My Life In Recipes
by: Joan Nathan
April 9, 2024, Knopf
464 pages
Every year there’s a cookbook I post without having tried even a single recipe. Not because they don’t look good, but because the recipes are almost besides the point. This year, that book is Joan Nathan’s My Life In Recipes. While the book does indeed contain recipes – and really nice photos! – each one is preceded by a discussion of the period in Nathan’s life when she first encountered or cooked that food. Some are family recipes brought from the old country including tales of her parents lives, and some are from her own adventures. Either way, this is a genealogy, a memoir, and a food travel novel all wrapped in one.
If you’ve ever wondered about the person behind the recipes, this is the book for you. Joan Nathan is an award winning cookbook author, but she herself states that this is the book most personal to her. Not only is there gorgeous food photography, there’s also photos of her family’s past. We move with her through time and our palettes take a tour from Hungarian Chicken Livers to Rhubarb Torte.
I felt like Nathan’s family was my family, the food she loves, my food. (OK maybe not the chicken livers. I’ve never been a fan of organ meats). The Passover section was particularly robust, and the pandemic and coming back to life after mourning sections were particularly poignant.
You don’t have to enjoy cooking to enjoy My Life In Recipes. You also don’t have to be Jewish. You just need a love of history, of tying a person to their cultural milieu, and using all your senses to remember your past.
Note: BookishlyJewish received a copy of this book from the publisher after we asked for one.