A Fistful of Lentils

When Jennifer Felicia Abadi was a child, her mother often pulled down a well-worn homemade black recipe binder from her kitchen shelf and created sumptuous Syrian meals. As an adult, Abadi pulled down that same binder to make her own delicious meals. Mindful of the importance of tradition and the ease with which old-world knowledge vanishes, Abadi embarked on a labor of love with her grandmother to record all of her family\'s rich, mouthwatering Syrian dishes. The result is A Fistful of Lentils, an intimate culinary food album featuring more than 125 Syrian-Jewish recipes, warm family anecdotes, and little-known stories of Syrian-Jewish culture. Syrian-Jewish cooking comes from the Sephardic (Spanish) and Mizrahic (Arabic) traditions rather than from the Ashkenazic (Eastern European) tradition. The lavish food features meats simmered with cumin, allspice, or cinnamon; savory vegetables, stuffed or roasted; sweet and sour sauces; lemony dressings; and rich sugar-dusted pastries drenched in rosewater syrup or sprinkled with almonds. It all adds up to the best-kept secret in Middle Eastern cuisine. Jennifer Felicia Abadi lives in New York City, where she works as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. She travels whenever possible, especially to Israel and its surrounding countries, studying their food, languages, and cultures. Her recipes have appeared in the Daily News and the New York Times Sunday Magazine, and her illustrations in the Passover cookbook Let My People Eat! and Italian Food and Wine Magazine. A Fistful of Lentils is the first book she has authored.