75. Recipe: Mix Jewish with Mexican, Add Maine
- Among the many bilingual projects that Professor Margaret Boyle of Bowdoin College in Maine has on the front burner is the newly released Sabor Judío: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook. Margaret, who is Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies at Bowdoin, is also the coauthor, with Professor Ilan Stavans, of Sabor Judío. The two drew from their Jewish Mexican heritages and the recipes of their families to develop the cookbook, whose Spanish title translates to Jewish Flavor.
The 100 recipes they serve up are a disarming fusion of Jewish and Mexican flavors. Here is where such seemingly disparate foods as matzo balls and chiles meet and live happily ever after on your palate.
More than recipes, though, the authors introduce us to the Jewish Mexican community and serve up the stories of their own families—which makes this cookbook part history book as well.
FROM MEXICO TO MAINE
For Margaret, the journey to Sabor Judio started with childhood visits to her great-grandmother, whose family were Jewish immigrants to Mexico. It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that her path has also led to Multilingual Mainers, the bilingual program she started that helps Maine’s immigrants feel a part of their new home.
You may have read our article on it; in this episode, you’ll hear Margaret describe why she started the program and how it’s defying Maine’s stereotyped demographic.
Ilan and Margaret at Claustro de Sor Juana, Downtown Mexico City
One hundred recipes celebrate Jewish Mexican contributions to a rich culinary heritage.
- Speaking of defying stereotypes—in this episode, Margaret also shares her work on Bowdoin’s first bilingual theater production of a classical play. It’s from the time of Shakespeare but went one better as far as the role of women. And on the subject of women—you’ll also meet a devout Mexican woman from the 16th century who could never have dreamed that one of her recipes would end up in Sabor Judío. If you’re wondering who it is, your clue is “devout.” Better yet, just listen to the episode and savor the stories.
Portion of a letter from Margaret’s great-grandmother Raquel to her great-aunt Estela, in Spanish with a bit of Yiddish, explaining a recipe that is now immortalized in Sabor Judío.
Savor some Sabor! Enjoy this recipe from their book that the authors are sharing with America the Bilingual.
HEAR THE STORY
Listen on Apple Podcasts here: America the Bilingual by Steve Leveen; on Spotify; or wherever you tune in to your podcasts.
SHARE
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RELATED EPISODES
Ep. 63. Chef Pati Jinich’s Recipe for Reaching Across Cultures. One of Pati’s recipes is featured in Sabor Judio. There’s also a delightful surprise about Margaret’s and Pati’s families that Margaret shares in this episode.
Ep. 67. Meet a Spanish Teacher in Maine Named Mohamed. The popular Señor Mo has been active in the Multilingual Mainers program, both as a new immigrant to Maine and a Spanish teacher.
RELATED NEWS
In the episode, you’ll hear Margaret explain how she encourages her language students at Bowdoin to immerse themselves in a study abroad program. The Institute of International Education (IIE) recently reported on the significant uptick of US students doing just that, their numbers topping a quarter million in the 2023 academic year.
TAKE OUR QUIZ ON AMERICA AND BILINGUALISM
You’ll find our very first quiz, “Test Your Knowledge of America’s Linguistic Landscape, in 10 Questions,” here in our new Quizzery. See how you do—and then let us know how we did in providing an entertaining and informative quiz, on the short survey that follows.
CREDITS
Margaret and Steve cook up a podcast episode.
Thanks to our America the Bilingual team who worked on this episode: Mim Harrison, our editorial and brand director, who wrote and directed it; Fernando Hernandez Becerra, who produced the episode from his studio in Guadalajara, Mexico, Esta No Es Radio; and Jen Cavagnaro at Daruma Tech, who manages our website.
Special thanks to the Now You’re Cooking store in Bath, Maine, especially their kitchen coordinator, Stephanie Danahy, for allowing us to record a portion of the episode there; and to Carmen Greenlee, the Humanities and Media Librarian at Bowdoin College, for providing the studio where we recorded most of what you hear.
Photos featuring Ilan Stavans by I. Rabchinksey.
Meet the entire America the Bilingual team—including our bark-lingual mascot, Chet—here.
We welcome your comments on this episode page and on Facebook.
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You can book Steve for many different audiences
First, know that she has one of those glorious English accents (or what all of us who are not English would call an accent), which makes her a natural for the audio book narration that she does. Although U.S. born, Caroline grew up in England and studied literature at the University of Warwick (fyi for American ears: that second “w” is silent).
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