The Feast Goes On

by Monday Morning Cooking Club

"It's always about the food." A generous, warm-hearted book, The Feast Goes On features the best-loved and most delicious recipes and stories from the heart and soul of the Jewish community right across Australia.

Created by the same six women - the 'sisterhood' - of the bestselling Monday Morning Cooking Club cookbook, it speaks of a community drawn together by food, telling intimate and moving stories of sharing and survival, love and hope, friendship and family. From precious family recipes that have been lovingly handed down the generations, right through to new classics that will become instant family favourites, the Feast Goes On contains over 100 recipes to suit every occasion. From everyday eating to feasting, light lunches to fressing, comfort food to traditional dishes, this is a cookbook of rich, wonderful ideas and flavours to nurture, nourish and inspire. the Feast Goes On will feed you, body and soul.

Praise for Monday Morning Cooking

'Having this book at home is pure cosy joy.' Nigella Lawson

'to see these recipes handed down like this with such spirited generosity, is real food for the soul.' Sean Moran

Praise for the Feast Goes

'Collecting and saving family recipes is a vital undertaking, almost (but not quite) as important as eating. the Monday Morning Cooking Club is a remarkable excursion into the realm of comfort food. You just want to eat everything.' Yotam Ottolenghi

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2014

Reviews

[Kim]

In the early 1950s a charming book called "Oh, for a French Wife" was published in Sydney and became a bestseller. It was a cookbook, but also a book about the joys of good food. I was reminded of it when I read through this book today. Not because it's that much like "Oh, for a French Wife". Although it's a cookbook that's also a book about the joys of good food and it was written in Sydney, the type of food it deals with is completely different. Food in Sydney has changed as dramatically as the city has changed in the past sixty years. Rather, what occurred to me is that a good subtitle for this book would be "Oh, for a Jewish grandmother".

This is the second book* to emerge from the activities of the Monday Morning Cooking Club, a group of six Jewish women of different backgrounds who live in Sydney and who have met and cooked together every Monday morning since 2006. Their initial aim was to put together a cookbook to raise money for charity. They then made it their mission to try to find the best recipes from the best cooks in Sydney’s Jewish community. In addition to their two books, they have a great blog. This particular book contains recipes, the stories of the recipes and the stories of the contributors. It's warm, inviting and easy to follow. I'd be happy to cook (and to eat) pretty much everything in the book.

I don't have a Jewish grandmother. If this book is anything to go by, I would have grown up eating much better food if either of my grandmothers had been Jewish. As it is, my mother and grandmothers cooked as a matter of necessity, and not with any enthusiasm. No recipes have been passed down from generation to generation in my family** and no sense of family history informed the meals we ate. Admittedly, my mother has always been an adventurous eater, so we tried out lots of different kinds of food. However, her occasional attempts at exotic recipes rarely worked out too well and her everyday food was pretty uninspiring.

Notwithstanding - or maybe because of - the familial lack of enthusiasm for cooking, I found my way into the kitchen in my early teens and decades later spend most of my spare time there. Our family celebrations involve sitting around the dining room table together, sharing good food and good times. My children appreciate my cooking and ask for their favourite meals. This particular way of making memories is what this book represents. Even without a Jewish grandmother, this is my kind of food.

* Their first book is Monday Morning Cooking Club: The Food, the Stories, the Sisterhood.

** Although to be fair, my children make meat sauce for pasta the way I make it and I make it the way my mother made it. It's nothing like an authentically Italian ragu, but it still tastes good.

[Michelle Fischl]

I love this cookbook. Have read the stories and recipes from beginning to end. Ive made MANY things in both their books and all have been a success. I would highly recommend both MMCC books - you will be seriously popular at home and with your friends. This is a collection of many people's favourite and most successful recipes therefore tried and tested. This is the difference between MMCC and any other cookbook - you know it will work. Looking forward to the next book???

[Annette]

What a beautiful book. Wonderful stories behind each recipe & mouthwatering photography. I want to cook my way through the book without missing a single recipe. Even the ones containing fennel....and people who know me, realise what an incredible statement that is.
I've already cooked the orange syrup cake for friends and it was devoured. Really delicious.

Highly recommended.

[Michellea Sefton]

Highly recommend this beautiful & very practical cookbook. Full of glorious photo's & stories behind the recipes.
The recipes are down to earth family friendly dishes for everyday or for special occasion's.
I loved this gorgeous cookbook so much I brought one for my sister as well.
And she loved it!
Thankyou so much to the wonderful Monday Ladies for putting a beautiful memento together... and sharing such a rich history with us all.

[Jody]

I love this book. When I first saw it I new I had to have it. The recipes, stories and pictures are all great. One of my favourite cook books. I like nothing better than sitting down with a cup of tea and browsing all the wonderful recipes. Very passionate cooks with a real talent for food to share with family and friends.

[Jessie]

Definitely my favourite cookbook out there closely followed by the original Monday morning Cooking Club! Such delicious recipes! Love the cinnamon cake and the orange bread and butter pudding and all the fish dishes are to die for!!
Can't wait for the third book!

[Katka]

Sadly, nowhere near as good as the first one.

[Lynn]

Wonderful book, put together with a great deal of research, care and love. A cooks delight, there's something for everyone. And the stories are wonderful. Highly recommend

[Jolly]

It's a cookbook. I opened it. I read words. I'm not sure it has converted me to a domestic goddess. Goodness knows - that will take a miracle more than a book!!

[Sandra]

Great looking book. Good recipes. A wonderful gift idea.