Post­ed by Nao­mi Firestone-Teeter

Miri Pomer­antz Dauber and I had a won­der­ful meet­ing yes­ter­day with the cre­ators of the cook­book One Egg is a For­tune (Pni­na Jacob­son and Judy Kem­pler). Not only is the book sim­ply gor­geous, but part of the pro­ceeds will be donat­ed to sup­port Jew­ish aged care. 

‘One Egg Is A For­tune’ is a cook­book full of heart! It is a book for today from times past.

Fifty well-known Jew­ish fig­ures from around the world have con­tributed recipes, biogra­phies and anec­dotes, show­cas­ing the diver­si­ty of Jew­ish life. And while each per­son tells a unique sto­ry, their anec­dotes reveal that the enjoy­ment of food is the com­mon thread that binds us togeth­er. The title of our book was inspired by one of these beau­ti­ful stories.

This time­less book presents over 100 deli­cious recipes with clear, easy-to-fol­low instruc­tions with stun­ning food pho­tog­ra­phy by Craig Cranko, sophis­ti­cat­ed food styling by Michele Cranston from Marie Claire, The New York Times and oth­er pub­li­ca­tions, and ele­gant book design by award win­ner Melanie Fed­der­sen from i2i Design pty ltd.

The gen­e­sis of this book began over ten years ago. Pni­na and Judy met when their chil­dren were young. Stand­ing at the bus stop see­ing their chil­dren off to school, they would often talk about doing some­thing worth­while for the com­mu­ni­ty and yet still be stay-at-home moth­ers, car­ing for their families.

As they got talk­ing, their shared inter­est in food emerged, not just the meals but the mem­o­ries asso­ci­at­ed with them. And so the con­cept of the book devel­oped into a min­gling of recipes with the warmth of nos­tal­gia and soci­o­log­i­cal record.

At this time, Judy was a car­er for her late moth­er-in-law Vio­la, and realised that so much more was need­ed to help our age­ing com­mu­ni­ty. They decid­ed then that part of the pro­ceeds from this book would sup­port Jew­ish aged care.