An Interview with Joan Nathan

Meet Joan Nathan, world-renowned authority on Jewish cooking, James Beard and IACP award-winning author of 11 cookbooks, New York Times and Tablet Magazine contributor, star of the PBS television series Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan, University of Michigan alum, and friend of Zingerman’s.

We’ve followed Joan’s career and admired her work since she met our founder Ari’s mother in the kosher section of a Chicago grocer in the ’90s. Joan shines a spotlight on the spectrum of flavors and traditions of Jewish food that exist all around the world, something near and dear to our hearts here at Zingerman’s.

I sat down with Joan in advance of her upcoming tour for the release of her twelfth book, My Life in Recipes (Knopf, 2024). Her trip includes stops at The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center in New York City, Akasha restaurant in California, The Smithsonian in Washington D.C., and Ann Arbor to visit us (and you?) at Zingerman’s Roadhouse on May 7! After our interview, I found myself missing my grandmother, daydreaming about traveling more, and wishing I could tear into a warm loaf of challah with Joan.

Sara Hudson
Zingerman’s Creative Services Director

Sara: Your newest book, My Life In Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories is part memoir, part cookbook, and organized almost like a travel diary. How did the idea to present your story that way come about?
Joan: I thought, “What should I do next?” I told myself this is the time to stop and do a last book. I’ve had a really interesting life. My editor suggested I do a totally new kind of book that nobody’s ever done. Very often chef memoirs put one recipe at the end. She said, “Why don’t you do a memoir and recipes?”

Sara: Tell me about the process of creating the book.
Joan: The process took a few years. I started writing, but my husband got very sick and he died. And then, of course, there was Covid after that. At first, I couldn’t do anything for several months, but then I went to visit my daughter in New Orleans and I started writing. I got up very early in the morning and wrote in bed, which I love to do. I would take long walks and think about what I had written. Then I’d put it all away and take a break. In the end, my editor cut 30,000 words. I had so many stories to tell! Putting it all together amazed me.

Sara: Some of my favorite parts of the book are the old photos, diary entries, and letters to your family. Who do we have to thank for saving all of those?
Joan: My mother saved everything for me. When I went to France as a student, when I went to Israel to work—she saved all my letters. I saved my diaries. I wrote my diary in French when I was studying in France—I can’t believe I did that! 

Sara: As you collected your life stories was there anything you thought, “I can’t believe that happened!”?
Joan: We tried to keep the stories to be only about food but there are certain things I wanted to include, like the time I met Marilyn Monroe. I found it in my diary from when I was 12 years old. I saved her autograph. It’s framed in my house.

Sara: What led you to this full life of travel and learning?
Joan: Maybe this is because of my parents, but I’ve always felt I could do whatever I wanted to do. I thought, “Just do what you want in life. I mean, just go for it.”

Sara: Tell us about one of your favorite more recent trips.
Joan: I was taken with cinnamon because in the Geniza, a hidden trove of ephemera in synagogues and mosques in the Middle Ages, I found mention of the spice. For my 70th birthday, I told my husband I wanted to go to Sri Lanka with the whole family because that was the home of cinnamon. Before I go anywhere, I find families to go to see and see the place through their eyes. I went on my own to a family in a neighboring town that worked in the cinnamon industry. They were making something just like a cinnamon babka on the side of the street. I use that recipe in the book.

Sara: For the most part, you have been baking a loaf of challah every week since the 1970s. Does anyone ever bake it with you?
Joan: That’s a good question. My assistant Hannah is a very good baker. She’ll help me and I’ll learn from her. I rarely buy a challah. Most of the time I do make it. It’s not very hard to do once you know how and it can be done very quickly. My hands in the photo on the cover show I’ve been making it for a long time! I try to have a Friday night dinner either at my house or somebody else’s every week, and I make the challah.

Sara: I love the recipe in the book you call Seasonal Challah. What inspired that?
Joan: That just happened. I live in Martha’s Vineyard in the summer and I have a big garden with lots of herbs. So I took whatever seasonal herbs there were and put them in my challah dough. I thought it was really good, and if you make it at home, you can do that. There’s tarragon in my garden and it’s one of my favorite herbs, but I like to save it for other things besides challah. You have to have a strong flavor to get through the baking. I like using basil in the summer and rosemary in the fall. I also like putting anise in my challah which makes for such a wonderful flavor. But I don’t like raisins in challah. Raisins are for stuffed cabbage, with onions, pine nuts, Italian spinach, and sardines.

