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Take a culinary journey through the foods, restaurants and businesses that define the cuisine of New York City and the Jewish immigrant experience... No trip to New York's five boroughs is complete without a hand sliced pastrami sandwich at Katz's deli or a bagel and lox with a schmear of cream cheese from Russ and Daughters. Any true New Yorker can tell you where to get the savoriest bowl of matzo ball soup or the crispest kosher dill pickle. Manischewitz wine became the icon it is today after Sammy Davis Jr. became its offical spokesperson. Join author June Hersh as she reveals the iconic Jewish foods, establishments and products that left their imprint on the taste buds of New Yorkers and the world.Review Quotes
As a third generation New Yorker who was raised on bagels and lox, pickles out of a barrel, matzo ball soup, corned beef on rye, and egg creams, this beautifully written book fills me with joy and nostalgia, and its in-depth history is absolutely captivating. It's a tribute to New York's Jewish food culture, told with heart, soul and excellent recipes, and it makes me want to run out right now to the Lower East Side to get a knish! -Ellie Krieger, Food Network and Public Television cooking show host and James Beard Foundation award winning cookbook author
As someone who's entire personality is the intersection of New York, Judaism, and food, I cannot be more obsessed with this book and grateful to June for shining a light on the evolution of Jewish food when our community arrived to NYC. -Jake Cohen, NYT Bestselling Author of Jew-ish
Hersh gracefully glides between past, and present...readers can clearly visualize the notorious pushcarts that filled the Lower East Side, selling pickles, hot dogs, and pretzels. By the time you learn all about bagels, knishes, several types of fish, and Egg Creams, your mouth will be watering and there is nothing you will want more than a big, juicy bite of New York Jewish food. -AISH
In Iconic New York Jewish Food, Hersh lovingly explores and celebrates the Jewish immigrant influence on how New York City eats today. She paints an invaluable historical portrait of pushcart peddlers, bialy bakers, lox slicers, and more, capturing just how food and culture intersect to define a place. Be sure to enjoy with Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray and a knish. -Jeffrey Yoskowitz, co-author of The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods
June Hersh is the beloved cartographer of the collective memory of Jewish food. A decade after her award-winning book Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival comes Iconic New York Jewish Food, celebrating the moxie of the ingenious immigrants who helped shape the city's culinary streetscape. Food, an undisputedly sacred dimension of the Jewish experience, comes to life as Ms. Hersh brings her superlative skills to storytelling. With historic photos and alluring anecdotes, this is the culinary memoir of a city, as filling and satisfying as a hot potato knish (recipe included). -Rozanne Gold, four-time James Beard Award-winning chef and author
June Hersh's authoritative book...with a light touch and punnacious style...documents key purveyors like Russ & Daughters and Katz's that still thrive, along with glimpses of bygone examples, including Rabinowitz Delicatessen, owned by the father of Jerome Robbins, the choreographer. Illustrated with vintage and modern photographs, the book lists where to find the foods today and suggests noshing tours. -The New York Times[This] entertaining book is divided by food types -- bagels get one chapter, lox another, and several more cover smoked fish, meats, knishes, and other treats, not all of which are popular outside of the city...Like Katz's sandwiches, this book is impressively overstuffed. There's a color-photo insert of mouth-watering meals, terrific period photos, and advertisements such as: "Send a salami to your boy in the Army." There are authentic recipes, too. ("No deconstructed knishes or jalapeno matzoh balls here," Hersh promises.) Instructions are simple but still hold some surprises. -The New York Daily News
June's new book "Iconic New York Jewish Food" it's more than a walk on the Wild Side. Not only does it celebrate the complex and captivating roots and history of the foods, nibble, noshes and drinks of the foods we all crave, it's also a marathon of deeply interesting facts, old historical photos, fascinating and touching Jewish stories by hopeful immigrants who settled in NY and transformed culinary traditions into the iconic foods we still love today.I also consider myself a proud New Yorker (an Italian transplant but still proud). I couldn't put June's book down. At every turn of a page, I found myself traveling to one of my favorite NY food joints. Best of all the end of each chapter June includes one or two recipes. And these recipes are the real deal. June writes: " No deconstructed knishes or jalapeño matzo balls here. These recipes are rooted in tradition, tested by time and easy to replicate in your home to bring an authentic experience to the table." Some of my personal favorites in the book are the recipe for "Bagel Chips with Everything Bagel Scallion Dip", because as June says two-day-old bagels are only good as hockey pucks. Turn them into crispy golden bagel chips. Quoting June quoting Lenny Bruce, "If you live in New York, you are Jewish. Even if you're Catholic, you are Jewish." and lastly a few but sage words from June, "Here's to another century of schmaltz-laden matzo balls, luxuriously silky lox, briny kosher dill pickles and sublimely sweet cheesecake. May your bagels be yeasty, your knishes perfectly golden and your antacids readily at hand." Mazel tov June Hersh. -Silvia Baldini
Take a mouthwatering trip through the restaurants, unique foods, and pioneering businesses that represent Jewish immigrants' impact on New York City's culinary history. The Bedford-based Hersh delves deep into the complex backstory behind iconic treats, like black-and-white cookies, bagels, pastrami, and egg creams, using eye-catching images, a host of witty one-liners, and razor-sharp writing...a work well worth the time of any area foodie. -Westchester Magazine
The book combines humor (one chapter is titled: "Doesn't That Look Appetizing: The Birth of a New York Phenomenon"), history (the evolution of the hot dog bun, for example) and recipes (like "Mash Up Hash Up Latkes," potato pancakes made with corned beef and pastrami). -Jewish Telegraphic Agency
