The Story of the Cookbook
We wanted to find a way to share our passion for food and entertaining, while supporting an organization that above all others has held us together. Our school, the Margolin Hebrew Academy, is truly the heart of our community. It has educated three generations of Memphians and, by nurturing our children’s souls, has enabled our Jewish traditions to thrive in the Bible Belt.
The call for Southern recipes elicited over fifteen hundred responses. Ladies Auxiliary lifetime members and first year parents, newlyweds and those wed for over sixty years, bubbies and meemaws, immas and mommas answered the call, eager to share recipes, stories and secrets. There are Southern recipes turned kosher and kosher recipes turned Southern. To fully appreciate this book, you must understand: this is not an ordinary cookbook. Those looking for a list of recipes reflecting the latest trends from a certain city can look elsewhere. We do things a little differently down in Memphis. These recipes are the products of a community whose greatest joy is to entertain and whose greatest fear is that someone might go unfed. The dishes in this book are heirlooms, passed down by oral tradition, printed in our school’s weekly newsletter and emailed between best friends.
These recipes provide personal glimpses into our vibrant community- a growing amalgam of Memphis families several generations strong, transplants from smaller Southern towns, and more recent emigrants from the North. They come from our community’s heart, and we trust they will find a place in yours. It has taken us years to collect, test and retest, tweak and perfect these recipes. We are ready to share them with y’all; welcome into our simply Southern homes!
The call for Southern recipes elicited over fifteen hundred responses. Ladies Auxiliary lifetime members and first year parents, newlyweds and those wed for over sixty years, bubbies and meemaws, immas and mommas answered the call, eager to share recipes, stories and secrets. There are Southern recipes turned kosher and kosher recipes turned Southern. To fully appreciate this book, you must understand: this is not an ordinary cookbook. Those looking for a list of recipes reflecting the latest trends from a certain city can look elsewhere. We do things a little differently down in Memphis. These recipes are the products of a community whose greatest joy is to entertain and whose greatest fear is that someone might go unfed. The dishes in this book are heirlooms, passed down by oral tradition, printed in our school’s weekly newsletter and emailed between best friends.
These recipes provide personal glimpses into our vibrant community- a growing amalgam of Memphis families several generations strong, transplants from smaller Southern towns, and more recent emigrants from the North. They come from our community’s heart, and we trust they will find a place in yours. It has taken us years to collect, test and retest, tweak and perfect these recipes. We are ready to share them with y’all; welcome into our simply Southern homes!
