Praise for ‘The Jewish Holiday Table’

A national best-seller, “The Jewish Holiday Table” was named one of the best books of 2024 by Smithsonian Magazine and one of the best cookbooks of spring 2024 by Eater. A finalist for the Jewish Book Council’s awards, it appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show and The Today Show and was featured in the New York Times, Eater, Good Housekeeping, and many other publications. 

“This book carefully unravels diverse Jewish traditions with great skill and depth. I love how personal it is, and how generous and delicious.”―Yotam Ottolenghi, cookbook author

“I often say that each piece of archival material saved is a bit of a miracle, and that is absolutely apparent when reading this cookbook. The recipes in The Jewish Holiday Table survived and were adapted over generations of movement across the Jewish diaspora… The Jewish Food Society, which started as a digital archive to document ephemeral Jewish family recipes passed down in oral histories, reveres the past but isn’t stuck in it; the design is modern, the food styling is vibrant, and the recipes are meticulously tested. This is an accessible cookbook for history lovers and a unique way for chefs to gain inspiration for celebratory feasts, though I will warn you to double the recipes if you want leftovers.” — Smithsonian Magazine, “The Best Books of 2024, as Chosen by Smithsonian Scholars”

“To attempt to define ‘Jewish food’ is to plunge into a complex geography of overlapping traditions, cultures, communities, and migration patterns — a daunting task that The Jewish Holiday Table, the first cookbook from the Jewish Food Society, a New York-based nonprofit, embraces with gusto…. The Jewish Holiday Table is a Diaspora food atlas, tracing Jewish journeys both joyous and difficult across centuries and continents.… In a cookbook so packed with recipes and stories, covering such a diverse swath of regions, cuisines, and flavors, any home cook — Jewish or non-Jewish — will find something to love and to learn.”  — Eater, “The 17 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2024”

“The Jewish celebration of Purim will start the evening of March 23. Have you lined up your hamantaschen, the filled triangular cookies that represent the holiday? ‘The Jewish Holiday Table’ by Naama Shefi, with Devra Ferst and the Jewish Food Society, is here to help. Other treats for Purim are also included and, like most of the recipes, have been contributed by individuals and families whose origins and culinary traditions stretch across the globe. Baghdad, London, Brooklyn, Casablanca, Milan, Tashkent, Kyiv, Mexico City, Jerusalem and Toronto are some of the cities that figure in the family histories that fill the book’s bright pages. It starts with Rosh Hashana in the fall and cycles throughout the year with a series of menus based on Sephardic, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi dishes, providing astonishing diversity.”  — The New York Times

“This cookbook is like a family reunion told across tables that cross borders, time, tastes, and seasons. It tells our story in a way that is uniquely Jewish, joyful and sparkling with life. It’s a must-have.”―Michael W. Twitty, winner of the James Beard Award and the National Jewish Book Award and author of The Cooking Gene and Koshersoul

“Flipping through The Jewish Holiday Table is an exercise in discovery. The colorful cookbook, compiled by Jewish Food Society founder Naama Shefi and Devra Ferst, shares recipes via its contributors’ continent- and generation-spanning family stories, which means you may stumble across a Rosh Hashanah spread with origins in India and Iraq or a Mexican-by-way-of–New York seder.” — Goop