NOSH: Plant Forward Recipes Celebrating Modern Jewish Cuisine
By Micah Siva
A chef, registered dietitian, recipe writer and cooking instructor, Siva was recently named one of JUF Chicago’s 36 Under 36. She sees Jewish food as a cuisine shaped by adaptation: migration, access to ingredients, economics and the changing needs of those who cook and eat it.
Now based in Highland Park, that philosophy is at the heart of her cookbook, NOSH: Plant Forward Recipes Celebrating Modern Jewish Cuisine. Siva explores the intersection of Jewish and vegetarian food. Her goal with NOSH is not to replace tradition, but to make it relevant to how people eat today.
“When I was 12, I stopped eating meat,” Siva says. “That was a big kind of rumble in my family’s dinner table.” Growing up in Calgary, a meat-heavy city, in an Eastern European family, she was accustomed to a meat-and-potatoes table. Instead of abandoning those traditions, she began asking how she could continue enjoying them differently.
Her grandmother’s kreplach, small soup dumplings traditionally served during Yom Kippur and Purim, became the inspiration for the book. The two made them together every year. After her grandmother died in 2018, Siva made the family recipe from the United Kingdom, adapting it to be vegetarian.
Her vegan brisket follows a similar path. Siva studies a traditional recipe for its common denominators: sweetness, texture, flavor, season and memories surrounding it. Then she finds ways to recreate those qualities with plants.
“The feeling behind the recipes and the love and the history behind it still remains the same,” she says.
As a registered dietitian, Siva brings a practical perspective to plant-forward cooking. Her recipes lean on whole foods, including beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains, with the goal of creating dishes substantial enough to stand on their own. That can help hosts accommodate vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free guests at holiday tables and everyday meals.
Siva’s understanding of Jewish food has expanded through travel. She has visited more than 55 countries and makes a point of exploring Jewish communities and taking cooking classes. A 2019 trip to Morocco, including a synagogue visit and cooking class, influenced her use of spices, colors and stews.
Ultimately, Siva hopes NOSH gives readers permission to adapt. “There’s always a seat at the table for them,” she says, regardless of how they eat.
For Siva, the ideal Jewish dinner includes her herb horseradish salad, vegan brisket, cast-iron potato coco and ricotta corn sheet cake, all featured in NOSH. It’s a menu that proves tradition can evolve without losing its soul.