Quiches, Kugels and Couscous, My Search for Jewish Cooking in France

“We are living in a world of homogeneity and we need to show that we have individuality” ~ Joan Nathan

There are moments in life that are captured like a snapshot, stored away for another day in the mind’s eye. I had such a moment recently. Curled up on the sofa in the back room of the Black Dog, basking in the morning sun, food maven Joan Nathan read to me from her new book, Quiches, Kugels and Couscous, My Search for Jewish Cooking in France.

We had been talking about Madeleines.The Madeleine of Joan’s new book is the Alsatian Butterkuchen as opposed to Marcel Proust’s cake-like Madeleine.She picked up the book and went immediately to Page 358, the recipe for Beignets de Carnaval (Purim Doughnuts) which were a favorite of Proust and began reading. I closed my eyes and time traveled as her soft voice brought the story alive and brought me to a place (Proust, Madeleines, France) where all was right with the world.

This petite histoire was of Marcel Proust and his mother, Jeanne Weil, referencing a game they played together when he was a child. She would read one line from her favorite play, Esther, by Racine, and Marcel would read the next. These Beignets were a favorite sweet of Esther's from her childhood, eaten by Jews at Purim, which celebrates Queen Esther. This is a subject close to Ms.Nathan’s heart as she did her dissertation at the University of Michigan on Esther, and is well versed on the games Marcel Proust and his mother played.

Each recipe comes with a story by Joan or the person who shared their recipe with vibrant photographs and illustrations.Also in the margins (a la Silver Palate) are great tips on substitutions, cooking times, freezing, etc. Although this book is labeled in the cookbook genre, it is so much more. It is an anthology of French Jewish culinary heritage going back two thousand years. A Fellow at the MacDowell Colony Nathan is an exquisite writer. She interviewed chefs, cooks, gardeners, shopkeepers, holocaust survivors and cab drivers; and although there is a reticence to talk about religion or dietary rituals, Ms. Nathan has a Jewish culinary pedigree that just can’t be denied.

It was her father who awakened her interest in food. When she was a young girl he would take her to restaurants, showing her how to order and subliminally teaching her how to interview, for Mr. Nathan loved talking to waiters, asking questions about the food, where it came from, how it was prepared and if it was fresh. When she was a teen-ager he sent her to France to stay with relatives to immerse her in another culture, believing that fluency in foreign languages should be part of a young girl’s education. Returning to France to do her junior year at the Sorbonne, she made friends, especially with one particular family who shared their table with her. Listening to the Hebrew prayers in French made her feel part of something larger, gleaning that at tables all over the world Jews were gathered around their own tables reciting the prayers in their own language. Having broken bread at Jewish tables throughout the world, Quiches, Kugels and Couscous, My Search for Jewish Cooking in France brings her full circle with her own French history and heritage, and the culture that has nurtured her since childhood. The pride and passion in this book is evident.

France has the largest population of Jews in Europe, approximately five hundred thousand, with the highest ratio in Paris. French Jews are mostly Sephardic and Mizrahi from North Africa. Independence came to the former French colonies of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria in the late1950’s, and early 60’s and many more Jews emigrated to France and assimilated into the culinary population. Jewish food is diasporic emerging and melding from many lands in many forms. It can be defined most easily by Kashrut the body of Jewish law that deems what can and cannot be eaten, and how it must be prepared as explained in the Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy and expanded in the Talmud. For French Jews this means no crustaceans, no eel, no frogs legs, no bouillabaisse with shellfish nor heavy cream sauces or buttery flaky pastry crusts with meat. As difficult as this may sound to non-Jews, there are equally delicious alternatives, which for Jews aren’t considered alternatives, but kosher .A kosher bouillabaisse is the Provencal Bourride, a fish stew with vegetables, with a nice Rouille, a peppery garlic mayonnaise to thicken and flavor, and a dash of harrisa, the Tunisian hot sauce that can also be added for extra spice. So delicious!

Food defines a culture’s identity, tradition and roots. Each group of immigrant Jews brings it’s own influence to French cuisine. Sephardic Jews favor anise, olive oil, rose water and pine nuts. Moroccans like sweet and salty, Tunisians love their couscous, always savory and everything is on the table at once. North African Jews use harissa (Tunisian hot chili sauce) cumin and honey as opposed to horseradish, dill or sugar. Jews of Alsace cook with goose fat and sauerkraut while those of the South use oil and garlic. French Jews in the South of France live a homey existence, are less ostentatious and use seasonal ingredients. Each meal is shopped for at the open markets and simply prepared.

Ms. Nathan is the undisputed doyenne of Jewish cooking. This is her tenth book. Already it has won Publisher’s Weekly Pick of the Week. Chef and cookbook author Alice Waters wrote: “Documenting traditions, recipes and rituals ensures their survival, it is a vital work. Joan Nathan’s beautiful new book goes to the heart of French Jewish life. She is a writer, historian, anthropologist, and extraordinary cook but above all she is a tireless custodian of a wonderfully rich culture.”

Her  last book, The New American Cooking, won The James Beard Award and the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) award for Best American Cookbook.This book catalogues the influence of immigrants in the American kitchen; and Jewish Cooking in America won The Julia Child Award, IACP Best Cookbook of the Year and James Beard Award. Nathan's PBS television series, Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan, was nominated in 2000 for the James Beard Award for Best National Television Food Show and she is an inductee to the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who in American Food and Beverage. There are many more. She writes frequently for the New York Times and contributes to Jewish publications.

On this day Joan was on the way to Providence Rhode Island, where she was born and bred, to give her ninety-seven year-old mother the very first bound copy of her new book with the glorious color photographs and handwritten recipes on the inside covers

Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France comes out next Tuesday, October 26, 2010.

http://joannathan.com/
http://twitter.com/Joan_Nathan
http://www.pbs.org/mpt/jewishcooking/
http://joannathan.com/about
http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/48002/turkish-delights/

Follow me: http://twitter.com/#!/chouxs