Rosh Hashanah Pumpkin Cupcakes. Photo: Katherine Romanow

As the Jewish people ring in the new year (5771), the Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA) blog “Jewesses with Attitude” adds food to the mix.

Katherine Romanow, a graduate student at Montreal’s Concordia University, is pursuing her Masters in Judaic Studies. Her focus: food, of course. She is studying women’s relationship to food, specifically Passover cuisine. In her free time, Romanow writes “Eating Jewish,” an effort to mix recipes and knowledge about the vast world of Jewish cuisines.

Public Radio Kitchen spoke with her recently about Jewish food, “Eating Jewish,” and the year 5771.

PRK:  We’ve hit High Holiday season and up first, Rosh Hashanah, the holiday celebrating the Jewish New Year.  How is “Eating Jewish” marking the occassion?

KR:  My goal for “Eating Jewish” is to explore not just Ashkenazi cuisine (Ashkenazi refers to Jews of Europe) but also the cuisine of Sephardic (Jews descended from the Iberian Jews of Spain and Portugal) and Mizrahi Jews  (Jews from communities in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Caucusus).  So our High Holiday recipes celebrate this range. For example, I included a recipe for Black-eyed pea stew.  As  I was looking through cookbooks, I learned it was a large part of the Sephardic Rosh Hashanah tradition and it represents abundance and fertility.  Who knew?

PRK:  I understand you also study cookbooks and what they say about Jewish cooking through the 19th and 20th century?

KR:  I’ve noticed a certain evolution. Esther Levy’s cookbook was the first Jewish cookbook published in the US, in 1871. It included recipes that could be prepared on Passover but the book assumed certain knowledge.  For example, everyone KNEW which ingredients were not permitted.  As time went on, the books became more instructive. Now, cookbooks even tell you how to set your table and plan your menus.  Cooking learned through oral tradition is no longer a universally assumed element of Jewish culture.

PRK: Speaking of modern day cuisine, I understand you’ve included some other interesting “new recipes” on the blog.

KR:  Well, we can all agree that cupcakes are a huge trend.  And pumpkin is a key ingredient in Sephardic cooking when it comes to the new year so why not meld the two?  One of my favorite new recipes is pumpkin cupcakes, a modern twist on a traditional ingredient.

Check out Katherine Romanow’s “Eating Jewish” column on “Jewesses with Attitude,” a blog from the Jewish Women’s Archive.