I was born in Brooklyn, New York after Elvis but before the Beatles broke up, I grew up in a traditional Jewish home. Every Friday, I would help my mother prepare for Shabbos by mixing, stirring, chopping, and cooking. Over the years, I learned to make all the traditional recipes passed down from her mother, my Bobeh Rose.
Bobeh’s cooking was old-school, with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. No recipe books, just generations of knowledge stored in her head. As a young girl, I dreamed of one day cooking like Bobeh and bringing such pride to my family.
In 1972, Bobeh suffered a stroke but thankfully survived. She never fully recovered though, and passed away later that year. Losing her was devastating for the whole family, Bobeh never got to writing down her recipes. So when she died, a culinary tradition died with her.
After university, I married my soulmate and we had two wonderful children. As they grew up in the tech era, I became fascinated by this new world. While helping my daughter with a school project, I learned about public domain books. Curious, I searched and found a Jewish cookbook from the 1900s with Bobeh’s recipes and more!
The old book was difficult to follow, with archaic terms and writing styles. But it felt like divine providence, a chance to revive Bobeh’s recipes for modern Jewish families. I decided to rewrite the book into a simpler, more accessible series.
My goal is to continue the tradition of passing down recipes from mother to daughter, but for the 21st century. With help from my tech-savvy kids, the series will even be available as ebooks! Who could have imagined cooking from phones?
Through rediscovering these recipes, I hope to honour the legacy of my Bobeh Rose and all the generations of Jewish cooks before me. Food is so much more than sustenance – it’s family, heritage, and community.