Rozanne Gold, Dalia Lamdani Project

Rozanne Gold is an award-winning author, chef, food writer, and philanthropist, with strong ties to Israel.  At the age of 23, she was first chef to New York Mayor Ed Koch, and went on to become the consulting chef to two of New York’s most magical restaurants, the Rainbow Room and Windows on the World.  She is the author of 12 acclaimed cookbooks, the winner of four James Beard Awards, and is a notable journalist who has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Huffington Post, Oprah, and Cooking Light, among others.

Ms. Gold cooked for President Jimmy Carter, Prime Minister Menachem and Aliza Begin, and the many dignitaries who visited Gracie Mansion. In 1980, Ms. Gold took her first trip to Israel and began writing extensively about Israel’s food and wine industry, later creating a company called “Foods & Wines from Israel.”  In 1982, Ms. Gold helped bring the first group of food journalists to Israel and is credited by many to have spearheaded the emergence of the “new Israeli cuisine.”  Ms. Gold funded a culinary competition in Israel for professional chefs, helped to promote Israeli chefs and food products in the United States, and in 1996 was sent to Israel as one of “Four Women Chefs for Peace.”  Her groundbreaking article in the New York Times “A Region’s Tastes Commingle in Israel,” written in 1996, was the first of its kind to focus attention on the spirit, history and future of the Israeli kitchen.  That same year, Ms. Gold was given the first “Olive Tree Award” by The Jewish National Fund for her efforts in promoting travel to Israel. For nearly two decades, Ms. Gold was on the Board of the American Friends of Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, following in the footsteps of her friend and mentor, Yechiel Kadishai.  Her Recipes 1-2-3 cookbook has been translated into Hebrew, and her career has been written about in La Isha, Al Hashulchan, among other Israeli and international publications.

Ms. Gold has been a friend and colleague of Dalia Lamdani for many years and is delighted to support her remarkable collection and culinary archive. “The University of Haifa is a special repository for such a meaningful initiative,” says Ms. Gold, who has funded a similar culinary collection at New York University, purchasing and donating the Gourmet Magazine library (with over 6200 books and culinary ephemera) to The Fales Library in memory of her mother.