Customer Reviews

A Taste of Nostalgia: Tales and Recipes to Nourish Body and Soul

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A Taste Of Nostalgia: Tales And Recipes To Nourish Body And Soul, collectively authored by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski and Judi Dick, is an outstanding compilation of wonderful dishes. Delightfully written with the tactful intertwining of recipes and personal memories, A Taste Of Nostalgia features delicious recipes ranging from Egg Kichel - Eyer Kichel; Super Duper Chocolate Cake; and Rice Pudding; to Roasted Garlic Potatoes; Fruit-filled Mandlebroit; and Stuffings For Chicken. A Taste Of Nostalgia is very highly recommended to all culinary students and kitchen cooks, but most especially to multicultural and Jewish culinary collections as a perfect reference for holiday and special event celebratory dining.

This book was quite interesting, with the stories and history included with authentic recipes from past and present. I found recipes that I thought were gone forever, and they were good, too! I would recommend this book to anyone who wanted to make some foods that Mom or Grandma used to serve.

The recipes in this book are almost beside the point. I loved reading the stories and insights before each chapter, which revolved around the Jewish holidays and rituals. My parents (now deceased) were European and I'd heard some of the tales and reasons behind the foods before, but it was like hearing and tasting all over again! Quite nostalgiac!

Not everyone loves traditional Euro-Jewish (Ashkenaz) cooking. But I do. And when a colleague gave me this book, I flipped. I've not seen anything quite like it out there. First of all, it's not just a cookbook. It's a book of (mostly) Chassidic stories arranged in chronological order according to the Jewish year. Each section opens with a vintage picture from the Old Country. I get lost looking at them, wondering if a distant relative is among the faces from so long ago.

Rabbi Twerski is a well-known Jewish author, especially in the field of psychology and addiction recovery. It's unusual to see him in the cookbook aisle. But a friend of a friend of a friend who knows him says he likes to relax in the kitchen. Several of his family's recipes are featured in the book.

Co-author Judi Dick seems like a classic "balabusta". I recognize a lot of the recipes from my Bubbe's kitchen. What's interesting about these recipes is that the ingredients are just the same as they were 100-150 years ago. It's really vintage cooking. (She even includes how to make schmaltz, grebnis, and fluden!)

Something else I like is the way the book lays out. It's wider than it is tall. And the recipe pages are simple and quick to read. What's cool is that while I'm waiting for something to cook, I can treat my brain to some soul food by reading one of Twerski's chassidic tales.

I like it. Maybe you will, too. The memories this book evokes are so fresh out of the shtetl. I expect to hear Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof singing "If I Were A Rich Man"!

This book subtitled "Tales and recipes to nourish body and soul" contains over 150 traditional recipes but in Rabbi Twersky's words, this is not your typical cookbook. It's an amazing storybook, by a mater storyteller, with some great recipes. Sprinkled with yiddishisms, you'll love Rabbi Twersky's stories and photos from the old country (Reciting Tashlich along the banks of the Luga River; Selling herring in Otvosk, Poland, 1927; Carrying cholent to the baker's oven on Friday afternoon, Bialystok, 1932).

The recipes by Judy Dick (and some of Rabbi Twersky's) include every traditional Jewish recipe you can think of plus some modern ones. This is definitely heimish cooking. Do you remember Tzibele Kichel, Fricassee, P'tcha, Meat Tzimmes with Knaidel and Stuffed Breast of Veal? Authentic old-country European recipes are presented having been adapted, using modern appliances, to make it easier for the cook.

Each chapter begins with Rabbi Twersky's stories and follows with recipes. For those old enough to remember their European and new immigrant grandparents, this is truly a taste of nostalgia. It is a book that even those who never set food into a kitchen except to eat will want to have. A definite must-have.