A Taste of the Past: The Daily Life and Cooking of a Nineteenth-Century Hungarian-Jewish Homemaker
|
List Price:
$26.00
Hungary Hotels Travel Price:
$20.28
Your Savings: $ 5.72 ( 22% )
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: UPNE
|
Average Customer Rating: 
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 641
EAN: 9781584655954
ISBN: 158465595X
Label: UPNE
Manufacturer: UPNE
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 444
Publication Date: 2006-08-31
Publisher: UPNE
Studio: UPNE
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
A Taste of the Past is an entertaining reconstruction of the daily life and household of Therese (Riza) Baruch (1851-1938), the great-grandmother of the author, Andras Koerner. Based on an unusually complete cache of letters, recipes, personal artifacts, and eyewitness testimony, Koerner describes in loving detail the domestic life of a nineteenth-century Hungarian Jewish woman, with special emphasis on the meals she served her family.
Based on Riza's letters, part one offers an imaginative sketch of growing up in a religious middle-class family in the 1860s and 70s in an industrial town in western Hungary. Part one also describes Riza's reactions to the dilemmas posed by the early signs of Jewish assimilation. In part two, the heart of the book, Riza has married, moved to a smaller town near the Austrian border, and become the central figure of a large household. Koerner recreates a typical day in the life of Riza and her family, peppering his narrative with recipes of the food she served for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon coffee-and-cake, and the much more modest evening meal.
Riza's family was religious, and Koerner also describes the special foods (pike in sour aspic, cholent, apple-matzo kugel, and much more) she served to celebrate the Sabbath and the six major Jewish holidays. Short introductions to the recipes describe the evolution of the dishes through the centuries, their role in Jewish culture, and how cultural influences and religious traditions shaped Riza's cooking.
More than 125 evocative pen-and-ink illustrations bring Riza's story and her food to life. A Taste of the Past offers an enchanting look at Jewish daily life in western Hungary in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a time when middle-class Jews were increasingly assimilated into mainstream Hungarian life and culture. Such small-town Jewish life had completely disappeared due to the Holocaust. Koerner's book revives this lost world and invites the reader to be a guest in Riza's house to watch her caring for her family, shopping, cooking, and preparing for the holidays. By offering easy-to-follow updated versions of her recipes, the book also allows readers to savor Riza's dishes and desserts in their own kitchens, thus completing this experience of a visit to the past.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Exploring my ancestry
Comment: "A Taste of the Past" is just that for me. I was over 30 when I learned that my mom's dad was Jewish, not merely Hungarian. After my mom's death, I began to study about Jewish family life. My mom and her dad had visited their family in Hungary in 1907, 1915 and 1922, but my mom spoke little of that. I visited his birthplace (near Kosice, Slovakia - formerly Hungary) in 1996. I joined on-line Jewish genealogical websites. I found two aging Jewish relatives in Cleveland. "A Taste of the Past" has opened for me rich insight into Jewish family life in Hungary in the late 19th century and 20th century. I am no cook, so the food recipes are beyond me - except that my imagination allows me to savor them! The author is a man of great generosity of spirit, that imbues every page of "A Taste of the Past"! Am I ever in his debt!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great book for foodies and history buffs alike
Comment: This lovely book brings a slice of Hungarian Jewish culture to life in a uniquely three-dimensional way - the sights, the tastes, the details of everyday life. I found the recipes easy to follow and the pictures charming. The author's great-grandmother whom he profiles here is a refreshingly complex character - her views about such things as religion and national identity change over time, along with historical changes, and some of these shifts are even reflected in her food! For example, this is one Hungarian cookbook that is light on the paprika - apparently ginger was the spice of choice in the 19th century. Who knew?
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great book for foodies and history buffs alike
Comment: This lovely book brings a slice of Hungarian Jewish culture to life in a uniquely three-dimensional way - the sights, the tastes, the details of everyday life. I found the recipes easy to follow and the pictures charming. The author's great-grandmother whom he profiles here is a refreshingly complex character - her views about such things as religion and national identity change over time, along with historical changes, and some of these shifts are even reflected in her food! For example, this is one Hungarian cookbook that is light on the paprika - apparently ginger was the spice of choice in the 19th century. Who knew?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Engages all your senses
Comment: The book really brings to life a community that was wiped out by the Holocaust. The description of life in the small city in Hungary is vivid and the amazing illustrations are a great complement. The easy-to-follow recipes round out the experience.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hungary Trips Books
Hungary Trips DVD
Hungary Trips Softwares
Hungary Trips Magazines
Hungary Posters
Hungary Art Prints
Hungary Travel 2007 Calendars
2007 Monthly Calendars
Hungary Hotels Travel Special Resources
Hungary Arts
Hungary Entertainment
Hungary Government
Hungary Business
Hungary Culture
Hungary Education
Hungary Health
Hungary Map
Hungary Beach
Hungary Festivals
Hungary Hotels
Hungary Museums
Hungary Theme Parks
Hungary Transportation
Food and Recipes
Sports & Recreation
Travel & Tourism
Hungary Destinations
Budapest, Hungary
Heviz, Hungary
Sopron, Hungary
Eger, Hungary
Szeged, Hungary
Lake Balaton, Hungary
Hungary Hotels
Budapest Hotels
Heviz Hotels
Sopron Hotels
Szeged Hotels
|
Hungary Hotels Travel
Maintained by: Marketer Solutions | Link Building
