Hebrew Word of the Week:
This week’s word is brought to us by Hebrew teacher and Substacker, Hebrew By Inbal, and it is a very important word. It’s the word for candy, mamtakim (ממתקם). 🍬
I received copies of these books from the publisher (thanks, HarperCollins!) in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts are my own.
Memories of a Good Meal by Alon Shaya and June Hersh
NOLA-based Israeli chef Alon Shaya (who you might recognize from Somebody Feed Phil for his restaurant, Shaya!) has just brought another book into this world, and it just became the most meaningful cookbook on my shelf.
In collaboration with food writer June Hersh (Iconic New York Jewish Food; Food, Hope & Resilience), this new cookbook is a collection of recipes and stories from lives impacted by World War II, including Holocaust survivors and partisans fighters. And not just lives impacted, but individuals who fought, endured, and clung to reminders of home through their favorite meals.
Years ago, the James Beard Award-winning chef teamed up with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for a project called Rescued Recipes, where Alon collected and cooked preserved recipes of Holocaust survivors, victims, and WWII veterans. He ended up raising over $1 million for the museum’s efforts to preserve and digitize historical documents, including survivor family recipes.
The continuation of his meaningful work comes in the form of his new book, which he was inspired to create in 2015 on a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum. It was there that he saw a piece of cloth cut from a Nazi flag on which female prisoners at the Ravensbrück concentration camp embroidered their names.
These women “cooked with words,” often reminiscing about their favorite foods like pear kugel, and writing down memorized recipes on scraps of paper they could find. Conversations around food became their form of resilience and survival while living in terrible conditions and suffering from starvation. Alon saw the importance of food as survival in this story, not just in eating, but in talking about it, which created community among survivors and instilled hope.
Just like Passover seder when we eat symbolic foods like horseradish and parsley dipped in salt water to taste the affliction and bitterness of our enslaved ancestors, the book’s recipes bring us to specific moments in history. Whether we’re eating Hawaiian butter mochi cake or creamy roasted chestnut soup, we’re tasting tradition that survived a Japanese internment camp, and we’re reminded of a French village that saved Jewish children. And yes, there’s recipes for a seder in here, too.
Memories of a Good Meal expands beyond Jewish survivors. There’s real universalism in its glossy 329 pages, a reminder that the war impacted communities of all kinds.
Take, for example, the amazing story of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds who, while held in a German POW camp, kept his fellow inmates’ spirits alive by dreaming up a restaurant called the Jolly Chef. Prisoners drew pictures of the restaurant’s floor plan and menus with dishes like Roddie’s Sunday spaghetti and hotcakes. The restaurant never came to be, but the story and the recipes that the prisoners dreamed up have a permanent home in the pages of Alon and June’s book.
Roddie is also famous for standing up to a German officer when he ordered only Jewish POWs to report the next morning so they could be separated from the other prisoners. Knowing the dangers that awaited the Jews if they did this, Roddie ordered all American POWs to assemble. When the commandant said they all couldn’t be Jews and this must be a joke, Roddie replied, “We are all Jews here.” Even after the German officer pressed his Luger against Roddie’s head, Roddie bravely stood his ground. The officer backed off and Roddie saved the lives of 200 Jewish soldiers. He’s one of only five Americans to be given Yad Vashem’s title of Righteous Among the Nations for his heroism and moral courage.
There’s also the fascinating story of John Kinsel, one of the Navajo code talkers of the Marines who transmitted and decoded secret messages across the South Pacific. Alon and June visited John, who was 107 years old, on the Navajo Nation in Arizona, to hear his story and learn about his complicated relationship with the country he served. After all, he wasn’t granted the right to vote during the time of his service. And it was the Navajo who unearthed the uranium from their land that was used for the atomic bombs, many of whom suffered from lung cancer because of it.
John died just 23 days after Alon and June’s visit. His legacy is preserved in their book through Navajo inspired meals, like fry bread and sweet corn ice cream.
This week, I brought memory and meaning to my kitchen by making a recipe from the book!
One thing I love about Memories of a Good Meal is that it’s pretty accessible. So many cookbooks out there are either complicated or call for ingredients I’ve never heard of. Not this one!
I made grilled steak with blueberry vinaigrette to honor Holocaust survivor Celina Hecht. Celina (born Celina Friedmann) survived the Holocaust by living as a Polish catholic girl, even though she was Jewish.
A family took her and her twin sister, Fella, in on their farm, and the girls spent their days foraging in the nearby forest for mushrooms and blueberries. Both sisters survived. Their mother, who was living in a ghetto that was eventually liquidated, did not.
“I was hidden not in the sense that I was hiding, but I was not allowed to be myself. I had a false name, my identity was hidden, but I wasn’t.”
I love a good fruit-and-meat combo, and this particular sweet and savory dish tasted triumphant, like survival. And knowing that the tartness of the wild blueberries reminded Celina of sweet memories amid wartime made the meal all the more satisfying.
Find out how you can win a copy of this cookbook in an upcoming Drop! Stay tuned!
A Year of Jewish Joy by Rebekah Lowin
A different vibe… get ready to elevate your holiday meals!
The Jewish Martha Stewart, Rebekah Lowin, has entered the chat. Only with less insider trading and more Jewish joy, with her first book, A Year of Jewish Joy!
Rebekah, who was an editor at Martha Stewart Living and is now an author and influencer, just came out with a cookbook that looks as homey and perfect as her Instagram, the kind that leaves you wondering, “How does a mother of two have time do that?”
From za’atar-parm and sun-dried tomato-basil schmear for break-fast, to baharat-spiced gruyère twists for Hanukkah (in honor of Judith who gave an Assyrian general salty cheese and wine and then cut off his head!), this book offers creative twists (see what I did there?) and activity ideas for all the holidays! Okay, except for Tisha B’Av…
The recipe that got me the most excited was olive oil martinis for Hanukkah. And the ombré apples and honey board is also a simple yet crowd-wowing idea for hosting a Rosh Hashanah meal.
In terms of accessibility, this book is accessible… if you have hours to wrap dozens of Rolos in aluminum foil, glue Hershey kisses to the tops of them, and dress them up in blue cloth to make them look like tiny Torahs. It’s a cute Simchat Torah treat idea, but really, when am I ever going to do this?
Shabbat Shalom! Go enjoy a pumpkin spice Challah or something,
P.S. There’s also this new joyful Jewish sweets cookbook that recently came out, but their publisher didn’t contact me, so who cares? ;)
💦 If you like recipes, check out these Drops:
🧀 A Catch-Up with the King of Kosher Cheese
An interview with kosher cheesemaker Brent Delman, aka The Cheese Guy, on his business, products, and what makes cheese kosher for Shavuot. Plus, a recipe for ricotta and cherry sweet buns in honor of Avinatan Or, a hostage, who, since this Drop, has thankfully returned to Israel alive.
Hanukkah: The Festival of Might
Hanukkah 101, relating it to 10/7, and a recipe for apple fritters with vanilla sugar!
Brilliant -- love the recipes (blueberry vinaigrette?) and the piece in general. Always look forward to this. :)
Thanks for the great reviews, the books look very interesting (including the dessert cookbook they didn't send you)! Might have to add them to the collection!