Jayne Cohen talks about Passover cuisine and her books "Jewish Holiday Cooking" and "The Gefilte Variations".

This week on Cooking Issues, Dave Arnold and Nastassia Lopez talk about their experience acting as 'fluffers' at the South Beach Food & Wine Festival. Who was more popular at the festival - Dave or Tony the Tiger? Later, Dave tackles this week's listener questions! Hear why Dave and Nastassia hate the word 'espuma', and learn how to use pine flavor in your food and drink! Dave talks about the differences in cooking temperatures for egg whites and yolks, and offers some suggestions for sous vide eggs. Learn how to prevent evaporation with an immersion circulator. Listen in to hear Dave offer tips on how to win cooking contests! This program has been sponsored by The International Culinary Center.

"I'm against the word 'espuma' on an English menu. If the whole menu's in Spanish, then go ahead." [8:15]

"A lot times when working with pine and lavender... even when you do a really good job with it, you might have some bathroom cleaner memories." [10:50]

-- Dave Arnold on Cooking Issues

On today's episode of A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio is talking about Jewish Italian food, or Cucina Ebraica, with a panel of experts. Jayne Cohen is a food writer and cookbook author involved with preserving the culinary roots of Jewish cooking. Her most recent cookbook is entitled Around the Passover Table and Cooking for Jewish New Year. Cara De Silva is a food historian who writes about food and culture, and has authored In Memory's Kitchen: A Legacy from the Women of Terezin- a book featuring recipes from women in a Nazi concentration camp. Alessandra Rovati is a Jewish Italian food writer who also authors the blog Dinner in Venice. Tune in to hear how and when Jewish people immigrated to Italy, and how the various neighborhoods where they resided influenced their cooking. Learn why Jewish cuisine helped to popularize certain vegetables in Italian food, such as the tomato and the eggplant. What substitutes were used by Jews in the pork-heavy Italian diet? Hear about how ethnic tradition and cultural food survives through holiday meals. What Jewish foods have become part of everyday Italian cuisine? This program has been sponsored by Route 11 Potato Chips.

"The number of things that went into making Italian Jewish cuisine... created a cuisine of incredible variety- even though it was all Jewish in some way. There were also issues whether or not some of these dishes came to be associated with Jews- and that was sometime the case- but most of these dishes were brought by Jewish people." [6:50]

"There has been fusion since there have been borders!" [15:00]

-- Cara De Silva on A Taste of the Past

"One thing that is notable about Jewish Italian cuisine is that it was influenced by so many immigrants, sort of like Jewish food in the United States." [11:20]

-- Jayne Cohen on A Taste of the Past