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SHARON LURIE HAS BECOME SOUTH AFRICA’S FAVOURITE JEWISH MAMA – AND YES, SHE WANTS TO FEED YOU!
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aving married into a fourthgeneration family of butchers, Sharon Lurie got to know meat really well ... But she also celebrated her Jewish heritage and love of food in general which is how her first book, Cooking with the Kosher Butcher’s Wife came about. That in turn led to Celebrating with the Kosher Butcher’s Wife a few years later. The latest book penned by Lurie is A Taste of South Africa with The Kosher Butcher’s Wife. As readers have come to expect – appreciate – the book is practical and full of gentle humour and motherly advice throughout.
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Gorry Bowes-Taylor’s blog on the Celebrating book had the following to say: “Cookbooks, I suspect, are as much paged through for the yummy pictures as for the recipes. My first impression of the book was that it has a decidedly retro feel. The styling is abundantly generous and somewhat over the top – dare I say that it has a distinctly Johannesburg opulence to the look and feel. And I suppose there’s that Jewish mother’s overriding concern that there should be enough to eat – ‘better more than too little’ would sum up the ethos.” By contrast, Lurie’s latest book has a distinctly – subtle – African feel to it. Most of the images celebrate South Africanness, like the liberal use of Shweshwe fabrics ... or the pea soup served in typical enamel mugs. There’s something homely and comforting in both the food, the warmth of the tone of the book and the recipes
which are divided up into easy to digest segments: breakfast, soups, breads, meat, veg, deli and sweets and ends. Lurie’s writing is conversational and easy. Take this little snippet from the meat chapter, for example: “Have you ever tried to take a piece of well-chewed biltong away from a teething baby? A scream that will frighten you to the very core! Our teeth and stomachs are designed to digest meat and our senses to stimulate hunger. Are you able to walk past a burger or boerewors braai and not be seduced by the incredible aroma that wafts through the air? It will press that hunger button immediately! After all, who can resist the sizzle of a burger, chop or steak as it’s slapped onto smoking and shimmering heat, or the tantalising aroma of flamelicked meat emblazoned with a dark brown crust?” Who indeed? Not us!
