A Legacy of Sephardic, Mediterranean, and American Recipes by Rachel Almeleh

This book is a collection of family favorite recipes from many cultures, Old and New World. It is intended to create a legacy and to share traditions. Cooking is nurturing, joyful, and even spiritual.

Many recipes represent a heritage of Sephardic cooking. Sephardic refers to Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492, most ending up in the Ottoman Empire. The cooking is mostly Mediterranean-style food, with many Ladino-Spanish names. The recipes can be intricate and time-consuming, but this book aims to keep the age-old tradition alive and available to future generations with how-to photos, tips, and tools for ease of preparation.

Some recipes are favorites for Jewish holidays with a section just for Passover. Other recipes are thoroughly American, including Thanksgiving fare. Also included are favorites of my clients who order food like their mother used to make, from my hobby business: www.sephardicdelicacies.com.

Rachel Almeleh, 70, was born in Seattle, WA. to Sephardic immigrants from the Isle of Rhodes. She is a retired Spanish teacher who learned to cook her ethnic food by watching her aunties, as her mother died when she was 12.In 1992 she started a hobby business, Rachel’s Sephardic Delicacies (www.sephardicdelicacies.com) and received a local award for «Best Sephardic Nosh».Her first cookbook is an effort to preserve family traditions with how-to photos.