• Gail Ashkanazi-Hankin
• Judy Bart Kancigor
• Norene Gilletz
• Marilyn Goodrich
• Sharee Feldman
• Rosalyn Kirkel
• Nancy Larner

• Classic Italian Jewish Cooking
• Cooking Jewish 532 Great Recipes
• Empire Kosher Chicken Cookbook
• New York Time Passover Cookbook
• Olive Trees and Honey
• Soup a Kosher Collection
• Spice and Spirit, The Complete Kosher Jewish Cookbook
• The Jewish Princess cookbook

Jewish Cooking and Kosher Cooking and what is the difference?

Jewish cuisine has been formed both by the dietary laws of kashrut ("keeping kosher") and the many cultures in which Jews have traveled.

Jewish cuisine has influences from the cuisines of the Balkans, Galicia, Russia, Spain, Portugal and the Middle East. For example, there are a number of cold starters which originate in the Middle East and which were brought by the Turks to the Balkans.

The roots of Jewish cooking, however, are in the Middle East, where the Jews came from, and it was heavily influenced by the cuisine of Ancient Egypt and the Byzantine Empire. It has been suggested, for example, that the major role played by garlic, leek and onions in Jewish cooking is due to these influences. Arab and Moorish cooking had an equal influence on the Jewish cuisine.

At the same time, aspects of Jewish cooking were often adopted by the cultures in which they lived. The rose jam which is typical of Russian and Galician cookery, for example, may have originally been imported by Jews during the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain. See: Jewish Foods

Kosher Cuisine

A Jew can eat non-Kosher Food or break Shabbat to save their life.

As other Semitic peoples, the Jews have dietary laws; the basic laws of kashrut are in the Biblical book of Leviticus. Food not in accord with Jewish law is termed treifah or treif (טרפה) ("torn");

Kosher Cuisine can come from any culture and any part of the world as long as it follows the kosher laws; such as Kosher Chinese food and Kosher American food.

also see: Put your soul where your Stomach is...

What Kosher is NOT:

The modern World has often thought the "laws of kosher" were based on hygiene. It was believed by some that kosher animals were healthier to eat than non-kosher animals. It was also noted that the laws of purity (Leviticus 11-15) not only describe the difference between clean and unclean animals, but also describe other phenomena related to health. Thus, it was natural for many to assume that all the laws of kashrut were merely hygienic in intent and origin. Also wrong is the belief that kosher means blessed by a Rabbi.

What make something un-Kosher?

Food may be designated non-kosher for a several of reasons. They include the species involved (for example; pig and fish without scales and fins) the manner in which the food was processed (animal improperly slaughtered, or the mixing of milk and meat); or time (leavened product not properly disposed of prior to Passover or food cooked on the Sabbath).

You are what you eat and the spiritual connection between man and God.

What Kosher is: Basically, Dietary laws or rules

Rules such as do not mix milk and meat to which animals you can eat. There is nothing intrinsically wicked about eating pork or lobster, and there is nothing intrinsically moral about eating cheese or chicken instead. But what the Jewish way of life does by imposing rules on our eating, sleeping, and working habits is to take the most common and mundane activities and invest them with deeper meaning, turning every one of them into an occasion for obeying (or disobeying) God.

Also see: What is Kosher ?