EST. 2011 BY LIZ RUEVEN
Enter to Win this Moving Cookbook/Memoir
Photo: book cover; The German Jewish Cookbook

Enter to Win this Moving Cookbook/Memoir

It’s give-away time as we celebrate spring and share The German-Jewish Cookbook: Recipes and History of a Cuisine with one lucky winner. Who’s ready to learn something new?

We wrote about mother/daughter authors, Gabrielle Rossmer Gropman and Sonya Gropman, last week in our post about WHY this dive into a rich culinary history is such an inspiring resource. Simply put: by reading and cooking from this book, we’ve learned so much more about a nearly vanished community.

Check out our post here. It includes a luscious recipe for Gaby’s favorite childhood meal, Baked Rice Souffle with Cherries.

kosher Rice pudding with cherries
Photo: Liz Rueven; Baked Rice Souffle with Cherries

The charming and very personal stories, research and recipes illuminate a cuisine I never knew much about. This volume has prompted me to think more deeply about the Eastern European foods I grew up eating and loving.   I’ve learned that the foods of the Polish Jewish community were quite different from those of the German-Jewish community.

To enter this give-away, leave a comment at the end of this post, telling us:

Why this particular cookbook would be a meaningful addition to your cookbook collection? If you have a special person in mind for this book, tell us why she/he would value the culinary history, stories and recipes here.

Contest runs from April 18- April 22, 2018 at 6:00 PM, EST. USA mailing addresses, only.

Please be patient if your comment doesn’t immediately appear at the end of this blogpost. We keep it safe and secure here by approving each and every comment so sometimes there’s a delay.

You may enter more than once by answering the questions we’ll pose on Instagram @kosherlikeme and on facebook.

We’ll notify the winner on April 23, 2018 and pop the cookbook in the mail ASAP.

Good luck!

xo

Liz

 

29 Comments

  1. This cookbook would fit into my collection because I have a Germanic background and don’t , as of yet , have a cookbook which reflects this specific type of cooking. It would bring a smile to my father’s heart , if he would ‘feel’ that I’m cooking with a Germanic twist to my cooking foods.

    Reply to this comment

  4. I would LOVE to win this cookbook because I grew up for the first 20 years of my life in Washington Heightseven bough my parents were not German Jews, we were Eastern European. I have just a few recipes from my friends mothers and would love to learn even more of them and more about the backstory of everyone my parents and I knew. It was not always the time to ask things of them back then, sometimes it was too painful for them to speak about what they lost, they would speak through food. It would be so meaningful to me to learn so much more.

    Reply to this comment

  5. My grandmother left Zwickau, Germany in 1937 with my mother and her two sisters. They were in Belgium, France and spent quite some time helped by a Czechoslovakian farmer and his wife until the Germans came after them again. Eventually they made it to Palestine, as did my grandfather who escaped from a work camp. “Cooking from nothing” was a family story, just using what little resources one had and making the most delicious things imaginable. This ethic still resides in my family and we never waste anything and can make great meals from little. This would be a wonderful gift my mother (91) and her sister (97) who taught me everything I know in the kitchen. I have expanded on much of their repertoire but think a cookbook dedicated to German Jewish cooking would be a terrific thing for us all to enjoy.

    Reply to this comment

  6. I have German ancestry from 2 sides of my family and would love to be able to keep the German recipes of old in my repetoir so these dishes can keep being passed on from this generatiin to the next!

    Reply to this comment

  7. My father came from Sudetenland, ie.German speaking Czech. This type of food would really speak volumes to my heritage. It would be a fantastic addition to my collection.

    Reply to this comment

  8. Recently my daughter made a plum cake. When I took a bite, I was immediately transported to my Oma’s kitchen when I was eight years old and fell in love with her zwetchenkuchen. I had forgotten this memory of my Oma until my daughter made that cake. I am reminded of the power of food to help memories long hidden emerge. My father, who is 90, often talks about his mother’s cooking, but sadly none of my Oma’s recipes remain. I am hoping this cookbook could help transport my father and I back to his mother’s kitchen and our wonderful memories of her.

    Reply to this comment

  10. I am the daughter and granddaughter of German Jews and grew up in Washingtin Heights. My maternal grandparents survived but my paternal grandparents perished. I was raised on German Jewish food and adored the cooking of my Oma, Amalie Lilie. She is my role model and I try to replicate her recipes. Her torte is a family and friends and those who have the recipe call it Oma ‘s torte. Thanks for rekindling my memories and many other commenters

    Reply to this comment

  12. My mother’s entire family is German Jewish – they fled Germany in 1933, and hid on a farm in Provence during the war. My mother and her family arrived at Ellis Island in 1947 and lived in the Breuer’s community in Washington Heights for the next decade. My grandmother’s (my Oma) food was a mix of German Jewish and Provencial, as a result of the years in France. My own mother’s health is failing and she’s no longer able to cook. I would love this cookbook so that I can replicate dishes from her childhood and awaken those memories of a lifetime ago.

    Reply to this comment

  13. Enjoyed reading about this cookbook and would love to have it as my paternal grandmother was German Jewish and my now elderly father often mentions dishes she cooked for him when he was young. Unfortunately, she passed away when I was too young to learn her dishes but feel like this cookbook could help fill in a major culinary blank in my family.

