Bene Appetit: The Cuisine Of Indian Jews

DETAILS : 

• Author : Esther David
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins India
  
• Publication date  :24 April 2021
  
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
  
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9353579570
  
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9789353579579
  
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 250 g

ABOUT THE BOOK 

Bene Appetit: The Cuisine of Indian Jews is a unique cultural and culinary map of India’s diminishing Jewish communities. Written by Sahitya Akademi Award-winner Esther David, the book is part memoir, part travelogue, and part cookbook. It documents the distinct flavors of the four main Jewish groups in India: the Bene Israel of Maharashtra, the Cochini Jews of Kerala, the Baghdadi Jews of Kolkata, and the Bene Menashe of Northeast India.

The book highlights how Jewish dietary laws (Kashrut)—such as not mixing meat and dairy—fused with local Indian ingredients like coconut milk, tamarind, and regional spices. David’s narrative captures a "fading heritage," preserving recipes that are being lost as many members of the community migrate to Israel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Esther David is an Indian Jewish author, artist, and sculptor belonging to the Bene Israel community of Ahmedabad. She is widely recognized for her work exploring Jewish identity in an Indian context. Her novel The Book of Rachel won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2010. In Bene Appetit, David combines her skills as a storyteller and a visual artist, providing her own illustrations and deep ethnographical insights into how food serves as the strongest link to one's roots and religion.