About the Author

Phyllis Glazer

The Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking, published by Harper-Collins in 2004, is the newest and most revolutionary cookbook on the Jewish holidays to date. Fascinating, compelling, as interesting to read as it is to cook from, it reveals the origins of the ancient Jewish holidays, and their profound link to specific signs of nature and the produce of the earth in that season. It explains why and how the holidays changed into ones our ancestors would scarcely recognize today.

But this is far more than just a cookbook; it's an exciting new concept. The recipes not only offer delicious, healthy holiday cuisine based on natural ingredients, but also food that holds actual significance - with dishes that reflect biblical roots, ancient traditions, or symbols gleaned from Jewish mystical tradition.

Inspired by flavors and fragrances from the ancient land of Israel, throughout the centuries and the Diaspora, this unique collection of 200 holiday recipes also includes long-lost challah shapes, recipes rescued from the Holocaust, classic Ashkenazi recipes (courtesy of the authors' mother), generations-old Jerusalemite festive foods, and special dishes from throughout the Sephardic world. It explains why we eat what we eat, and how the classic dishes came to be in the four corners of the world in which they developed.