A fascinating collection of recipes, looking at Italian cuisine through a Jewish lens. It was very interesting to read a new perspective on this almost ubiquitous cuisine.

Gorgeous cookbook. Full of history of the Jewish Italian community and packed with recipes. This one’s a keeper.

Amazing book, so good I would buy this as a present. Beautiful recipes and not all difficult. Definitely a keeper and one to buy for myself.

Jewish Flavours of Italy: A Family Cookbook pays tribute more to the author's family and history than to the actual recipes. Though I did find the information about the Jewish diaspora interesting, the balance between history and recipe is off balance. There is not a single recipe in the first 70 pages, which definitely dampens the enthusiasm for cooking.

The recipes are divided into sections like Soup, Pasta, Matzah, and Rice; Meat, Poultry, and Fish; Vegetable Dishes; Desserts, Sweets, and Bakes. Honestly, I am underwhelmed by the recipes and really did not take special note of any of them. The dishes that I find the most interesting are ones I already make. Most of the recipes are spread out over too many pages, with background information, ingredients, and recipes on separate pages. From a cooking standpoint, it is too hard to keep paging back and forth to see measurements in one place and instruction in the other.

Basically, I would rather have my history books separate from my cookbooks, so I would hesitate to recommend Jewish Flavours of Italy to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this cookbook was entirely my own.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ -- Love the cover of this one!

This book was jam packed full of yummy sounding recipes! The book is divided into the following chapters...

<b>-- Introduction
-- Soup, pasta , matzah and rice
-- Meat , poultry and fish
-- Vegetable dishes
-- Desserts, Sweets and Bakes</b>

The intro is full family (and Jewish) history, culture, traditions, techniques, and much more. The photos are beautiful and plentiful making this a very visually pleasing book to flip through. The recipes as I said above are plentiful, well laid out, and easy to follow. Most include tips and a little history about the dish itself.

I have tried the Minestra di Pastae Patate (amazing), the Peperoni Ripienidi Carne (also yummy), the Carciofi
alla Giudia (to die for), and Torta di Miele, Caffè e Noci (out of this world). I cannot recommend this cookbook highly enough. It would be a fantastic addition to any foodies collection, and I can't wait to try many more of the dishes featured in it!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

WOW ! what a delicious book. Jewish Flavours of Italy by Silvia Nacamulli is so good. The images, the descriptions, and the recipes are all so amazing

I really liked the recipes in this book, and I certainly learned more about kosher food and cooking. But for me there was just too much narrative in the book. It took 70 pages before there was any sight of a recipe, and whilst some of the narrative was really interesting, I couldn’t help but wish that bit along faster so I could get to the recipes, which was my main interest in the book.
My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

Great recipes! I'm also very impressed that various things are defined, including what pareve is. I'm also impressed at the vast amount of options of Italian dishes for all occasions - this is so difficult to find! I wish there were more kosher cookbooks of Italian and other cuisines like this one!

This is very much my type of cookbook. Personal yet placed firmly in a culture, enticing recipes, delightful presentation. Time has robbed me of the memory of which dishes I was considering most but I will return and cook from it, assuming my review copy from Netgalley is still on a device. There is however one huge honking problem with this book, and that is it takes seventy pages to get to the recipes. Seventy pages! The point of a cookbook is you look at it for things to cook. I do very much admire a book that takes a wider approach as to how the recipes came about, but not like this. This is too much. Please balance and spread this out.

I just love Italian food, and love that here the diversity of the country has been recognised and the Jewish flavours highlighted. We are so used to the same old pasta dishes but there really is more to cucina Italiana than meets the eye.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

Jewish Flavours of Italy is a lovely cookbook filled with family recipes collected and curated by Silvia Nacamulli wrapped in a rich tapestry of diaspora history of the Jews in Italy. Due out 23rd May 2023 from Pen & Sword on their Green Bean Books imprint, it's 336 pages and will be available in hardcover format. 

There are undeniably quite a lot of wonderful recipes here, but for me the biggest value was in the background history of the Jewish diaspora in Italy; the food was almost secondary. The author writes accessibly and authoritatively on the subject and I learned a great deal about the immigration of Jews in the area as well as how they adapted to local ingredients whilst still remaining true to their religious and cultural identity at the same time they built a strong rapport in their new homes. 

All of the recipes include commentary and background history such as where the dish originated and regional specifics. Recipe ingredients are given in a bullet list in a sidebar. Measurements are provided in metric measures with imperial (American) measurements in parentheses. The cooking directions and tutorials are written clearly and many are accompanied by multiple photos which are in colour and easy to understand. The photographers have done a stellar job of providing clear action shots without obscuring hands or utensils in the way.

