ANN ARBOR — “He’s, like, the first foodie,” Joan Nathan cheerfully told about 100 attendees seated in a sold out banquet room at Zingerman’s Roadhouse.

The cookbook author was talking about the legendary inspiration for her latest cookbook, King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World.

A renowned Jewish food maven, Ms. Nathan visited Ann Arbor for an Aug. 28 presentation and a festive meal prepared from recipes in the book. The event was a perfect prelude to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, which begins at sundown on Wednesday.

As one year ends and another, the year 5778 on the Jewish calendar, begins, it’s customary to review where we’ve come from and where we’re going, Ms. Nathan said in a phone interview ahead of the event. It’s “a time to think of yourself in relation to the world” and “a time of being humble.”

Remember that the first words in the Torah are “not ‘I,’ not God’s name,” she said. Instead, the book of Genesis begins with, “In the beginning ....”

And in the beginning of Jewish cuisine, King Solomon presided “over a diversity of cultures, an abundance of food,” writes Ms. Nathan in her newest work.

“The biblical book of Kings tells us that some of his wives came from Egypt, Moab, Ammon,” and modern day Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, she continues. In addition to influences and ingredients from these lands, “the 12 tribes of Israel brought even more variety.”

The subject matter of King Solomon’s Table, then, is “the diaspora,” Ms. Nathan said.

“Jewish food has always been traveling,” and the book details the culinary history of the Jews as they’ve dispersed across the planet. “New ideas, new foods, and new recipes are picked up along the way,” she writes.

For the dinner inspired by the book, the Roadhouse decided the menu, Ms. Nathan said, serving selections that were perfect for late summer and the end of the Jewish year.

Not only were there sweet dishes, which are traditionally served in hopes of ushering in a happy year, but many offered depth of flavor and spice symbolic of the fullness and complexity of life.

Each recipe in the book comes with its own story: brief lessons in history and religion viewed through the lens of food. Because, Ms. Nathan said by phone, “I don’t think of it as just ‘food.’ I think of what it means” culturally or historically. “The context is so important,” she said.

On the tables to greet diners were gorgeous loaves of pletzel, a poppy seed and caramelized onion-topped flatbread originally from Bialystok, Poland. “It’s just divine,” Ms. Nathan enthused after enjoying some.

The buffet dinner included Indian Chicken, with cardamom, cumin, and cilantro. As she introduced both the book and the meal, Ms. Nathan said she learned about this dish from “the grande dame of Indian Jewish food” in Kochi, which now has only about eight members in a tiny area known as Jew Town. The recipe for Salyanka, a slow-simmered beef stew with red peppers, came from a Georgian restaurant in Jerusalem, Ms. Nathan said.

Aharaimi — Arctic char topped with a spicy tomato compote that’s uniquely Libyan, with a blend of garlic and hot red peppers — was so immensely popular that many attendees said they plan to serve it to loved ones gathering for Rosh Hashanah dinners.

In the fall, as one year on the Jewish calendar passes and the next begins, it is important to consider “the concept of the end of the harvest season and a time that you’re putting food up,” Ms. Nathan said. Vegetable dishes featuring produce from Cornman Farms, part of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, therefore rounded out the meal.

Sliced carrots — such as the Tunisian Carrot Salad spiced with cumin, coriander, and caraway that was served — are a symbolic food often eaten at the new year in hopes of good fortune, because of their resemblance to gold coins.

Additionally, a Moroccan tagine of potatoes, roasted peppers, eggplant, and squash was served, as was North African Matbucha, a cooked tomato dish that can be served as a sauce or as a salad, Ms. Nathan said. A crisp, crunchy option was the simple paprika-sprinkled mix of delicate cucumber and radish slices.

A trio of desserts was served to each person, including a stone fruit cobbler “from Italian Jews and people from Central Europe,” Ms. Nathan told the audience. The recipe for delicate tahini cookies came from an Israeli coffee shop in New York.

Date-filled, saffron-hued, and syrup-soaked King Solomon’s Cake, attributed to the king himself, was many guests’ favorite on the plate; Ms. Nathan writes that it was “a must” for special ocasions. It fittingly rounded out the globally influenced meal, as Rosh Hashanah is considered not just the beginning of a new year but also the birthday of the world.

A number of attendees had traveled from the Toledo area for the dinner and, especially, to hear the revered Ms. Nathan’s presentation.

“Part of what I feel, is that she’s brought us back to a tradition that’s centuries old,” Judy Weinberg said; as they say, everything old is new again. And it is traditional to eat new foods for Rosh Hashanah while also looking back and reminiscing, reevaluating, reassessing, and remembering.

With King Solomon’s Table, Ms. Nathan has resurrected Jewish recipes from the past and reintroduced them for future generations to enjoy.

Contact Mary Bilyeu at mbilyeu@theblade.com, and follow her at facebook.com/thebladefoodpage, bladefoodpage on Instagram, or @BladeFoodPage on Twitter.

First Published September 15, 2017, 4:00 p.m.