Author Esther David travels across India, collaborating with Jewish communities to learn how to cook traditional, closely guarded recipes for her new book, ‘Bene Appétit: The Cuisine of the Indian Jews’
“Zoo life was very cosmopolitan. I grew up with Gujarati friends. And the realisation of being Jewish. So I was really inhabiting three worlds,” says author Esther David, over a call from Ahmedabad.
Her latest book, Bene Appétit: The Cuisine of the Indian Jews, published by HarperCollins, opens with the lines “Food is memory. Food is culture. Food bonds families and communities.” Hence, in the face of a rapidly fading collective memory of the Indian Jewish experience, Esther decided it was time to travel across the country to record their traditions. In the process, she uncovered closely guarded recipes for dishes such as chik-cha-halva, jumping potatoes, agar agar jelly and even a Jewish biryani.