Adeena Sussman on Flavor as a Jewish Language
From The Five Books: Jewish Authors on the Books That Shaped Them by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen
April 28, 2026 · 48 min
About this episode
Adeena Sussman discusses the impact of literature on her culinary journey and Jewish identity.
In this conversation, Adeena Sussman discusses how reading an (age-inappropriate) short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer one Shabbat afternoon changed the way she thought about writing and storytelling. We’ll also hear about her deep attachment to Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, and how discovering Claudia Roden’s writing about Middle Eastern food expanded her sense of Jewish food. Adeena Sussman is the author of the New York Times best selling cookbook Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals From My Table To Yours, and Sababa, which was named a Best Fall 2019 cookbook by The New York Times, Bon Appetit, and Food & Wine. Her latest cookbook, Zariz, focuses on quick and easy Tel Aviv-inspired recipes. Adeena is also the co-author of 15 other cookbooks, including the Cravings series with Chrissy Teigen, which were New York Times Best-sellers. Adeena lives, cooks and writes in Tel Aviv, where she lives in the shadow of that city’s Carmel Market with her husband, Jay Shofet. Adeena Sussman's Five Books: 1. Short Friday and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer 2. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth 3. Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden 4. Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner 5. Zariz: 100…
People in this episode
Host: Tali Rosenblatt Cohen
Guest: Adeena Sussman
Topics covered
- Jewish food
- storytelling
- cookbooks
- Tel Aviv
- cultural identity
Keywords
- Adeena Sussman
- Jewish food
- cookbooks
- Tel Aviv
- Isaac Bashevis Singer
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Short Friday and Other Stories, Call It Sleep, Book of Middle Eastern Food, Long Island Compromise, Zariz: 100 Easy, Breezy, Tel Aviv-y Recipes, The New York Times Cookbook, Spice and Spirit: The Complete Kosher Jewish Cookbook
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