Sara: What do you have planned for your upcoming book tour besides your visit to Ann Arbor and the Zingerman’s Roadhouse dinner?
Joan: I’m giving speeches in San Francisco and New York. Ruth Reichl is interviewing me at an event at Temple Emanu-El for 1,000 people!

Sara: What are you looking forward to about coming back to Ann Arbor for the first time in more than a decade?
Joan: Ann Arbor was a big part of my life when I was in school there. It was natural that I would come back to it for this book. I’m looking forward to going back to my own history, but some of the places I frequented in Ann Arbor decades ago aren’t there anymore. It’s just sort of a memory, but Ari’s made Ann Arbor so much more tantalizing with what has grown from the Deli through the years. I need to see Zingerman’s. I’m looking forward to seeing how it has yet again morphed into something more, because it has every time I visit. I’m looking forward to seeing Ari. This is fun for me to see because I’ve been following Ari for years after meeting him in the early ’90s on a book tour. I just looked at a photo of him. He never had gray hair when I was there and he’s got a little gray hair now. I do too, but I cover it.

Joan proudly read me an excerpt from Jewish Cooking in America that references Zingerman’s:

When I first heard about Ari Weinzweig’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I couldn’t believe it was a deli in the home of my alma mater. It’s not really a deli, but more of an International Food Emporium like New York’s Zabar’s with the definite Jewish touch. Mr. Weinzweig, a dropout PhD candidate, has taken an academic and appetizing interest in updating Jewish recipes like mushroom and barley soup going back in history to the 19th century Eastern European version similar to that served at New York’s Second Avenue Deli.

Sara: What will be on the menu when you host a special dinner and book signing at Zingerman’s Roadhouse?
Joan: Smoked Whitefish Spread, Galilean Hummus, and Syrian Mahammar all served with bagel chips, Armenian Stuffed Grape Leaves, Mediterranean Salmon with preserved lemon and za’atar, and much more. For dessert, Ann Arbor Schnecken, those wonderful sticky buns they used to serve at Drake’s that Frank Carollo also made at Zingerman’s Bakehouse. [Editor’s note: You might know them today as Obama Buns!]

Sara: One chapter title stood out to me: “Jerusalem: Learning About Living and the Meaning of the Meal.” What do you think the meaning of a meal is?
Joan: When you sit down with a person of a different background, maybe with different beliefs, I try to take the time to watch the meaning of food within that meal. In that chapter, I talk about going to an Arab home. The first thing served is coffee before the meal. It leads into the meal. People just relax and as you talk to each other things sort of slow down. It’s not just in Arab homes, but Jewish homes in the Middle East and everywhere. You start slowly, whet your appetite, get to know people as human beings, and enjoy a meal together. I’ve really seen this around the world, the importance of food and sharing it with a stranger.

Sara: How do you approach your recipes?
Joan: The traditional food and recipes I study have been made the same for thousands of years, carried down from generation to generation. Sometimes we need to freshen them up a little bit. That’s what I try to do in my books, so there’s a little bit of added color and a little less fat, but the essential taste is there and that’s the important thing.

I think all of us live too disconnected from what other people’s reality is and so that’s what really interests me, trying to get the humanity of everyone. That’s what I’ve tried to do for my whole life. I get a high from finding a recipe, but I don’t get excited by fancy schmancy restaurants. Maybe that’s why I like Ari so much, I have a feeling he’s the same way. He’s discovering artisan food producers and highlighting those people. That’s what I like to do.

Sara: You’ve traveled a lot and experienced different cultures, languages, and flavors. What was the common thread in those experiences and recipes?
Joan: Humanity. Pride in what you’re making. I notice that universally.

