In The Light Ahead,  which I introduced on Sunday at the Filmhouse, there was a scene where some characters sit down to chicken and noodles which they eat from one communal pot with wooden carved spoons. How authentic is this about life in the shetel I don't know as the film made in 1939 was filmed outside New York. But it got me thinking about Claudia Roden and her fabulous book of Jewish Cookery. And I googled a bit and found this great article about her in the New Yorker - Spice Routes - Claudia Roden's Culinary Dispora.