    Reply to this comment

  14. Hi Liz. This book will be a great addition to my cookbooks since I am the one who does the cooking at home. My plea is the following : the most important persons that have influenced my life were my Rabbi (Rip) whose parents were from Germany, my Cantor (Rip) an holocaust survivor who was born on Germany, a member from my Synagogue another holocaust survivor (Rip), who was forced to flead Germany and spend his life educating people of the importance of acceptance and the holocaust. There were many more people that shape the person that became and most of them with German roots.
    Casually, when I run a DNA I discovered that a small percentage of me is German, so to get this book will be so meaningful to my, so I will keep the torch alive of my beloved teachers and my beloved unknown ancestors.
    Good luck to everyone and berachot.

    Reply to this comment

  15. Because I want to learn more about Ashkenazi recipes and their flavors. A huge prejudice, especially in non-ashkenazi settings, is that it is just awful. I don’t believe so!

    Reply to this comment

  17. This cookbook would be a welcome addition to help me further pursue Kosher cooking. Since I have German in our family line it would be good to add that taste of heritage.

    Reply to this comment

  22. I would love to add this cookbook to my collection beca my husband has a Germanic background and don’t , as of yet , have a cookbook which reflects this specific type of cooking. It would bring a smile to my husband’s heart , if he would could eat foods his father always spoke about.

    Reply to this comment

  24. My daughter, a hard working college student, loves to cook. She a few cookbooks and uses them well. As the book fits our heritage, she would very much enjoy it. Thank you!

    Reply to this comment

  25. I am using Jewish recipes and cooking to pass on the history of the Jewish people to my children, to use their senses to connect with the traditions I grew up with and loved. This book would be a great addition! Thanks

    Reply to this comment

  26. From my review of this cookbook posted in https://jewishpostopinion.com/?p=3468
    I already own the cookbook so not interested in the contest. Hoping others can add to my limited history…

    My late father, Kurt Freudenthal, immigrated with his family to the United States from Mannheim, Germany in 1939. Arriving in New York City on the SS Noordam, they continued their journey to Richmond, Ind., where their sponsor, an aunt, lived. Eventually, my grandparents moved to the Washington Heights neighborhood of NYC (upper Manhattan).

    When I discovered through Facebook that a cookbook about German-Jewish cuisine was being published, I could not wait to get a copy of it. The author team of Gabrielle (Gaby) Rossmer Gropman and her daughter, Sonya Gropman, wanted to “preserve and document the cuisine of a nearly vanished culture.”

    What makes this cookbook special is that the authors chronicled Jewish life in pre-war Germany and how German-Jewish immigrant families re-established their lives and culture in Washington Heights (chapter one).

    The book is organized into sections – the introduction is about why Gaby and Sonya embarked on this project, their collaboration process, and how they defined German-Jewish cuisine. It also touches on Gaby’s family history. Gaby was just a one-year-old when her family immigrated to the United States from Bamberg, Germany in 1939, settling in Washington Heights. With a population of over 20,000, it was the largest surviving community of German Jews in the world. No wonder my grandparents left Richmond, Ind., for Washington Heights!

    It is also in chapter one that we learn that Gaby grew up in a multi-generational household. Her maternal grandparents were able to leave Germany in 1940, joining the family in Washington Heights. They lived with her parents for the rest of their lives. Gaby spoke German at home and ate traditional German-Jewish meals prepared by her Oma (grandmother). She did not learn English until she entered kindergarten.

    This chapter resonated with me, even though my father rarely talked about his life in Germany. What connects me to my German heritage is a figurine collection that my grandfather gave me during my last visit at his Washington Heights apartment. They were treasured items from their home in Germany. As a six-year-old, I did not know the circumstances of why they left Germany. It never occurred to me to ask how they chose what to bring with them to America, let alone the logistics in getting their belongings here.

    Through reading The German-Jewish Cookbook, I learned about lift vans, which were wooden cargo containers. Before leaving for America, a Nazi inspector would document, approve (or disallow) and tax the items that families were allowed to ship to America in a lift van. The book includes a photograph of page one of an itemized list (and value) of the contents of Gaby’s grandparent’s lift van. Were my beloved figurines packed, inspected, taxed and shipped in a lift van?

    The rest of the chapters are dedicated to the recipes and stories from Gaby’s family and also those recipes and stories collected through the interviews that took place in both the NYC area and Germany as part of the research for the book.

    Reply to this comment

  28. This cookbook has been sitting in my amazon list for months. I cook a handful of German recipes that have been passed down from my dad who came to the USA on June 21, 1941. I am fascinated by all the German recipes and have made it a mission of mine to try more and more of them. I have such memories of growing up with many of the different meats which you can no longer get today kosher. This cookbook is a definite must to add to my collection

    Reply to this comment

Leave a Reply

SIDE DISH
Photo by Jerri Graham Photography

Hi. I’m Liz and I welcome you to Kosher Like Me.

When I’m not caressing fruits and veggies at my local farmers’ market you’ll likely find me chatting with like-minded eaters, probing the scene in NYC or seeking inspiration in my spice cabinet. Life outside of this blog is all about my family, tasty travel adventures and power walks deep in the CT woods or along the shore.

Please brew a fragrant cup of tea, grab a nosh and stay a while.