On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Ken Albala, author of Opulent Nosh: A Cookbook for Audacious Appetites and other books about food.
A professor of history at the University of the Pacific, Albala’s other books span from Eating Right in the Renaissance to The Great Gelatin Revival: Savory Aspics, Jiggly Shots, and Outrageous Desserts. He has written historical cookbooks; books on fine dining, banqueting, and individual ingredients; and more. Albala is currently working on an atlas of fermentation, as well as one on carving spoons, which is something he taught himself to do.
Opulent Nosh, which includes more than 100 recipes that transform simple dishes into memorable feasts, actually began as a breakfast book.
“I love breakfast because it's the one meal I get to cook whatever I want,” Albala explains. “And, if I make something that doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter; I'll eat it the next day.”
Albala sent the breakfast version to a half dozen agents, who called breakfast "passe." He considered going the self-publishing route, but that didn’t work out either. In the end, Albala replaced the word "breakfast" with "nosh," made a few other changes, and had success getting it out into the world.
“One of the messages I've been trying to promote in most of my books is that cooking is inherently fun, that everyone should do it, as often as they can,” Albala says. “It's one of those fundamental things about humanity that gives us pleasure, like making music or dancing or running around in circles, whatever you do to make you happy.”
Albala, whose mother's side is Ashkenazi and father's is Sephardic, talks about his background and how it led to his deep dive into food. He also shares Opulent Nosh’s origin story, examples of his unique cooking style, and his recipe for Matzo Brei, which you can find at JewishJournal.com.
Learn more about Opulent Nosh, follow @KenAlbala on Instagram and find his food groups on Facebook.
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