Chopping Onions on My Heart: On Losing and Preserving Culture

by Samantha Ellis

'Easily my non-fiction book of the year... I couldn't put it down' RUKMINI IYER
'Wonderfully immersive and sensitive' VIV GROSKOP



US title is: Always Carry Salt

Samantha’s mother tongue is dying out. An urgent need to find out more becomes an expansive investigation into how to keep hold of her culture -- and when to let it go

The daughter of Iraqi-Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. A language that’s now on the verge of extinction.

The realisation that she won’t be able to tell her son he’s ‘living in the days of the aubergines’ or ‘chopping onions on my heart’ opens the floodgates. The questions keep coming. How can she pass on the stories of displacement without passing on the trauma? Will her son ever love mango pickle?

In her search for answers Samantha encounters demon bowls, the perils of kohl and the unexpected joys of fusion food. Her journey transports us from the clamour of Noah’s Ark to the calm of the British Museum, from the Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages to the banks of the River Tigris. As Samantha considers what we lose and keep, she also asks what we might need to let go of to preserve our culture and ourselves.

This is a life-affirming memoir about resilience and repair, and the healing power of dancing to our ancestors’ music, cooking up their recipes and sharing their stories.

'Urgent, alive, propulsive. I adored it' MARINA BENJAMIN
'Moving and resonant... thoroughly recommended' ANNE SEBBA

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Jewish, History, Audiobook, Food, Biography Memoir

265 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 3, 2025

About the author

Samantha Ellis is a playwright and journalist. The daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees she grew up in London. Her non-fiction books are How to be a Heroine (2014) ; Take Courage: Anne Brontë and the Art of Life (2017) and Chopping Onions on my Heart; on losing and preserving culture (2025) which will be published in the US under the title Always Carry Salt. Her plays include Cling to me Like Ivy, Operation Magic Carpet and How to Date a Feminist. She has written prefaces for Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey (Vintage Classics) and Amber Reeves's A Lady and her Husband (Persephone Books).

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) Ellis was distressed to learn that her refugee parents’ first language, Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, is in danger of extinction. Her own knowledge of it is piecemeal, mostly confined to its colourful food-inspired sayings – for example, living “eeyam al babenjan (in the days of the aubergines)” means that everything feels febrile and topsy-turvy. She recounts her family’s history with conflict and displacement, takes a Zoom language class, and ponders what words, dishes, and objects she would save on an imaginary “ark” that she hopes to bequeath to her son. Along the way, she reveals surprising facts about Ashkenazi domination of the Jewish narrative. “Did you know the poet [Siegfried Sassoon] was an Iraqi Jew?” His great-grandfather even invented a special variety of mango pickle. All of the foods described sound delicious, and some recipes are given. Ellis’s writing is enthusiastic and she braids the book’s various strands effectively. I wasn’t as interested in the niche history as I wanted to be, but I did appreciate learning about an endangered culture and language.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Rose Paris · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Chopping onions on my heart' is a Judeo-Iraqi Arabic phrase that is approximate to the idiom 'salt in the wound'. It's the perfect title for this tender and painful memoir about the author's experience as a second generation British Iraqi Jew. Ellis weaves deftly between the personal and the wider history and culture of Iraqi Jewish community, explored through language, place, food, and music, as well as the terrible violence that this community have suffered historically. Ellis also grapples with what it means when your culture (in its homeland) and language is one that is considered on the path to becoming 'extinct'.

Thankfully she gives us a few of the recipes to take away, as well as copious references for further reading. Iraqi Jewish food is described as rich, sweet and sour, all the flavours mixed up together, just like this book, and I imagine just as satisfying.

[Sarah Burr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really beautiful book. So thought provoking, tender, and relatable to so many contexts. Really loved it. I’d recommend reading it alongside There Are Rivers In The Sky too

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC from NetGalley
Published January 2026

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advance listening copy of Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture in exchange for my honest review.

As a genealogist, I really appreciated the idea of this book. The author, Samantha Ellis, faces the reality that the language of her heritage, Judeo-Iraqi Arabic, is about to become extinct. She discusses the history of her community, their language, their recipes, her own experiences as a second-generation refugee Jew living in London, and her attempts to pass on her culture to her son. I learned a lot about a culture I knew nothing about before. I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author, and it was well done.

My main issue with this book is that the flow of ideas was confusing and hard to follow. It felt more like a conversation, where topics jump around, and you lose track of how you got from one subject to another. While that style works in everyday life, it made the book difficult to read. I think it would have been clearer if each chapter had a main theme, such as one focused solely on recipes, and then included her experiences and history within that topic. The way it’s organized probably made sense to the author, but I found it hard to understand and follow.

Content Warning: Very mild, occasional swearing, some references to a gruesome and violent history.

[Sharondblk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not much of a blurb reader, so all I knew about this audio-book going in was pretty much what it said on the tagline. I knew I was in the mood for a memoir, and this one was read by the author, which is my favourite way to experience memoir. Like me, Samantha Ellis is a first generation Jew. Unlike me her family are Iraqi, from a very different lineage than mine. I learnt so much about a history she fears has been erased (well, I knew nothing about it) as well as her personal journey of learning and acceptance. This book focusses more on culture than language and references a whole other books, novels and resources that talk about preserving culture. Samantha's personal journey, mainly due to the birth of her son, is set within a broader cultural context. I found this book well read, interesting and educational all at once.

The audiobook does contain recipes, which would make more sense in a physical book, but they sound delicious and I know I wouldn't cook them anyway.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the free review copy.

