Treyf: According to Leviticus, unkosher and prohibited, like lobster, shrimp, pork, fish without scales, the mixing of meat and dairy. Also, imperfect, intolerable, offensive, undesirable, unclean, improper, broken, forbidden, illicit. In her memoir treyf: My Life as an Unorthodox Outlaw, James Beard Award-winner and founder of the blog PoorMansFeast, Elissa Altman, explores the tradition, religion, family expectations, and the forbidden that were the fixed points in her Queens, New York, childhood. Treyf captures the collision of youthful cravings and grown-up identities. It is a vivid tale of what it means to come to yourself both in spite and in honor to your past.
