Early-American Jews brought elements of Mediterranean diet

jewish-pride:

When I was in graduate school researching newspapers from the 1780s
and ’90s, I was surprised to find Philadelphia merchants advertising
olive oil, capers and anchovies. Who ate these foods, I wondered, and
what did they make with them? These and other Mediterranean foods, I
learned, were Jewish contributions to American cuisine.

The earliest Jews in North America had Iberian roots – their
ancestors had either been expelled from Iberia (Spain or Portugal) or
had formally converted to Christianity and practiced Judaism
secretly. Jewish cuisine in Britain and its North American colonies
reflected this Iberian heritage and was familiar enough that one of the
leading 18th-century British cookbooks includes several recipes for
dishes “Jews way.‘”

Hannah Glasse’s “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy,” first
published in England in 1747,  was the most popular cookbook in both
18th-century Britain and America. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
owned copies, and Benjamin Franklin liked the book’s recipes enough to
translate some into French, perhaps to make sure that while he was on
his diplomatic trips to Paris in the 1760s and ’70s, someone would know
how to cook properly.

…

“The Art of Cookery” also recognized a distinct Jewish culinary
influence. The 1760 edition includes six recipes for dishes prepared in a
Jewish style: “haddocks the Jews way,” “The Jews way of preserving
salmon, and all sorts of fish,” “marmalade of eggs the Jews way,” “To
stew green peas the Jews way,” “English Jews puddings; an excellent dish
for six or seven people, for the expense of six pence” and “The Jews
way to pickle beef, which will go good to the West Indies, and keep a
year good in the pickle, and with care will go to the East Indies.”

Early-American Jews brought elements of Mediterranean diet