A Must-Read for Home Cooks: The Community Table

Creative recipes, stunning photography, and worldly inspiration drive The Community Table, making it a must-read for professional chefs and home cooks alike. Chefs and committed members of JCC Manhattan Katja Goldman, Judy Bernstein Bunzl, and Lisa Rotmil combined their knowledge of Jewish culture and flavors to create a cookbook that radiates love and appreciation for their community. The trio recently visited the Beard House for our monthly Beard on Books series, giving attendees the opportunity to sample Goldman’s pumpkin-filled rugelach while the authors recounted their experiences creating the tome, from finding inspiration to behind-the-scenes bloopers.

Here are some of our favorite takeaways from the talk:

On Inspiration:

Two and a half years ago, Bunzl was on the planning committee for the celebration of the JCC Manhattan’s 10-year anniversary in its Amsterdam Avenue building. For Bunzl, it was a no-brainer. “My first thought is always about food,” she explained, and thus, The Community Table was born, with Katja Goldman and Lisa Rotmil joining the project soon after.

Farm-to-table cooking played a major role in developing the recipes. Bunzl maintains a vibrant backyard garden from which the chefs were able to harvest whatever they needed for that day’s recipe. If the ingredients were not available in the garden, the chefs turned to farmer’s markets, determined to keep local, seasonal ingredients as a unifying theme of the book.

On the Process:

Goldman confessed that things didn’t always go according to plan. One afternoon, Goldman had baked a beautiful Mile-High Apple Cranberry Pie. During the photo shoot, everyone was drooling over the perfectly caramelized granulated bits of sugar that sparkled on top. But once the first bites were taken, their faces immediately turned from lust to disgust. “I had grabbed salt instead of sugar from the bowl on the counter!” Goldman exclaimed.

On Challenges:

The authors differed on many levels, from the types of Jewish households in which they were raised to their food backgrounds and even their taste buds. “We had a joke that I wanted to put a little more salt on everything, Katja wanted to add a little more sauce to everything, and Lisa with her Belgian background wanted to put chocolate on everything,” Bunzl laughed.

They also found it challenging to work with a publisher. They had basically finished writing the book when the editor suggested “maybe you could ‘Jew’ it up a bit?” So the chefs went back to the kitchen and created their own versions of classic dishes, including cheesecake with a yogurt coating, Hungarian goulash, and a paprika-based dry rub for roasting. “Some of the most creative things we did were a result of what the editors were asking us to do,” Rotmil said.

On Goals:

It was important that the recipes live beyond single use, so the authors included notes with tips and techniques that connected elements of the recipes to other dishes. “For example, once you’ve mastered the challah dough, there are two more recipes for what you can do with it—like the chocolate babka and the ceremonial bread that’s made for Purim,” Rotmil said.

They also focused on vegetable-driven recipes, featuring different grain dishes as well as a chart in the back of the book that outlines how to prep and cook various vegetables. They wanted this section to encourage home cooks who choose to forgo recipes when stepping into the kitchen, a trend that the authors recognize is becoming more and more popular.

The Community Table aims to inspire readers to get in the kitchen with loved ones, creating a community filled with curiosity and positivity. “We really value that space around the table,” Rotmil said. “We like to say that we created a little micro-community, the three of us, then we started extending it out to our family and friends, then to the larger JCC community, and hopefully well beyond that.”

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