Passing on to teenagers a world of Jewish foods

In my career as a chef, I cooked everything non-kosher from squid and lobsters to rabbit and sea urchins, and rejected the Orthodox way of life of my childhood.

But in recent years, I've embraced my Jewish heritage, especially its connections to food and culture, and I am researching a book exploring Jewish culinary history through the spread of ingredients worldwide.

So I jumped at the chance to teach Jewish cuisine and culture to high schoolers and junior high kids at the Jewish Community High School of Gratz College, whose mission is to educate Jewish teens about the heritage, traditions and language of the Jewish people. The course brings together my love and knowledge of food and culinary history with Jewish traditions. My weekly challenge is to come up with recipes from far-flung Jewish communities that the kids can make.

The students come from surrounding high schools, with diverse interests. While some bring a curiousity about their heritage, others are grateful for basic cooking skills.

Scott Fields, a 10th grader at Central Bucks High School South, wanted to learn about different foods Jews have eaten through the centuries and the differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish foods.

"I like working with food," said his younger brother, Justin, in eighth grade at Tamanend Middle School in Warrington. "Especially because food is a key part of religion."

Max Lefton, a junior at Cheltenham High, had simple expectations: "Cooking is a new experience for me," he said. "I wanted to be able to cook from scratch instead of heating something in the microwave."

Nicole Kaminsky, a freshman at Wissahickon High School, whose family comes from Puerto Rico, was interested in learning whether some of the Hispanic cooking at her home was actually Jewish cooking. "I've learned that in Ashkenazi cooking, people used ingredients that wouldn't spoil easily. It all depended on the area and the trade routes."