There’s no deny­ing that Jews love food and Jews love telling sto­ries; not to men­tion that even non-Jews love Jew­ish food. One Egg is a For­tune, com­piled by Pni­na Jacob­son and Judy Kem­pler, cap­tures a spe­cial essence of Jew­ish recipes and the sto­ries that cre­at­ed them in a way that speaks to the mod­ern Jew’s con­nec­tion to Jew­ish­ness via food. The book is easy to ref­er­ence as a cook­book with its acces­si­ble and orga­nized index, but also serves as an infor­ma­tive and cap­ti­vat­ing his­to­ry of Jew­ish food tra­di­tions from around the world. And if the sto­ries don’t grab your atten­tion the mouth-water­ing pho­tos will. The bold pho­tog­ra­phy also seems to tell two kinds of sto­ries – the sto­ries of the food itself and the sto­ry of the food’s jour­ney. New York­ers will love the obvi­ous ref­er­ence to its beloved Fair­way super­mar­ket on the Upper West Side, the famous Katz’s deli on the Low­er East Side, and the famil­iar sight of street pret­zels, while Jerusalem lovers will imme­di­ate­ly be drawn into the sounds and smells of its famous marketplace. 

While read­ers might ini­tial­ly get excit­ed to peruse recipes from famous Jews such as choco­lati­er Max Bren­ner, Rab­bi Shmu­ley Boteach, and Mar­lee Matlin, the recipes from some of the less­er-knowns are just as sat­is­fy­ing, includ­ing Sam Lipski’s Aro­mat­ic Roast Brisket and Alan Gold’s Hun­gar­i­an Scal­loped Pota­toes. One Egg is a For­tune will take you on a Jew­ish culi­nary jour­ney to inspire you in the kitchen and con­nect you to a whole new set of food and fam­i­ly memories.

Judy Kem­pler and Pni­na Jacob­son’s Posts for the Vis­it­ing Scribe