Dwitiya Raghavan prepares entire meals based on an intriguing novel about the Bene Israeli community of Danda, Maharashtra, and forges an intimate bond with people she has never met.
Books and cuisine both have the power to take me to new places, introduce me to cultures I’d like to learn about, and introduce me to individuals I’d like to sit down and talk with. Esther David’s novel Book of Rachel does all of this and more. It chronicles the narrative of Rachel Dandekar, a brave and determined Bene Israeli Jewish woman trying to save her beloved synagogue in Danda, Maharashtra, and takes the reader on a culinary and cultural tour across the Bene Israeli Jewish community.
