Modern Plant-Based Jewish Recipes

Lox, brisket, shawarma, whitefish salad — you may be wondering how these foods fit into a vegetarian cookbook.

In Nosh: Plant-Forward Recipes Celebrated Modern Juicing Cuisine, Bay Area chef and registered dietitian Micah Shiva adds plants to Jewish recipes that traditionally include all of these and other non-vegetarian ingredients. Adding a twist to the base.

Shiva, who lives in San Francisco, will be at Napa Bookmine for an author event on April 16th at 6 p.m.

Shiva grew up learning to make many traditional Nosh recipes with his family, especially his grandmother.

“I always spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her. We would make cookies together for Hanukkah, and we would go raspberry picking and make jam from raspberries and stuff them into underbaked cookies.” “,” Shiva said.

However, many of the family recipes she loved making were meat-based. She realized this when Ms. Shiva decided to eat a vegetarian diet during her middle school years.

“This is definitely a book I wish I had at the time so I could be more involved in family meals and holidays,” Shiva said. “This was definitely inspired by something I felt was missing from my own experience.”

She said the project is a celebration of Judaism, food and community. For Shiva, cooking and faith are connected, but the ingredients that are part of traditional Jewish cuisine are not.

“I think cooking is a way to practice Judaism,” Shiva said. For her, her cooking and her faith go hand in hand, but some of the ingredients in traditional Jewish recipes don’t fit with her lifestyle. She said her personal experiences, coupled with the rise of plant-based diets, inspired her to write this cookbook.

Even as eating habits change, recipes and traditions need to be able to be modernized to continue, Siva said.

“Most of what we’re doing when we’re eating these foods is experiencing a memory or an emotion. It’s such a special thing for anyone to be included in that memory and emotion. “I don’t think it’s about the recipe itself. I think it’s about the history behind it,” Siva said. “It needs a modern interpretation so that generations of people will want to eat it and be satisfied.”

Siva also acknowledges that there is room for a balanced mix of traditional and modern recipes. For example, some people use beef brisket, others use mushroom and tofu brisket. The book blends tradition and nuance throughout, both in recipes and additional content.

The opening pages of Nosh include the “Sabbath Matrix,” a perfect example of how Shiva can help readers reconcile their current lives with generations of traditions.

In the book, she says, “Between work, kids, cleaning, and everything else, the weekly Sabbath can seem daunting.”

Her easy-to-follow matrix shows you how she approaches your Friday night meal based on how much time and energy you need to spend on it. On a calmer week, homemade chickpea noodle soup and challah might be the way to go. Other times, pizza, wine, and candle takeout may just fit your schedule.

Shiva also offers tips for readers considering a vegetarian diet, including easy plant-based substitutions such as different uses for flaxseed and tofu for eggs.

She also explains keeping kosher during Passover, what it looks like in a vegetarian kitchen, and how it’s different for Jews with different traditions.

While Nosh certainly focuses on Jewish cuisine, it also includes recipes inspired by ingredients, memories, and places Shiva loves. Her hope is that non-Jews will also benefit from this book.

“It’s another way to diversify your cuisine,” she said. “This book is for people who are vegetarian or vegan, who cook for them, or who simply want to eat more vegetables in their meals.”

Where does she recommend readers start? Her favorite recipe in the book is kreplach with poppy seeds, potatoes, and caramelized onions. Xiao long bao was a staple in Rosh Hashana’s grandmother’s kitchen when he was a child. She said she is extra sentimental because Shiva made it with her husband when she met her family for the first time.

“Kreplach is important to me, but it’s also a plant-based recipe that works really well,” Shiva said. “It’s delicious. It’s one of the perfect projects to make on a Sunday afternoon, and it’s the most comforting dish in many ways.”

Napa Bookmine is located at 1625 Second St. in Napa. To register for the April 16 author event or purchase the book, visit napabookmine.com/event.