Esther David’s book showcases culinary heritage of Jews in India

Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu

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Artist and Sahitya Akademi Award winner Esther David’s latest book showcases Jewish life in India. She traces the culinary heritage of this miniscule community, the 5,000-odd members of which live in tiny pockets around the country.

Replete with recipes, historical snippets and peppered with illustrations, ‘Bene Appetit’ is a quick, easy read and every bit as appetising as its instructive contents. Following the opening notes on Jewish culture are introductory chapters about the Jewish communities that call India home. The author, herself a Jew, takes readers to the Bene Israel Jews of Western India, to the Cochin Jews in Kerala, the Baghdadis in Kolkata, the Bene Ephraim of Andhra Pradesh, and the Bnei Menashe of Manipur and Mizoram.

This book is an endeavour to trace and document the traditional foods, festivals and dietary habits of a people diminishing in number. Through her interactions with them, David discovers that while regional influences are overwhelmingly evident in their food habits, Indian Jews diligently observe dietary laws as laid down by the faith. The most important of all is adhering to kosher meals — strictly no mixing of meat with dairy products. It is this commonality, along with religion, that binds these communities together despite being physically distant. And although Jews are well assimilated in their home of over 2,000 years, their roots are most evident on special occasions. For Shabath prayers, for instance, grape juice sherbet — in the absence of kosher wine — is served in all Jewish households in India.

Prominent festivals and historically symbolic foods form an important component of the book. We learn that apples dipped in honey, signifying a sweet year ahead, are mandatory on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. In Kerala, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is observed by consuming wheat flour halwa after a day of fasting. Like elsewhere, Passover marks the exodus of Jews from Egypt. In Western India, matzo, the unleavened bread carried across the Red Sea, has been replaced with the bin-khameer-chi-bhakhri. A platter of assorted fruits edged with sweetened poha, nuts and dried fruits, called malida, is another essential part of celebrations. Scores of similar nuggets, with detailed recipes, are packed between the covers of ‘Bene Appetit’. A delicious read.