Loyle Carner and Yotam Ottolenghi Image by Loyle Carner Official

In British rapper Loyle Carner’s smooth new track, named after Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi, the chef gets a shoutout. “They ask about the bible I was reading,” Carner raps. “Told them the title was misleading labelled it Jerusalem but really it’s for cooking Middle Eastern.” He was referring to Ottolenghi’s kitchen classic, “Jerusalem,” one of the most famous and iconic cookbooks of our time. The track was created after a real conversation the rapper had on a train, when a family asked a question about the ‘Bible’ he was paging through.

Carner’s had a busy year, campaigning for men’s mental health, kicking a fan out of one of his live shows for making sexist comments, and serving as the face of a YSL fashion campaign. The Southeast London rapper even has a side gig running a cooking school for children with ADHD, Chilli Con Carner, inspired by Ottolenghi himself.

But after eighteen months of musical silence, Carner has returned, Ottolenghi in tow. The track is absurdist, featuring a gloriously oversized train ticket, and wistful, as Carner ponders on his trip to nowhere. Ottolenghi even drops by for a quick cameo, rendered in grainy, retro-inspired imagery. In Carner’s world, cookbooks have replaced the Bible.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Shira Feder is a writer. She’s at [email protected] and @shirafeder

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount