Cooking alla Giudia with Benedetta Guetta

Today I’m chatting with Benedetta Guetta, whose name is arguably
the most fun to pronounce in Jewish cooking, but it’s also
plastered across Cooking alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish
Food of Italy. She’s also the owner of Café Lovi in Santa Monica
where she's serving up a slew of signature challah sandwiches
amongst other noshables.


 


Before we get to our chat, allow me to throw out a shameless plug
for an upcoming Forward event where I’ll be chatting alongside
Rukhl Schaechter, editor of the Forverts, food scholar and chef
Eve Jochnowitz, as well as folklore and food scholar Barbara
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. The online event is called “What did our
great-grandparents eat for breakfast? Exploring the food
traditions of our East European Jewish heritage.” And that’ll
stream live on Monday, August 7th at noon EST.


 


Now onwards to Benedetta! We first spoke some time ago for a
story and recipe I was working on about caponata. But for this
conversation, I asked Benedetta if she could start off by
painting us a picture of Jewish life in Italy.