Judy Bart Kancigor

A Los Angeles-area food writer who has written for the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, the Orange County Register, Canadian Jewish News, and Los Angeles Jewish News, as well as a popular teacher of Jewish cooking, Judy Bart Kancigor is perhaps best known for her first book, Melting Pot Memories: The Rabinowitz Family Cookbook and Nostalgic History. The widely palatable Melting Pot Memories had modest beginnings. Self-published in 1999, what was initially intended to be a small, spiral-bound book of family stories and recipes would ultimately become something much larger. Having undergone several reprinting, all 11,000 copies of Melting Pot Memories have been sold. The cookbook first began with events in Judy’s life: her aunt was undergoing heart surgery, and her first grandchild was just about to be born, and these events caused Judy to think about family—one of her interests for many years—and inspired her to compile a family cookbook. Judy then sent a letter to her aunts and cousins, soliciting them for recipes and stories. The process of culling and testing the recipes spanned a delicious three years. In the end, the project grew to a massive 342 pages, encompassing 600 signature recipes by 160 family members and extended family members, ranging in age from 10 to 92. Melting Pot Memories is packed with wide-ranging, toothsome recipes for brisket, latkes, and cherry chili chicken. A Jewish cookbook, after all, the bread and butter of Melting Pot Memories is its hefty catalog of dessert recipes: included are mouth-watering how-tos for chocolate chip cookies and apple cake, just to name a few. After completing the manuscript, Judy approached G&R Publishing in Waverly, Iowa, a custom cookbook publisher, for her first printing of 500 books. The books sold out in the short span of six weeks and soon, Judy was invited to speak in groups around the country. As it turned out, the appeal of Melting Pot Memories did not lie only in the recipes, but also in the accompanying nostalgia. In lieu of food photographs, Melting Pot Memories features sepia pictures of the Rabinowitz family, maps, illustrations, poems, and letters.

Since then, Judy has enjoyed a fair amount of fame in the Los Angeles area. Recently in Montreal for a conference, Judy participated at a panel about memoir cookbooks put on by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. After the panel, she was approached by Workman publishing, who wanted to publish her next book. Judy’s new book, Cooking Jewish: 652 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family will be published by Workman publishing, and is slated for a 2007 release: find it wherever books are sold. Formerly a court reporter, Judy, who lives in Fullerton, is now a cooking teacher and speaker. She can frequently be found lecturing around the Los Angeles area. In the past, she has taught classes at California farmers markets, cooking schools, and bookstores; she continues to oversee cooking-for-Passover classes and perform Hanukkah cooking demonstrations around the US. Judy grew up in New York, and still speaks with a Brooklyn/Belle Harbor accent. She makes her online home at cookingjewish.com.