Savor

Music and food go well together. So much so that singer Sarah Aroeste and chef Susan Barocas decided to join forces and celebrate Sephardic culture and tradition in quite a unique project. Each of the ten tracks on Savor (meaning flavour) revolves around a specific Sephardic food item, and while Sarah Aroeste sings the words and melodies rooted in the Iberian Jewish tradition, Susan Barocas develops the corresponding recipe. Therefore, if you wish to, you can listen to these Savor songs and watch a companion cooking video where ten female chefs prepare the various dishes.

Musically speaking, the Ladino singer explores ten quite different genres, from the desert blues style of ‘Siete Modes de Guisar la Berendjena’ and the sweet ballad of ‘La Envenenadora’ to the Turkish psychedelia take on ‘Si Veriash a la Rana’ and the pop chamber waltz approach of ‘Debate de las Komidas’. Though the constant stylistic shifts make for an interesting and satisfying multi-course meal, Savor ends up lacking some consistency and fails to maintain the level Aroeste attains in ‘Si Veriash a la Rana’, for instance. Maybe that is the problem with a project based on the idea that music and food go well together – when you stick to just the music, the experience does not hold up completely.