Joan Nathan’s King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World (Knopf, $35) has recipes but it is not a cookbook—it is a travelogue, an ethnography, and a groundbreaking food history that deserves its place on the shelf next to The Joy of Cooking and The Silver Spoon. Nathan’s far-ranging recipes highlight the extraordinary depth, diversity, and innovation of Jewish cooking as it adapted to local ingredients, climates, and traditions. From hand-rolled couscous inspired by a visit to Mejlaw, a tiny village in northwest Morocco, to a Siberian recipe for Chremsel, a Matzo Pancake Casserole, to a Roman Pomodori a Mezzo, every recipe includes a beautiful micro-history of its origins and mutations told in Nathan’s loving, informed voice.
