A Selection of the Top Israeli Cookbooks.

Israeli food has become increasingly popular worldwide. This popularity is partly due to Israeli chefs opening restaurants in different locations and partly due to the success of the cookbooks written by some of these top Israeli chefs.

Now more than ever people are experimenting with home-cooking and such cookbooks provide an opportunity to reproduce some of their favorite Israeli dishes at home. If you cannot make a trip to Israel or don’t live near an Israeli restaurant, Israeli cookbooks are a perfect alternative to help you get your fix of Israeli food.

In no particular order, here is a selection of the top 10 Israeli cookbooks:

1. Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

This iconic recipe book focuses on family recipes from chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, who both grew up in Jerusalem. The two chefs met while working for Israeli-owned Baker & Spice in London and in 2002 opened their first restaurant together, called Ottolenghi in central London. The Ottolenghi chain now includes six restaurants across London. Ottolenghi is credited with bringing Israeli food to the British public and the chefs have been known to joke that thanks to them, fresh pomegranate seeds can be found in British supermarkets.

2. Sababa by Adeena Sussman

Sababa is an Israeli cookbook written by American immigrant Adeena Sussman, who lives next to the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv. Her recipes focus on local fresh ingredients from the market, adapted for an international audience. Adeena has collaborated on a number of cookbooks in the past but this is her first cookbook which includes all her own recipes. Key ingredients in many of her recipes are tahina, silan, harissa and zaatar. Sussman recently published a new recipe book called Gazoz, along with Benny Briga, known for revitalizing the gazoz drink trend in Israel.

3. Zahav by Mike Solomonov & Steven Cook

Mike Solomonov is an Israeli American chef who made hummus and falafel famous in Philadelphia. The recipe book, named after his first restaurant Zahav, offers modern interpretations of traditional Israeli cuisine. The authors also published Israeli Soul & Federal Donuts. Mike and Steve are co-owners of the CookNSolo restaurant group which includes seven restaurants in Philadelphia.

4. Balaboosta by Einat Admony

Einat Admony is an Israeli chef living in New York who comes from a Persian and Yemenite background.  Her cookbook is named after her flagship restaurant Balaboosta, which is a modern Israeli concept fine-dining restaurant. The recipes range from family-friendly and comfort food dishes to those for exotic dinner parties.

5. Shuk: From Market to Table by Einat Admony & Janna Gur

This cookbook combines home-cook-friendly recipes by Israeli female chefs Einat Admony and Janna Gur, inspired by the flavors, sights and stories from the most fascinating Israeli shuks. Janna Gur previously published The Book of New Israeli Food and Jewish Soul Food and Einat’s other cookbook is listed above.

6. Ottolenghi The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

The first cookbook from the Ottolenghi restaurant chain published in 2008 was inspired by  Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi‘s childhoods in West and East Jerusalem respectively. The book was relaunched in 2016 with new text introducing each recipe.

Other cookbooks by Ottolenghi include Ottolenghi Simple, Nopi, Plenty, Plenty More and Sweet. Ottolenghi’s latest book Flavour was published September 2020 and is available. In May 2020, Sami Tamimi published Falastin, a love letter to Palestinian food.

7. Breaking Breads by Uri Scheft

Uri Scheft is the owner of Lehamim Bakery in Tel Aviv and Breads Bakery with three branches in New York City. His cookbook includes recipes for traditional Israeli bread and baked goods, such as flatbread, challah, chocolate babka and rogelach. It also includes recipes for less well-known pastries such as Yemenite kubaneh and jachnun.

8. The Palomar Cookbook by The Palomar Chefs (Assaf Granit, Uri Navon and Tomer Amedi)

This recipe book includes recipes from The Palomar restaurant, founded by the chefs of the Machneyuda Group (Assaf Granit & Uri Navon) in Jerusalem. Some of the recipes are signature dishes found in many of the group’s restaurants around the world, such as Polenta Jerusalem style, Kubanah bread and Tahina ice cream. Other recipes are specific to The Palomar, which combines rustic Jerusalem dishes with Soho style.

9. Honey & Co: At Home by  Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich

This is the latest cookbook by Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich, the Israeli owners of the Honey & Co. restaurants in London. The cookbook is full of simple recipes for all levels of home cooks. The authors previously published Honey & Co, Honey & Co: The Baking Book, Golden, and most recently Honey Co Chasing Smoke.

10. Eating Out Loud by Eden Grinshpan

Although Eden Grinshpan is Canadian,  her Israeli father and time spent in Israel had a major influence on her cooking style.  Originally a chef, she is most known as a TV personality and current host of Top Chef Canada. The theme of the book is “Bold Middle Eastern Flavors for All Day, Every Day”. The book was published in September 2020.

Other Israeli Cookbooks

• Food of Israel by Sherry Ansky
• Israeli Kitchen Testament by Valeria Ray
• Israeli Cuisine Cookbook by Rachael Rayner
• Israeli Recipe Collection Cookbook by Nancy Silverman
• Israeli Recipes by Martha Stone
• Divine Food by David Haliva
• TLV by Jigal Krant
• Israel Style Recipes by Julia Chiles

New Israeli Cookbooks for Pre-Sale

• Food Cultures Israel by Michael Ashkenazi
• Tahini Table by Amy Zitelman

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