Recipes Handed Down From my Russian Great-Grandmother
Jacques Pepin, an influential French cook, cookbook writer and contemporary of Julia Child, wrote,
“There is something evanescent, temporary and fragile about food. You make it, it goes, and what remains are memories.
But these memories of food are very powerful. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “There is no love more sincere than the love of food.” Lin Yutang, a Chinese philosopher, tells us that “Patriotism is the love of the dishes of our childhood.” Yes, the dishes of our childhood stay with us forever.”
The food of my childhood brings back memories and reminds me of my personal history, as well as the history of my family in South Africa and Europe. As I take a step back and review On the Sickle’s Edge as a reader, I can almost taste my mother’s cooking with recipes handed down from my Russian great-grandmother, Miasha to my grandmother Dora. A four-generation family tradition of great cooks, all!
In the photograph, you see my mother Betty in her kitchen still cooking the wonderful recipes of my youth. It is with great pleasure that I make the best of these family recipes available to you here.
Thank you, Mom, for keeping these recipes alive in your kitchen.