[Madison ✨ (mad.lyreading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautiful memoir that taught me so much, not just about the author, but about her people and her culture. Ellis is an Iraqi Jew, a branch of Judaism that I honestly did not know existed before picking up this book. In this memoir, she navigates her identity in a community that is slowly dissipating, with a language that is no longer being shared, and a trauma that continues through her family line. She examines how she can balance being proud of who she is without passing on the trauma of her familial history to her son. This felt too short, but it is also short enough that I see myself picking it up again in the future. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review

[Kuu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC!

I'm a little disappointed because I expected more on language and less of a general history of the Iraqi Jewish diaspora. It was very interesting and insightful, definitely an important story to be told, but from reading the blurb, I was thinking this would be about language preservation, heritage languages and those issues, so I was kind of sad to find that the matter of language does not feature as prominently as it sounded like it would.

Still, I enjoyed this audiobook, though I would recommend to read this, rather than listening, as there are many recipes that are difficult to note down otherwise. Maybe if there could be a website where you can access all the recipes, that would be great, as the author did an amazing job at narrating her story, but recipes just don't really work as audio only.

I definitely recommend this book, as it is a very well-written memoir about Iraqi Jewish identity. Just don't expect too much language discussions in here! It really is an Iraqi Jewish memoir, not a "language loss" memoir.

[Farah Mendlesohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just such a lovely book. I learned so much, fascinating, uplifting, upsetting, about Iraqi Jews. Like a lot of Ashkenazi, my history is shallow. It's only in recent years I've learned about the deep and joyful history of Middle Eastern Jewry (and how it all came crashing down).

Ellis explores the pain of being cut off from culture and from place (Iraqi Jews were expelled en masse, after thousands of years of habitation, and they aren't permitted back); the difficulties of losing language, and connections. The tense relationship with Ashkenazi dominance in London, and in Israel.

Note that the book is not Zionist, and Ellis has some pretty revealing material about the role of the Israeli goverment before and during the expulsion.

I may come back and add to this review as I listened to it on audio and have now bought the book.

[Marty Pirri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was really interesting, and I discovered information that I did not know before — things that are truly rare to find. The topics are now more relevant than ever, and the story of Iraqi Judeo-Arabic is something seldom mentioned or explored. As a translator myself, I really enjoyed discovering this new language and learning more about this community.
I found the parts where the author describes her feelings about the future of her community and language — and the hope her son represents — very touching and emotional. The sections that work best are those in which the author reflects on the feeling of belonging, the concept of fusion, and the importance of having roots. Stylistically, I appreciate the author’s writing and find it very effective.

[Kayleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the subject of the book- ideas on maintaining culture, language, and tradition, particularly in a judeo-iraqi sense, in a time where it feels to be dying out for the author. She speaks of wanting to make sure her son was able to identify with her culture and how to preserve that for him in a way that felt like I could have said it myself.
The flow of the book was a bit all over the place but it sort of felt like a kitchen table conversation. You could follow it, but it took some effort.

Overall, this was a really kind read.

[Katy Wheatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Samantha Ellis' search for her family's past, not only in the stories that she collects but also her search to learn and bolster the language of the Iraqi Jewish people she is descended from. This is a devastating read of a search for both inner peace and an outward sense of what home feels like in the mouth as well as geographically speaking.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was really beautiful. Non-fiction with heart!
She effortlessly weaves personal family lore with a deeply researched history of Iraqi Jews, Jewish languages, antisemitism, Jewish cooking and the list goes on.
I'm only docking a star because I found her bracketed asides and jokes a little bit jarring at times, but that's really a me problem!

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked lots in this book and find the Judeo-Iraqi culture interesting after reading Avi Shlaim's memoir. The history and descriptions of food and language were really good (my mouth watering at the recipes!), but I did find the author to be overly sensitive at times and her anxiety was a bit much for me.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful! I want everyone to read this book and learn about my heritage!
Beyond that, the writing is sublime, beautiful, and filling.
There are recipes interspersed throughout the book, so you will need to read the book to find them, rather than just looking at the back index. I can vouch for their authenticity as they are similar to my own family's recipes!

[Bozhena Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this book. This was a beautiful story; thought provoking, relatable, very complex as the author is trying to make connections between culture, language, food, and identity. Looking forward to trying some of the recipes.

This is a review of the audiobook.

[Lesleyts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aspects of the book are sadly very topical at the moment with the conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine but her quest to keep her language alive, share the cultural history and see it progress is a fascinating one. Really enjoyed the book and will try some of the recipes

[Kathrin Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on a lot of research as well as life experience, this is an interesting and thought-provoking book. I feel it could have done with a good edit to bring out the compelling narrative more clearly.

[Laura Spira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book exploring the complex links between food, culture, language and identity from an unusual personal perspective.

[Rowen]

Did not finish

[Murphy Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. I found this book informative.

[Erika Dreifus]

A love letter to the author's Iraqi-Jewish heritage--linguistic and culinary, especially.

[Audrey Sophia Issa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felt like I was having onions chopped on MY heart while reading this book.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review
This is such a beautiful book about storing and preserving the Judeo-Arabic language.
Not so much its grammar or spelling but its richness that comes from deep in the heart and the stomach .
How all the food, texture, emotions, stories, traumas, and history that go with it, shape the memories of a place in time the author has never been and will probably never go back to.
It is about identity, belonging, the power of family, and preparing food as an immense and unrestrained act of love and transmission.

Haunting, funny and soulful.

[Akkire55 · Rating 5 out of 5]

#IraqiArabicJewish #EAReadstheworld