(JTA via The Nosher) — There is no alternative for consuming a dish in its original location, especially in a home kitchen by hands with thousands of dinners under their belts. For me, coming across a recipe, trying it out, and being transported to a new world by its flavors comes in a close second. The expanse of the Jewish diaspora has given us a plethora of unique culinary fusions, and I especially enjoy learning about Jewish food from India, where Jewish communities trace back hundreds of years.
The Cochin Jews of Kerala in South India, the Bene Israel Jews of India’s West Coast and Mumbai, and the Jews of Kolkata in East India are three separate Jewish Indian tribes that have been mostly isolated from one another (formerly known as Calcutta). Claudia Roden explains how Shalom Cohen of Aleppo was the first recorded Jew to settle in Kolkata in 1798 in her book The Book of Jewish Food. Syrian and Iraqi Jews soon followed, establishing a flourishing community in which they worked as merchants and traders and coexisted peacefully with their neighbors. When India attained independence in 1947, and then again in 1948 with the establishment of the State of Israel, things changed; anti-Semitism intensified as Jews became identified with colonial British power. During this time, the majority of Kolkata’s Jews emigrated to Israel, the United States, England, and Australia. Kolkata’s once-thriving Jewish Indian community has all but vanished.
Source: https://www.jmoreliving.com/2018/03/06/indian-jewish-chicken-recipe-youre-going-crave/
