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Ruth Sirkis is an author and publisher of cookbooks in Israel. She is one of the founders of modern writing about food in Israel, and a major contributor to the development of culinary art in Israel in the past 40 years. Her magazine articles and books regarding cooking and serving food, raised the awareness of Israelis to good food and good hosting. These books are considered as the “water shed” line from which cookbooks in Israel started to emphasise attractive page layout with beautiful food pictures and precise, clear recipe writing. The cookbooks that she wrote and published are among the most popular in Israel, with some of them attaining the status of “cult” or “classical”.

Biography

Ruth Sirkis was born inTel Aviv, Israel. She is a graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and has a degree in Social Work. Her culinary writing started in 1967, in the important Israeli monthly women’s magazine “AT”, which just started then. In this magazine she created and wrote the main monthly food article for the next 25 years.

In the years 1968 to 1972 Ruth lived in Los Angeles, During that period she was also the food editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency of New York. Her weekly recipe column was syndicated by close to 100 Jewish Newspapers coast to coast in the USA as well as England, South Africa and Australia. Her first two cookbooks were written in English and published in 1972 in Los Angeles: “A Taste of Tradition” and “Popular Food from Israel”. Both books were in the market ever since then, published by various publishers, and are currently published by Ruth’s own publishing company. The book “Popular Food from Israel” was translated to French, German, Spanish, Russian and Japanese between the years 1985 to 1992.

Between the years 1973 and 1980 Ruth had a popular weekly radio recipe program called “From the Kitchen with Love”. This very same name was used for her first cookbook in Hebrew and for her Internet food magazine. Following 1980 Ruth continued to appear in various radio programs as an expert guest, delivering holiday and seasonal recipes, as well as recipes from new books she wrote or published.

Between the years 1974 and 1976 Ruth served as the provider of culinary contents to the first two children cooking programs in the one and only Israeli TV channel of that time. Some of this material was the basis for the book “Children are Cooking”.

The book “From the Kitchen with Love” was published in 1975, and became an instant success. The book was revolutionary in many aspects. It brought international dishes, which were practically un-known in Israel, to almost every household. These international dishes were adapted to the then very limited availability of ingredients, and to the Jewish dietary laws of Kashrot. It also includes detailed instructions for various forms of home entertainment: sit-down dinners, buffets, informal social gatherings and more. The book is a strong seller with over 70 printings, and close to one million copies sold.

The book “Children are Cooking” was published in 1976 and was the first book written for children. Many of the leading chefs of Israel attribute their love affair with cooking to this book, which opened the doors of home kitchens and cooking to many children as a legitimate and educational activity. This book too is continuously in the market, with sales of hundreds of thousands of copies. Recipes from the book are used in school texts-books of arithmetic and reading, of regular children, as well as of children with educational and developmental difficulties.

Her book “The Chinese Kitchen” was the first book in Hebrew on this subject. It was published at a time (1979) when authentic Chinese ingredients and cooking equipment were totally un-available in Israel. Therefore it included instructions of growing bean-sprouts at home, and instructions for building a home-made steamer.

In 1983 Ruth Sirkis, together with her husband Rafi, established a publishing company named: “R. Sirkis Publishers Ltd.” In this publishing house more than 100 books were published. Most of them cookbooks, some children books, home and family books, do-it-yourself books, self help books and more. 

Many of the Sirkis publishing house books won prizes for their design, both in Israel and abroad. Some of them were displayed in exhibitions of beautiful books world wide. One of the winners was the book “Enchanted Landscapes, Wall paintings from the Roman Era”, which was originally published by R. Sirkis Publishers in Israel in 1993. This book was chosen by Thames and Hudson Publishing of London and was reprinted and sold by them, under their name, in 1994.

Since 2002 Ruth Sirkis is writing and editing a weekly internet magazine about food and lifestyle. The magazine is distributed to subscribers by the four major internet service providers of Israel. The magazine name is “From the Kitchen with Love” and it includes culinary news, recipes, and food preparation videos.

Many of Ruth Sirkis books are best sellers, printed in many editions, over many years. All her cookbooks comply with the Jewish dietary laws of Kashrot, while describing international foods, both traditional and innovative.

Over the years Ruth Sirkis traveled a lot world wide. Her experiences and impressions of these trips appear regularly in her writing. Currently she actively manages her publishing company, and is involved in original writing of articles and books.

Her Books

• A Taste of Tradition (English) 1972
• Popular Food from Israel (English) 1972
• From the Kitchen with Love (Hebrew) 1975
• Children are Cooking (Hebrew) 1975
• The Chinese Kitchen (Hebrew) 1979
• From the Kitchen with Pleasure (Hebrew) 1982
• Popular Food from Israel (Translated to

German and French) 1985

• Paprika – Jewish Hungarian Cooking

With Joseph (Tomy) Lapid (Hebrew) 1986

• Popular Food from Israel (Translated to

Russian and Japanese) 1990

• Comidas Populares d’Israel (Spanish) 1992

Passover Recipes (Hebrew) 1994

• From the Kitchen with Ease (Hebrew) 2001
• International Savory Bakes (Hebrew) 2002
• International Salads (Hebrew) 2003
• From the Kitchen with Health (Hebrew) 2005

Trivia

The three children appearing on the cover of the book “Children are Cooking” are Ruth Sirkis children. The oldest one, Tammy, wrote a book about baking cakes, which was also published by Ruth Sirkis.

The last chapters of her last three books are devoted to Jewish historical, literary and linguistic aspects related to the subject matters of these books. These chapters were written by Ruth’s husband Rafi.

Food pictures in many of her books, as well as in the Internet magazine, are of dishes prepared by Ruth in her home kitchen, photographed by Rafi and then eaten with pleasure.

Fay Levi, who wrote original cookbooks in Hebrew, French and English started her culinary career as an assistant to Ruth Sirkis.