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Comments (0)The Aleppian Jewish community of Syria may have scattered to other countries around the world, but Poopa Dweck is determined to keep its descendants connected—through food.
Dweck, a longtime resident of Deal, N.J., recently published “Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews” (Ecco/Harper Collins). The lavishly illustrated coffee-table volume contains 180 recipes for all manner of dishes—appetizers, soups, main courses, sides, desserts—but the gustatory element is just one component of the author’s higher purpose.
“I really get deep into the history,” said Dweck. “I felt it was important because the next generations were losing the understanding of where we came from and where our religious practices came from and why we adhere to everything so strongly.”
In that spirit, Dweck includes holiday and Aleppian “life-cycle” recipes. For example, “When a baby receives its first tooth, we prepare a dish called sliha, which is prepared with wheat berries, nuts, and pomegranate. When a bride gets married we make a dish called ka’ak bi’oz,” almond cookie wreaths (almonds are a symbol of fertility).
The third part of her book takes a non-culinary look at those life-cycle events. Aromas has the feel of a family album, illustrated with photos of the Aleppian community, including some of Dweck’s family, past and present.
“I wanted the photography to be absolutely gorgeous,” she said, acknowledging that using the work of food photographer Quentin Bacon for a kosher cookbook might strike some readers as ironic. “I wanted the book to really be tantalizing.”
One of the discerning ingredients of Syrian cooking is tamarind concentrate—a Persian influence—which imbues a tangy/sour flavor, redolent of apricots and dates and used as the base for many dishes. Another staple is mehshi, which Dweck described as any stuffed vegetable dish, such as eggplant, zucchini, grape leaves, or onions.
Aleppian cuisine is also known for its “liberal use of spices, but in a very sophisticated way—not where you choke on it.”
The recipes are easy to follow, Dweck said: “I made that my mission. I wanted [readers] to not feel intimidated.”
So far, she’s been thrilled by the feedback from satisfied readers, saying her biggest support comes from a surprising demographic. “The older generations of the community: the grandmothers, the great-grandmothers, the older men, the rabbis. They’re so thankful for this book because we have something to say, ‘This is who we are.’
“Food is a great vehicle because it keeps us connected and it does help us perpetuate our religious practices because any holiday—whether it’s Shabbat or Passover or a life cycle event—there’s always food involved, so women have played a tremendous part in keeping this phenomenon.”
Despite their geographic separation—scattered to such locations as Panama, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Great Britain, and France, as well as the United States—the Jews of Aleppo, said Dweck, maintain close ties and still prepare the foods and adhere to the religious practices of Aleppo.
Dweck said she felt an “emergency” to publish her book. “I wanted my grandchildren and, God willing, my great-grandchildren to really understand and perpetuate all our customs and our recipes, and I knew it had to be put in an enticing format.
“It’s really much more than a cookbook. The recipes are a vehicle to get everybody to the deep stuff.” Plans are in the works to translate the book into Hebrew, Spanish, and Turkish.
Dweck said she loves to spread the joy of cooking through lectures, classes, and demonstrations around the world. One such trip last November took her to several regions in China, where she cooked for the Chabad House in Shanghai.
“They brought me there to teach the Chinese cooks how to prepare Syrian food, so I spent a week with over a dozen assistants,” teaching them to make numerous dishes. “By the end of the week, we had a Shabbat dinner for over 200 guests, which is typical for them.”
Working with food is not Dweck’s only interest. She is currently working on a documentary about the women of Aleppo. She is also involved with the Jesse Dweck Learning Center, which she created in memory of her son who died at the age of 18. “I felt I had to put my grief somewhere, so I started the center, which is very reflective of who he was.
“When he went to college…and his formal yeshiva education finished, I said to him, you really have to continue. Just go to one Torah class a week and I’ll be happy. And that’s what he did.”
Dweck established the center to be “approachable to the young college students that were in the same position that he was. Because that’s what’s happening. Just as we came from Aleppo to Brooklyn, another community is developing in Manhattan, so I wanted to make sure they stayed connected.”
Her own connection with the borough runs deep: her children and grandchildren all reside there and she said she hopes to move there in the near future.
This article appears courtesy of the JTA Wire Service at jta.org. Ron Kaplan is the Features Editor for New Jersey Jewish News.