Take an online cooking course that explores the history of Jewish food
Israeli postal stamps depicting gefilte fish include an illustration of the grinder used to grind the fish, and a list of ingredients. Credit: Archives of the YIVO Institute
If you are sheltering in place with your grandma / bubbe / nonna / yia yia / abuela, read no further. But if you are craving some home cooking from the old country, help is available online. YIVO, a Manhattan-based nonprofit dedicated to the preservation, study and sharing of East European Jewish culture, has launched an online course called A Seat at the Table: A Journey into Jewish Food.
Once a week, you can tune in to immerse yourself in the glories of Ashkenazic cuisine: slicing lox at Russ & Daughters, building a sandwich at Katz’s Deli, making matzo balls soup and knishes. Among your expert guides are cookbook author (and world-class grandmother) Joan Nathan, Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz (of The Gefilteria) and Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper (of Russ & Daughters).
The seven-unit course, offered free of charge, features hundreds of never-before-seen archival objects, lectures by leading scholars, and video demonstrations of Jewish recipes by renowned chefs. Discover how the essence of Jewish food has remained constant even as the recipes have evolved and changed with the migration of Jews around the world. Plus songs, historical video and hundreds of rare food-related objects (like gefilte-fish postage stamps) from the YIVO archives.
New units roll out through June. The course is available online through August. To register, go to yivo.org/shine.
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