Siona Benjamin tells me as she stands in her sunlit kitchen in Montclair, N.J., with the ingredients for coconut chicken curry — cans of coconut milk, fresh ginger, and around, silver tray lined with small bowls of ground spices — strewn out before her on the island. “Green peas served in golden turmeric rice were just one example of her food’s vibrancy.”
These sensory elements are important to Benjamin as an artist who uses paintings and mixed media pieces to explore ideas of home and identity. “I cook with a palette of colors, just like I paint,” she adds. A sense of continuity is also important. She was born and raised in Mumbai, where she was a member of the Bene Israel community, the largest of three groups of Indian Jews that had been in the nation for over 2,000 years.
Source: https://www.forward.com/food/193868/the-flavors-of-jewish-india/
