Jewish Chef/Author Jeffrey Yoskowitz Coming to Temple Beth Hillel

On Sunday, December 15 at 7 p.m., the Brooklyn, NY-based Yoskowitz will present “Back to the Old Country: The Jewish Food Renaissance” at Temple Beth Hillel at 20 Baker La. in South Windsor, Conn. Everyone of every faith is invited to this event presented by the Sisterhood of Temple Beth Hillel of South Windsor and is co-sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford (JHSGH) and The Jewish Hartford European Roots Project. Advance tickets are $7 at yoskowitz-cookbook-lecture OR call the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford at 860-727-6170. Tickets at the door are $10. Refreshments.

In The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, Yoskowitz and co-author Liz Alpern, revitalized their families’ beloved old-world Ashkenazi Jewish foods with ingenious, delicious new approaches. The volume was a National Jewish Book Award finalist and USA Today named it a top cookbook of 2016.

As the Chef and Scholar-in-Residence for “History, Heritage and Herring,” a food and heritage tour through Eastern Europe with Taube Heritage Tours and the award-winning POLIN museum, Yoskowitz recently returned from Poland and Lithuania. During his December 15th presentation, he will share his love and extensive knowledge of the origins of traditional Jewish Foods and the history of Eastern European cuisine, blending them with experiences from his latest trip.

Yoskowitz has written about food, culture and politics for publications that include The New York Times, The Atlantic and The Forward, and is a contributor to the new cookbook, The 100 Most Jewish Foods. He was named to both the Forbes 30 Under 30 in food & wine and to the Forward 50. He is a co-founder of The Gefilteria (www.gefilteria.com), a hub for innovation in Jewish food, through which he produces a cutting edge artisanal gefilte fish and culinary events, presents lectures and cooking demos around the world, and creates unique content related to Jewish food. He teaches Jewish food anthropology at The City College of New York and joins the Brandeis University faculty every summer to present the same topic.

The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford is dedicated to collecting and preserving historical documents, photographs and memorabilia of the Jewish community of Greater Hartford. The Jewish Hartford European Roots Project explores, documents and shares the rich diversity of European Jewish life before the Holocaust and its enduring legacy in the Greater Hartford region. With broad participation from the Greater Hartford Jewish Community, the project supports lectures, field trips, adult learning, youth education, and other programming about Jewish life in Europe, discovering and connecting with this unique heritage. The Jewish Hartford European Roots Project is generously funded by a grant from the Konover Coppa Fund and is housed at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut (UCONN).

Temple Beth Hillel is an inclusive congregation that welcomes interfaith families. Affiliated with the Union of Reform Judaism, the temple holds services in English and Hebrew, has an active religious school, and is involved in social action and social justice. In 2018, members of the former Congregation Beth Ahm of Windsor merged with the temple, moving to its location at 20 Baker La. in South Windsor. www.tbhsw.org, 860-282-8466.

For more information about the December 15th event, call the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford at 860-727-6170. Advance tickets are $7 at www.jhsgh.org/jeffrey-yoskowitz-cookbook-lecture OR call the JHSGH at 860-727-6170. Tickets at the door are $10.

* Chanukah begins at sundown on Sunday, December 22 and last for eight nights/days