Sara: If you were to go back and add another chapter of what you’ve been eating or making at home since completing the book, what would you include?
Joan: Wow. That’s a tough one. I think I put it all in the book. I might have added the story of another adventure I’ve been on. Or I might have added something like brownies or chocolate chip cookies because my kids really like them, but you can get recipes for those anywhere. Actually, I have an update of a children’s book coming out in November I did with my grandchildren called A Sweet Year. Every grandmother is going to want to buy this book because the photos of my grandchildren are so good and I include fun things: a pomegranate punch, how to make cheese and butter, recipes for what I named East Coast and West Coast Brownies.

Sara: What do your grandchildren ask you to show them how to make?
Joan: They like to perfect making eggs in the microwave, it’s sort of like sous vide. They experiment with different toppings and make faces with the eggs and Challah. We make pesto and pasta from scratch together all the time. I’ve even shown them how they can make their own fresh cheese.

Sara: I want to show you this well-worn Cooking with Joan pot holder that’s hanging in our kitchen here at Zingerman’s Service Network. You’re here with us.
Joan: Oh my gosh! Look at that. I don’t even have one of those. I hope I get to meet you. You’ve really done your homework. Thank you so much.
Sara: Thank you so much for your time. Congratulations on the book. We’ll see you at your dinner!

The Roadhouse will greet the Jewish new year with a special harvest dinner hosted by cookbook author Joan Nathan, the James Beard Award-winning tour-de-force of Jewish cooking, featuring Laurentide Winery. 

Reserve your seats before they sell out!

Join us for our Harvest Special Dinner #242 as we reap a lifetime of Joan’s stories and recipes for a very special Rosh Hashanah celebration. Joan will sow the seeds of the special holiday’s traditions, right here at Zingerman’s Roadhouse. This dinner is an excellent chance for those who grew up with the tradition to return to their roots, and for those who welcome fall as their own personal ‘fresh start’ every year to appreciate the spirit of the ancient holiday.

Joan Nathan: The Queen of American Jewish Cooking

In addition to being a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, Joan is a University of Michigan alum. Help us welcome Joan back to Ann Arbor for an evening celebrating the bounty of her cookbook collection as we recreate several of her dishes. We can’t wait to taste the very recipes that have planted the seeds for Jewish cuisine with the “Queen of American Jewish cooking” (Houston Chronicle), herself.

Just as the biblical King Solomon cross-pollinated culinary cultures by sending out emissaries across ancient land and seas, “[Joan] Nathan serves as a modern emissary, gathering recipes and stories from all around the globe.” —Tim Carman, The Washington Post

Tradition, Taste and Terroir

The dinner will be complemented by expertly-paired wines from Laurentide Winery’s exquisite collection. Susan and Bill Braymer of Laurentide Winery will talk us through how the ancient flavors of their New World wines highlight the ancient flavors of Joan’s Old World dishes.

Taste the product of the Leelanau vineyard’s harvests, which are sown in rich soil layered with fossils and minerals left behind by the Laurentide glacier, which carved the geography of Michigan over 10,000 years ago.

We hope you join us for this one-of-a-kind event exploring tradition, taste, and terroir!

Here’s a peek at the menu:

Appetizers

Laurentide Pairing: Fume Blanc 2017

Hummus
With preserved lemon and cumin.

Gefilte Fish Mold
With horseradish and beet sauce.

Salad

Laurentide Pairing: Sauvignon Blanc

Carrot Mahammar
With dried clementines, ricotta, and fennel.

Entrées

Laurentide Pairing: Reserve Meritage 2016

Bene Israel Fish Curry
With fresh ginger, tamarind, and cilantro.

Moroccan Lamb Shanks
With caramelized onions and tanzeya, a dried fruit sauce.

Moroccan Tagine of Vegetables

Crunchy Saffron Rice

Dessert

Laurentide Pairing: Bubble de Bubble 2017

Dates in Brown Butter
With vanilla ice cream, date syrup, and halvah crumble.

Reserve your seats before they sell out!

Cookbook author, University of Michigan graduate, cultural storyteller… all these things and more describe our next Roadhouse Special Dinner guest, Joan Nathan.

What are we looking forward to the most about her visit with us for our Harvest Special Dinner? It might be that the multiple James Beard Award winner will prepare delectable dishes from her new cookbook using our harvest from the Roadhouse Farm. Or it might be that she will whisk us away and around the world of Jewish cuisine, right here in Ann Arbor.

