7 votes

The woman preserving the endangered cuisine of Indian Jews. Esther David traveled from the spice port of Cochin to the mountains of Mizoram to record this culinary culture.

Posted by cfabbro
Tags: history, india, cuisine.jewish, bene israel, bene ephraim, judaism, cultural heritage, traditions.culinary, kosher, vegetarianism, interviews, esther david, religion, author.sam lin sommer, source.atlasobscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/indian-jewish-food

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Title
The Woman Preserving the Endangered Cuisine of Indian Jews
Published
Mar 1 2023
Word count
1260 words

5 comments

  1. [5]
    Pint_o_lard
    Link
    as someone who have tried cochin variant of jewish cuisine i can confirm that they are great. fun fact: kerala the state where cochin/kochi is situated gets it's name from coconut tree.(kera which...

    as someone who have tried cochin variant of jewish cuisine i can confirm that they are great.
    fun fact: kerala the state where cochin/kochi is situated gets it's name from coconut tree.(kera which means coconut tree and kerala essentially means land of coconuts).Coconut plays a very large role in almost all traditional cuisines from kerala.
    Kochi has a very sizeable jew population and their culture is one that is very celebrated there.
    Sorry if i droned on....

    1 vote
    1. [4]
      Flocculencio
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Well, it used to have a sizeable Jewish population. They've mostly emigrated to Israel. The other interesting aspect of the Kerala jewish community was the ethnic segregation between the 'White...

      Well, it used to have a sizeable Jewish population. They've mostly emigrated to Israel.

      The other interesting aspect of the Kerala jewish community was the ethnic segregation between the 'White Jews' (immigrants who came from the Mediterranean in the 16th C) and the 'Black Jews' (Jewish families who had been in Kerala from the early centuries AD).

      (Kerala Syrian Christian here)

      Her statement about most Indian food being dairy based is a bit odd, given that Kerala food uses coconut milk rather than cows milk in most preparations, but I guess she's thinking about more Northern dishes.

      1 vote
      1. [3]
        Pint_o_lard
        Link Parent
        agreed on the coconut milk. also its nice to see another keralite here.

        agreed on the coconut milk.
        also its nice to see another keralite here.

        1 vote