Tablet Magazine

It might seem incongruous to include the word food in the title of a book about Holocaust survivors. Prior to writing this book, I would have agreed. I would think it insensitive, almost cruel, to discuss recipes in the context of such a horrific time when food was scarce and starvation prevalent. Yet after speaking to “my” survivors, I came to realize that memories of food led them to hope, and hope fed their resilience—hence the title. Thinking and talking about cherished food was not a reminder of what they did not have but created hope for what they might have again. Their food recollections provided foundation for them when they were in tenuous settings. It was a bond to those who longed for familiar tastes; it was a way to bring family back to life and bring life to those who felt lost. As we moved from story to recipe, I saw smiles return and clenched hands ease. Food memory is transformative; it is a thread that weaves through all our lives. For Holocaust survivors, it brought them back to happier times. So many remarked that talking about the recipe, the preparation and the gathering around the table bridged their former to their current life. They drew on a recollection of their mother preparing challah for Shabbos or baking a potato kugel for what might be their last Passover Seder together as a family. The constant in all the dishes they shared with me was they represent a memory of food that needs to be preserved. I quickly discovered that Jewish food is hard to define. I began to question, what really makes a food Jewish? To a Sephardic Jew (one who can trace their roots to Spain after the Inquisition), it is stuffed onions and chicken with okra that graced her holiday table. For a German survivor, it might be arroz con pollo and fried plantains that she learned to prepare as a refugee in the Dominican Republic, and for a Polish survivor, it is the coveted Shabbos dinner with chopped liver, matzo ball soup, and roast chicken. The answer to my question was, more accurately, what isn’t Jewish food? There were common features to survivors from particular regions in both their wartime experiences and their cooking style....

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