Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

Thirty-fiveyears in the making, theCongregation Children of Israels Sisterhood recently released their new cookbook, Eat & Be Satisfied,a 350-pagecelebration ofNortheast Georgias vibrant Jewish and Southern culinary heritage.

Withmore than 175 recipes from classics like challah,latkesand matzo ball soupto peach chicken and the chocolate chip pecan piefromTrumps Catering,the dishes reflectthe diverse heritage of the CCIs congregants.Oneparticularrecipewould best be categorized as discovered.

Theset of directionsforWhipping Cream Pound Cake, contributed byCCI Sisterhood memberHelene Schwartz,was found stuck inside an old cookbook that belongedto Florence Schwartz.At 97,Florenceis the oldestmember of the Sisterhood, but the handwritingwasn't hers.

Theonly clue to the recipes origin was thepaper it was written on.

(Florence)mustve gotten it from aPeskinscustomer sometime in the mid-1980s, said Helene.Shes a great cook, but the pound cakewas her only bakeddessert.The cookbook we found it in mustve preserved the handwriting, because it has faded more and more since we took it out.

The historic Peskins Departmentstore in Winderis now home to the recently-renovated Legacy at Peskin Event Center.Built inthe 1930s,thestore wasowned by Henry Peskin beforeFlorence and her husband, Sandy (Peskins nephew), became business partners in the 1950s.Peskins closed in the 1990s,andthe buildingremainedvacant for more than 20 yearsprior to the renovation.

Lead bySisterhood board member andcookbook committee chairrustiKlein,the team behind Eat & Be Satisfiedbegan working on the book in October 2019, andused the time spent at home during the COVID-19 pandemic to complete it.In addition to a focus on healthy ingredients,the bookalso draws on theCaribbean, Middle Eastern, Moroccan, RussianandSouth Africanidentitiesof someof the contributors.

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Released in February 2021, the cookbook quickly sold out, and is now in its second printing.Poems, anecdotesand quotes are interspersed with the recipes, along with reminiscences by the owners of Jittery JoesCoffee, Mamas Boyrestaurantand Trumps Catering. There are also supplements on Kosher cooking and blessings before meals.

"We didn't want this to be an internal document that was just for our congregation, saidCCI Sisterhood presidentLizzieZ. Saltz,who also served as graphic designer for the cookbook.Theres beensuch a rise in hate towards minorities over the past decade. We wanted to put something positive out there that celebrates the joy of being Jewish.

Eat & Be Satisfied can be purchased at avidbookshop.com, and 25 percent ofthe proceedswill be donated to nonprofit agencies that combat food insecurity in Northeast Georgia.

Read more here:

Original source of pound cake recipe in new Athens Jewish cook book remains a mystery - Online Athens

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