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Recipes and memories collected in cookbook celebrate Holocaust survivors. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune) |
The Passover story of the deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt resonates particularly strongly for people like Wolfgang "Wolfie" Rauner who escaped Nazi persecution for a new life in the United States.
Rauner, 83, arrived here June 21, 1941, from Nazi-occupied Luxembourg, where his German Jewish family had fled in the years before World War II. His family settled in New York; today he's a resident of the Fresh Meadows neighborhood in Queens.
"We were freed," he said simply when asked why Passover is so special. "We were the freed ones."
Every year at Passover, he makes his mother's matzo balls and remembers. He shares his story, and the recipe, in an unusual cookbook, "Recipes Remembered."
Author June Feiss Hersh movingly profiles Holocaust survivors and their families and shares their recipes.
"I wanted to preserve these stories, preserve these food memories, preserve the legacy of this remarkable community," Hersh said in an interview, noting these recipes held memories of childhood and happier times.
Yet "Recipes Remembered" is not a sad book; far from it.
"This community dusted themselves off and turned tragedy into triumph," Hersh stressed. "It was their best revenge, the best way of saying, 'I am going to have a good life.' They almost felt like it was an obligation. One woman, a survivor, told me, 'No one likes a bitter person.'"
In the book, Hersh describes the survivors she interviewed as "children of the Holocaust, thrown from comfort to chaos." Whether imprisoned in a death camp, forced into hiding, or able to escape to safety, all are survivors, she wrote, because "they survived the unimaginable and their lives were forever changed." Food was a way they could talk of their lives and share memories.
Rauner is not really surprised that "Recipe Remembered" has proven to be a popular book, with all proceeds going to the Museum of Jewish Heritage (mjhnyc.org), "a living memorial to the Holocaust" in New York City.
"It combines interesting history with food," he said. "Any time you combine anything with food, you've got a story."
"Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival" By June Feiss Hersh (Ruder Finn Press, $36)
Wolfie Rauner's matzo dumplings (Kloesse)
Prep: 40 minutes
Cook: 6 minutes per batch
Makes: 37 dumplings
Note: Wolfgang "Wolfie" Rauner's recipe from "Recipes Remembered." He serves them boiled, as was his mother's family's custom, and fried, as was the tradition in his father's family. Although Rauner calls them matzo balls, he notes they are sturdier than the light, fluffy version many people are familiar with, which may be why they're called kloesse, dumplings, in the book. One caveat: Rauner's recipe calls for soaking the matzo in water before using. There are varying opinions about eating "gebrokts," fully-baked matzo that has come in contact with water, during Passover. Follow the rules and traditions of your particular faith community.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons chicken fat or vegetable oil
Rauner, 83, arrived here June 21, 1941, from Nazi-occupied Luxembourg, where his German Jewish family had fled in the years before World War II. His family settled in New York; today he's a resident of the Fresh Meadows neighborhood in Queens.
"We were freed," he said simply when asked why Passover is so special. "We were the freed ones."
Every year at Passover, he makes his mother's matzo balls and remembers. He shares his story, and the recipe, in an unusual cookbook, "Recipes Remembered."
Author June Feiss Hersh movingly profiles Holocaust survivors and their families and shares their recipes.
"I wanted to preserve these stories, preserve these food memories, preserve the legacy of this remarkable community," Hersh said in an interview, noting these recipes held memories of childhood and happier times.
Yet "Recipes Remembered" is not a sad book; far from it.
"This community dusted themselves off and turned tragedy into triumph," Hersh stressed. "It was their best revenge, the best way of saying, 'I am going to have a good life.' They almost felt like it was an obligation. One woman, a survivor, told me, 'No one likes a bitter person.'"
In the book, Hersh describes the survivors she interviewed as "children of the Holocaust, thrown from comfort to chaos." Whether imprisoned in a death camp, forced into hiding, or able to escape to safety, all are survivors, she wrote, because "they survived the unimaginable and their lives were forever changed." Food was a way they could talk of their lives and share memories.
Rauner is not really surprised that "Recipe Remembered" has proven to be a popular book, with all proceeds going to the Museum of Jewish Heritage (mjhnyc.org), "a living memorial to the Holocaust" in New York City.
"It combines interesting history with food," he said. "Any time you combine anything with food, you've got a story."
"Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival" By June Feiss Hersh (Ruder Finn Press, $36)
Wolfie Rauner's matzo dumplings (Kloesse)
Prep: 40 minutes
Cook: 6 minutes per batch
Makes: 37 dumplings
Note: Wolfgang "Wolfie" Rauner's recipe from "Recipes Remembered." He serves them boiled, as was his mother's family's custom, and fried, as was the tradition in his father's family. Although Rauner calls them matzo balls, he notes they are sturdier than the light, fluffy version many people are familiar with, which may be why they're called kloesse, dumplings, in the book. One caveat: Rauner's recipe calls for soaking the matzo in water before using. There are varying opinions about eating "gebrokts," fully-baked matzo that has come in contact with water, during Passover. Follow the rules and traditions of your particular faith community.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons chicken fat or vegetable oil
