Many kosher and Jewish cookbooks land on the desk of the JC's food editor, but none more striking than Kosher Modern by Geila Hocherman and Arthur Boehm, which at first glance appears to have a dish of parma ham and roast figs on the cover. But chef Hocherman is the world expert at turning treif kosher. The parma ham is actually salt-cured duck breast. Inside, the book boasts: "Geila went treif for a period and so has first-hand knowledge of the tastes and textures she is aiming to replicate."

One wonders at logic behind promoting kosher cookbook by boasting its author is experienced in all things treif?.