We take the subject of Jewish food very seriously and appreciate the great lengths that every day people, scholars, and chefs have gone to to document and preserve our community’s traditions. At FOODISH, we see this as a shared mission and to that end, we have created something a little different: the unique opportunity for you to centralize and record all of your family’s most treasured stories and recipes, to take an active part in the preservation and dissemination of the legacy of Jewish food. With our collaborative platform we welcome the public to add and publish a recipe or food story to the museum’s Jewish food database ensuring that it will always remain alive and vibrant, influencing future generations while serving as an accessible resource for all.
What exactly do we mean? Well, that’s up to you. Sara Sufrin, a consistent contributor to the FOODISH food database, has recorded upwards of 40 recipes and stories, serving to archive her family’s Ladino heritage and highlight the culinary delicacies of the once sizable community of Jews in Thessaloniki, Greece. Sara has created a digital record for her family, of her food, and her memories. In one story she connects her mother’s voice calling her in from play, to the glue her father used to finish cobbling shoes together, with warm, spiced sachlav, a traditional Turkish drink thickened with ground orchid bulbs. Because, yes, we want you to be able to experience her food, but we also want you to be able to hear the experience behind it. We believe that food serves a greater purpose than simply filling one’s belly- it is a time machine, an airplane, a bridge- it can evoke our greatest joys or sorrows and serve as a way to share a part of ourselves in a way that words cannot.
So we are building our site, piece by piece. Showing you how families from across the globe integrate Jewish culinary traditions into their modern lives with our column “The House Special”. Documenting the experience, and food, of holocaust survivors with our project Memories in the Kitchen. Giving you the chance to contribute to the conversation with the dishes and memories that you hold dear and the history behind them.