Most of the ingredients will be easily found at a well stocked grocery store. Some few specialty ingredients may need to be acquired from international type food stores or sourced online. 

The author has included some conversion charts for measurements in the back of the book as well as an abbreviated bibliography and comprehensive index. Much of the book is written in Italian on one column and translated side by side in a column of English on the right side of the page. All of the recipes are written in English with only the dish names in both languages.

Five stars. A wonderfully well written, solidly useful book which would be a superlative choice for public or home library acquisition, as well as gift-giving.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Includes a feature on "GOOSE - THE 'PORK' OF THE JEWS" but contains no recipes for me to experience said Pork of the Jews

I loved reading this cookbook and the recipes. I didn't know a ton about Italian Jewish food since my Jewish family is from Germany and Poland. It's amazing the diversity that exists even within Jewish food. The book flowed well and the pictures were beautiful and inspiring. I can't wait to make more recipes from this one!

Is it even fair or sensible that I am looking at a book about Italian Jewish cuisine before I look at something based on Jewish Jewish cooking, for want of a better name? Well, I am. And anyway, this states very early on that this is not a fusion book of modern dishes – the Jewish communities in Italy living in a long, stable and two-way relationship with their surrounding neighbours has helped this style of cooking become a timeless, homogenised thing, to an extent. So this is not one person's idea of a quirk, or a fad.

But boy you might as well be reading something just one person has knocked up with pride, for there is far, far too much editorialising and writing around the dishes.

OK, the first recipe coming in the 70s when there are practically 350pp is nowhere near as bad as these things can get, but it felt a long time arriving. Before then we had the history of Italian Jewish cuisines, the history of the author's family and essays giving us all the "necessary" credentials, plus guides to kosher thought and cooking for the feast days and suchlike. Some of that was vital, some forgivable – some neither. But then we hit the first dish, a simple-seeming chicken and beef broth, and find the problems. Page one is the portrait, page two the ingredients list – and then the entire page filled with blurb, extemporising and waffle. So the actual recipe to follow is overleaf, on page three. And while that may force you to be mise en place, which is surely a good thing for some, three pages for one basic dish, and the recipe and ingredients needing a page turn all the time, is really wrong.

Now it doesn't apply to all the dishes, far from it, but this is evidence of too much waffle. If you need the nutritional advice, added tips and so on, put them facing the recipe and shunt the photo elsewhere, but don't force the page turn on us. Let our waistlines spread, not your recipes. When verbiage gets in the way of the ease of use, you should know you're on the wrong path.

But like I say, this is getting off to a bad start that is not maintained. Elsewhere things are more concise, more useable, and more fit-for-purpose. And it's a great purpose, bringing what really does seem to be a firmly Italian/Mediterranean diet to us in slightly unexpected ways. All told this is still a success. The recipes are clear, and don't involve much that might be scarce (goose sausage, perhaps, but all the same…). They are never things that have been thrown in, but instead show centuries of working-rounds, and adaptation, especially with kosher rules such as meat dishes (like lasagne) being by demand dairy-free (ie either the meat or one of the two relevant sauces has to go). Ultimately there were about as many recipes for me to snap up for future reference as I expected, a great range of veggie and other dishes, not too much make-your-own-pasta – and more sweet and sour than you probably think. And OF COURSE there's a shakshuka. It IS the law, you know.

All of this means that if your waffle sensitivity is set to low this will work, and you will find much here to fancy a taste of. It's not the perfect presentation of what it wants to show us, but still succeeds in doing what it set out to do.

When thinking of Italian food, most Americans think of heavy food thick with meat and cheese, like a hearty meat lasange, or filled with porky goodness, like spaghetti carbonara, but there is another side of Italian food - created by Jews, hewing to rules of kashrut that forbid pork, shellfish, and mixing milk and meat. What's left, you may ask? Fried artichokes, crisp and flavorful, or vegetarian minestrone, or a pumpkin carbonara so light and creamy you could float in it, and much more. The first section of the book drags somewhat, with a detailed history of Italy's Jews (most immigrants fleeing persecution who were forced to flee in turn from Papal decrees or the grip of the Fascists) and the rules of kashrut, along with explanations of Jewish holidays. The recipes make up for it, though, in their variety and tastiness. A good Hannukah present for the cook in your life. Measurements are in metric.

Jewish Flavours of Italy is the perfect resource for a cook that wants to learn about the culture and history as well as paying for a wonderful selection of recipes. The author Silvia Nacamulli writes about her family, what it means to be an Italian Jew, and gives historical vignettes throughout her cookbook.

