Chef Alon Shaya: Rescued Recipes

Whether in Auschwitz or Buchenwald, Dachau or Treblinka, memories of food haunted the starving prisoners: the taste of their mothers’ kasha varnishkes, the aroma of tzimmes and cholent permeating their homes. “Cooking with the mouth,” the captives called their constant conversations about the fat floating on the top of chicken soup, the simultaneous sweet and sour of stuffed cabbage, the pillowy softness of freshly baked challah. The distraction of those memories provided a link to their humanity and was so enticing, some people even risked pilfering pieces of paper or fabric to record family recipes. Israeli chef Alon Shaya came across some of those recipes at Yad Vashem — The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. Haunted by the vision of people in their darkest hour finding comfort in recollections of food, he then visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and discovered not only handwritten recipes, but a cookbook recovered from the home of a Yugoslavian Jewish family after they were sent to a ghetto and then to Auschwitz-Birkenau. That began Shaya’s journey into the power of food for resilience. Through the Museum, he was introduced to Steven Fenves, the surviving son of that Yugoslavian family, and meticulously re-created the delicacies of his youth, dish by dish. Now, Shaya is touring the country to tell that story — a window into a time before the Holocaust when Jewish people could celebrate life — and to raise funds for the Rescued Recipes initiative, which will help acquire, preserve and make accessible the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Collection. The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center is honored to welcome Chef Alon Shaya in conversation with June Hersh and Naama Shefi. A two-time James Beard Award Foundation winner, Alon Shaya, Chef-Partner of Pomegranate Hospitality (New Orleans: Saba, Saba’s Lounge, Miss River and Chandelier Bar at Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans; Denver: Safta; Bahamas: Silan) and author of Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel. June Hersh is author of Food, Hope & Resilience: Authentic Recipes and Remarkable Stories from Holocaust Survivors as well as two other cookbooks. Naama Shefi is founder of the Jewish Food Society and author of The Jewish Holiday Table: A World of Recipes, Traditions & Stories to Celebrate All Year Long. Moderated by Gabriella Gershenson, James Beard Award–nominated food journalist and an editor of The 100 Most Jewish Foods and On the Hummus Route.     Photo credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Steven J. Fenves