Tlaim: The Patch­work Cook­book is a com­mu­ni­ty cook­book col­lec­tion of more than eighty recipes and accom­pa­ny­ing reflec­tions that map Jew­ish culi­nary prac­tices across geo­gra­phies, his­to­ries, and lived expe­ri­ences. The cook­book is orga­nized by course and accom­pa­nied through­out by con­cise con­trib­u­tor notes and appeal­ing hand-drawn illus­tra­tions. Con­trib­u­tors rep­re­sent mul­ti­ple dias­po­ras and tra­di­tions — from Iraqi, Ethiopi­an, and Sephar­di to Per­anakan, Fil­ipino, Caribbean, West African, Kore­an, and Latin — and their recipes fore­ground the inter­sec­tions of rit­u­al, fam­i­ly mem­o­ry, and adaptation.

The cookbook’s sec­tions are divid­ed by course (Soups, Bread, Sal­ads, Sides, Fried, Entrees, Sweets), with each recipe pre­sent­ed on a two-page spread that pairs a clear ingre­di­ent list and step-by-step instruc­tions with a short con­tex­tu­al note from the con­trib­u­tor. These con­tex­tu­al notes sit­u­ate dish­es his­tor­i­cal­ly and social­ly, indi­cate vari­a­tions for local ingre­di­ents or kashrut prac­tices, and often offer serv­ing sug­ges­tions. Recipes include prep and cook times, serv­ing sizes, dietary tags (veg­an, meat, egg, dairy), and option­al gar­nish­es or sub­sti­tu­tions, which sup­ports mod­i­fi­ca­tions across dif­fer­ent kitchens.

Read­ers will find famil­iar hol­i­day sta­ples reimag­ined along­side less­er-known region­al dish­es. Stand­out recipes from each sec­tion include Nao­mi Spector’s Saf­fron Lentil Soup, a fra­grant, Shab­bat-ready veg­an soup; the Rajagopal-Thomas Family’s Shab­bat Chal­lah, clas­sic, rich­ly tex­tured braids for hol­i­day tables; Lau­ren Mona­co Grossman’s Yusheng with Lox, a cel­e­bra­to­ry Sin­ga­pore­an-style tossed sal­ad with lox; Joseph Moses’s Sukhi Bha­ji, a spiced, com­fort­ing Pun­jabi pota­to side; Dee Sanae’s Umai Jagaimo Tem­pu­ra Latkes, crispy Japan­ese-style latkes that are per­fect for Hanukkah; A. S. Kim’s T’beet (Iraqi Hamin) with Huevos Ham­i­na­dos, an overnight slow-cooked rice-and-chick­en hamin with tea eggs; and Alana Chandler’s Veg­an Wara­bi Mochi Donuts, chewy, kinako-dust­ed veg­an sweets for fes­tive tables.

As a com­mu­ni­ty cook­book, Tlaim per­forms an impor­tant cul­tur­al ser­vice: it pre­serves and shares recipes and it inten­tion­al­ly cen­ters voic­es that expand con­ven­tion­al notions of Jew­ish food.