The recipes include US measurements (4 tablespoons of olive oil for example); weights (700g or 9 ounces for example) and they also include oven temps written in the following ways: 200 degrees C or 180 degree C /fan; or 400 degrees F or gas mark 6. The recipes should be usable by almost all cooks thanks to the clear explanations given by the author.

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

I'm Italian and I think that Jewish Italian cuisine is one of the best kept secrets as all the dishes I tasted were always great.
This is an excellent recipe book and it talks about recipes but also history.
An excellent book highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Jewish Flavours of Italy is a beautiful, beautiful book about the history of Italian Jews, culture, tradition, family, heritage and quality ingredients authored by a Jewish Italian's own experiences. Actually, it's more than a book...it's a captivating experience, family and food photographs included. How I enjoyed reading about the history of Jews in general and those of Italy! There is something so very inspiring and uplifting about Silvia Nacamulli's writing which whisked me to the places I adore in Italy in an instant. But more importantly, she made a profound impression upon me with her descriptions of Italian family gatherings, what Jews celebrate, what foods/dishes/ingredients signify and their origins (as well as word origins), sometimes dating back hundreds and even thousands of years to Old Testament times. Amongst my many favourites (of many) is the origin and importance of charoset, the fish head story and the dismantling of appliances to make them kosher,

My knowledge of the subject just expanded exponentially! I did not realize tagliatelle baked with goose, raisins and pine nuts is popular in Trieste, one of my favourite cities, nor did I know about the Haman's ears recipe and link to the Biblical story. Italian food is remarkably regional and the author uses many anecdotes and historical research to describe regional dishes and traditions. One of her goals is to keep her own family traditions alive. It seems she is a credit to her family!

Though I have celiac, there are so many recipes here I can make, even those with flour as gluten free substitutions can often be made.. My palate is very adventurous and thankfully there are several to choose from such as Ravioli di Zucca con Burro e Salvia, Buricche and Baccalà alla Romana. However, many are well within reach of most cooks such as Minestra di Pasta e Patate, Zucchine Marinate, Rich Soffrito-Based sauce and Insalate di Finocchio, Arance Rosse e Olive. Who wouldn't love macerating strawberries in white wine, sugar and lemon? In addition to the above I will try Spaghetti con Ricotta, Zucchero e Cannella, Bigolii in Salsa, Torta d'Uva (with gluten free flour), Pomodori col Riso, Abbacchio Brodettato (am enamoured with the lemon sauce idea), Sarde in Saor and Nacamulli's version of fried courgette flowers (Fiori di Zucca Fritti con Mozzarella e alici). The author also provides countless practical cooking and baking tips and extols the virtues of the aubergine, tomato, fennel, artichoke and so on.

My sincere thank you to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for the honour of reading this phenomenal and unforgettable book. I could not possibly recommend it enough.

Loved this! Great new recipes for the upcoming holidays and beyond. I also enjoyed reading a bit of the history behind them as well.

Ohhh this book. #swoon

Having been to both Italy and Israel myself, I was particularly excited to pick up _Jewish Flavours of Italy_--and it did not disappoint. I love both countries' food, and was super curious to see how the two might mesh (especially in a kosher context; I love meat and dairy in the same dish--hellooooo lasagna--and wondered how one might address that). While I can't say Imma go the vegan cheese route, I appreciated Nacamulli's overview of chefs' challenges and their innovative approach to resolving them!

Nacamulli provides a great overview of both Italian and Israeli cuisine and history, as well as sharing stories of her own family and their experiences during WWII and beyond. Sobering, and yet, so important to remember and to tell their stories. Very powerful.

The recipes and photographs are both very approachable; I appreciated that the meals didn't all look like haute cuisine or something I'd only order at a restaurant and never make at home! Even having just had a snack, I still come away hungry after reading the book, lol. (An inevitable hazard of the business.) Nacamulli includes many a meal plan, as well--one of my favorite things :D as it takes the guesswork out of it! I felt very much at home with the book, enjoying the family photos along with snaps of area sites and memorabilia, and gratefully accepting the (virtual) invitation to join Nacamulli at her family table.

I can't say I'll rush to include spinach in a dessert (a la _torta di spinaci e mandorle_, spinach and almond cake), but the roasted veggies, challah, and _torta di miele, caffe e nochi_ (honey, coffee and walnut cake) are calling my name!

The book allows me to relive many a travel and food memory, and that alone makes it worthwhile--the rest is an added bonus. (As are an Ottolenghi recipe--huge Yotam fan here!--and a vintage Tintin picture! So cool to unexpectedly see that!)

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.