine nuts, raisins …
By Adam Smulevich Only hours after “The Great Beauty”, the Italian movie drama, which portrays the declining and yet sparkling life of a stunning Rome, won the Oscar for best foreign language film, the director, Paolo Sorrentino, born and raised in Naples, decided to reveal his favorite spots of his city of adoption. Among them, …
By Benedetta Guetta* One of the best kept secrets in the Jewish ghetto of Rome is called pizza ebraica or pizza di Beridde. It’s a heavy, warm, dense fruitcake type of cookie, that traditionally looks pretty burned and perhaps not edible, but tastes absolutely delish. The real recipe used by the 5 ladies who run …
By Rossella Tercatin In Italy, food does not mean only nutrition, recipes and industry. It represents tradition, culture, the nature of the country and the society itself. A feature that is definitely not foreign to Jewish tradition, which also cherishes food and the concept of eating together, following the appropriate rituals, as a cornerstone of …