Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South

by Marcie Cohen Ferris

From the colonial era to the present, Marcie Cohen Ferris examines the expressive power of food throughout southern Jewish history. She demonstrates with delight and detail how southern Jews reinvented culinary traditions as they adapted to the customs, landscape, and racial codes of the American South. Richly illustrated, this culinary tour of the historic Jewish South is an evocative mixture of history and foodways, including more than thirty recipes to try at home.

Genres: Jewish, Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, History, Food History, Southern

327 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2005

Reviews

[Mindy Burroughs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a treasure from beginning to end. The recipes are great, but the text in between is so inspiring and appetizing (and sometimes cold hard punch to the gut truth), that’s what makes the recipes shine.

If you read this book, you’ll get more than a good overview of how the Jewish South came to be and some great recipes, you’ll also get a lot of info about the development of the main branches of Judaism and how they were shaped by and shaped communities in the South.

And as an isolated-in-the-Midwest, far from large communities-of-Jewish-people Jew myself, I see a lot of similarities between Great Plains/flyover country Jewish populations and histories. And sometimes even recipes.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up at the library because I was interested in the history of the Jews of the South, and I was certainly rewarded in that quest. The author pulls together the facts of how the Jews adjusted to living in South, attempted to fit in with the Gentile community, and adopted the customs of the people around them. Kosher law was abandoned by the early immigrants, who came mainly from Germany to the U.S. Jews even had slaves, and their cooks taught them about Southern cooking. The book is sectioned into areas of the South - Atlanta, the deep South (Mississippi, Alabama, etc.), and the history of each area is supplemented by interviews with both Jews and their servants. The reader gets a very clear picture of what life was like from the time of the immigrants' arrival up to the 1980s.

There are also recipes in the book that sound delicious. I am going to make some of them and thus get a taste of historic Jewish cooking in the South. If you are reader of cookbooks and like those that include anecdotes and stories in addition to recipes, you'll enjoy this one very much.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and insightful examination of how southern Jews form and adapt their identities through food and religion, influenced by region and culture.

[Jennifer Worrell]

Worth it even if you do nothing but make the gumbo recipe. Fuckin' A. I did not give this book a rating because I did not make most of the recipes and I read almost none of the stories, which makes up a good 60% of the pages. They sound interesting, though, so if you're a fan of foodways, you will probably enjoy this.

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read about Jewish culture and cuisine in different regions in the South. Made my mouth water; some delicious looking recipes included.

[Glennie]

Loved the Charleston/Savannah history part,, and looking forward to trying some of the recipes!