Thursday, March 05, 2009

A Disappointment: A Cookbook With A Bitter Taste

My wife, among her several blogs, started off the Kosher Cooking Carnival.

So, when I spotted this title (here)


The Settler's Cookbook



I figured one of our number (there are over 300,000 of us in Judea & Samaria and another 200,00 in East Jerusalem neighborhoods which the Arabs, et al. consider to be disputed as well), although my term for a civilian Jewish resident in a community in Judea and Samaria is revenant, was making a culinary contribution to the world.

However, it turns out that the author is Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

And she's quite political. Here she comments on Gaza, writing:

So that’s that then is it? Gaza is done and dusted? Very satisfying, I’m sure, for the Israeli leadership and their devoted allies at the BBC.


And why does she use the term "settler"? Here -

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s family history is one of constant displacement and repeated relocation, in which the feeling of being settled has come not from putting down roots, but from taking up a pot and creating a feast that tastes and smells like home.


Well, my wife can comment on the recipes, but I'd just like to say that I am not a "settler" because I have come home, land of my fathers and mothers, where my kings, priests, prophets and heroes walked and achieved deeds of religion, culture, philosophy, morality and economic values.

Yasmin's food might taste good, but her politics leave a bitter taste in my mouth.


P.S. She's also known as Yazzmonster

2 comments:

Batya said...

Sounds rather traif (forbidden) to me.

I think there's an old classic American cookbook called the "Settlement Cookbook," or something like that.

As you know, I haven't been too much into new recipes recently. I just invent according to what I have.

Anonymous said...

"Settlement Cookbook," ... also traif recipies.