About the book
King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World is a masterpiece of stories told through food. Eater calls it “A brilliant look at a culture that has adapted to and influenced nearly every region in the world…a winding journey through the foods of the Jewish diaspora, from Roman ghettos to Middle Eastern markets to homestyle flavors in Cuba.”

With 170 recipes, Joan Nathan’s book is a colorful treasure of food narratives from overseas and across time. She explores Biblical times and traces the regions influenced by Jews, connecting the dots of tradition as they developed over thousands of years. By traveling all over the globe, Joan has unearthed the roots of an ancient food culture and how it has shaped the Jewish cuisine we enjoy today.

A very special menu
The menu for the dinner looks divine. A hearty dish called Salyanka particularly catches my eye. It is a beef stew with red peppers from Georgia, a country located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. The way Joan describes it in her book, “a melt-in-your-mouth, silky stew” and “layered with flavors from onions, spices and bright red bell peppers”, has me counting the days until I can try it.

Aharaimi, an arctic char dish in a spicy heirloom tomato sauce, is a recipe I can’t wait to try at home after the Harvest Dinner. It is a fragrant fish casserole that the Jews of Libya make to start their Sabbath meal. Anyone can prepare it easily by simmering it slowly on the stovetop, or baking it in the oven, and the thick sauce is made from hot peppers, tomatoes, and fresh spices.

These dishes and more will not only be available at the Harvest Special Dinner #213 on August 28th, but they are all in Joan’s new cookbook, which will be available for purchase at the dinner. They look very approachable to prepare, and they are certain to bring the warm flavors of another time and place to your kitchen. Not to mention amazing smells.

Our Harvest Special Dinner with Joan Nathan takes place August 28 at 7 pm at Zingerman’s Roadhouse. You can see the full menu and purchase your tickets for the Harvest Special Dinner right here.

Zingerman’s Roadhouse, which has spent the last fourteen years bringing really good American food to Ann Arbor, ups its game in August—the restaurant will celebrate the diversity of cooking in US by welcoming two American culinary luminaries from opposite ends of the food world. One is a famous pitmaster, practicing a rare bar-b-que tradition, and the other is one of the most respected Jewish chefs in the country—both will create unforgettable menus for the restaurant’s popular Special Dinner series in August.

BBQ Special Dinner: A Meditation on Tennessee Tradition
August 8, 2017 at 7pm. $75 per person
Whole hog BBQ is a craft, and the mindfulness for perfecting the method is not gained overnight. Practicing a rare BBQ technique that only three people in the country can claim expertise in, Pitmaster Pat Martin smokes the hogs he serves at Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint in West Tennessee for 24 hours. The result is falling-off-the-bone tender, moist, smoky meat. Starting work every day at 5am, he and his crew make everything from scratch, and on August 8, Ann Arbor will get a taste of the treasured tradition. Pat will be on hand to share his passion for this long-time Tennessee tradition. Menu will include West Tennessee whole hog bbq, Redneck Tacos, Bar-B-Que Baked potatoes and much more. SEE THE FULL MENU AND RESERVE SEATS HERE.

Harvest Special Dinner: An Evening with Joan Nathan
August 28, 2017 at 7pm. $75 per person
James Beard Award winning cookbook author Joan Nathan, called the “queen of American Jewish cooking” by the Houston Chronicle, will be sharing stories and flavors from her brand new release King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World. Recipes from the new book, her 11th title, will be the centerpiece of the dinner, which will explore dishes from Israel to Italy to India and beyond. Featured dishes will include a Georgian beef stew, Indian Chicken, Tunisian Carrot Salad, and much more. Nathan will be signing copies of the book at the dinner.  The L.A. Times writes, “With a mix of deep historical research combined with personal anecdotes of her many friends, relatives and colleagues around the world, her book… combines Nathan’s celebrated knowledge of all things related to Jewish food with her accessible storytelling voice.” A University of Michigan alum with long time ties to both Ann Arbor and to Zingerman’s, Joan is excited to return to town. SEE THE FULL MENU AND RESERVE SEATS HERE.

Seats for both events are limited and likely to sell out! Reserve your spot today.