Monday Morning Cooking Club

In 2006 a group of Jewish women came together to share recipes and talk about food. They cooked, ate, drank endless cups of tea and - often heatedly - discussed the merits of different recipes. After just a few weekly meetings, the Monday Morning Cooking Club was born and a legacy of food and recipes spanning many cultures and generations began to take shape. Five years and hundreds of dishes later, six members of the sisterhood have handpicked their favourite recipes for publication in their first book of the same name. Over 100 culturally diverse recipes from more than 60 cooks have been tried, tested and refined for inclusion in the Monday Morning Cooking Club. Each recipe begins with a short story of the cook and their history of the dish. These stories, interweaved with amazing recipes, narrate the rich and personal history of far-flung communities and families who find a deep connection through food and the memory of generations that have gone before.

Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Lisa Goldberg, Paula Horwitz and Jacqui Israel are passionate cooks with varied backgrounds in law, business, marketing, public relations and administration. They first met through Sydney's Jewish community, where their shared passion for food brought them together and cemented a lasting bond. Since its inception in 2006, their Monday Morning Cooking Club has received various accolades, from coverage in The Sydney Morning Herald's Good Living to a segment with Maeve O'Meara on the popular SBS show, Food Safari.