New Voices

The fenugreek sprinkled into the chicken coconut stew has no significance to the half-dozen diners scattered around the restaurant. But to Thoufeek Zakriya, an Indian Muslim, the plant is not just a staple in Indian cuisine — it is an artifact in the history of Cochin’s Jewry, the long tale of a small community in the port city of Kochi in the Indian state of Kerala.

Fenugreek is also called uluva in Malayalam, the language of the area in which Cochin is situated. “A similar dish is found in Yemeni Jewish cuisine, but different in taste and flavor,” Zakriya explained. “The name of the Yemeni dish is hilebah. In Indian languages, when you look at the translation for fenugreek — only in Malayalam is it uluva.” Use of the plant links Cochin’s Jewry to their Jewish identity.

Tracing the origins of uluva was just one stop on my journey to discover Jewish life in Cochin that would come to include one man’s self-taught talent for Hebrew calligraphy and the presentation of a handmade cake bearing Hebrew greetings to Israeli businessmen.

His Growing Fascination

Zakriya’s fascination with the Jews of Cochin started as a 10-year-old when he asked his father to take him to the synagogue in Jew Town, Cochin’s Jewish quarter. At the time, Zakriya did not know that Jews first settled in Kerala, the state in South India where Cochin is located, over 2,000 years ago. He had yet to discover that Jews from Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Spain and Portugal began immigrating to India in the early 1600s. He had no idea that he would become close friends with the town’s elderly Jewish residents or become a colleague of historians that study Cochin’s Jewish community. He was just a curious 10-year old. Read more