A Taste of the Past: The Daily Life and Cooking of a Nineteenth-Century Hungarian-Jewish Homemaker (Hardcover)

~ Andras Koerner (Author) "THE TRAIN WAS RUNNING through a flat and rather dull-looking part of western Hungary toward Gyor, an industrial town about halfway between Budapest and Vienna..." (more)
Key Phrases: gugelhupf form, handwritten recipe collections, bread kugel, United States, Hungarian Jewish, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A Taste of the Past serves as both historical record and cookbook. Koerner tells the story of his great-grandmother, a Jewish woman growing up in a nineteenth-century Hungarian town and assimilating into the dominant gentile culture. She left behind a trunkful of recipes, and from these, Koerner has reconstructed a culinary tradition, updating the recipes to make them reproducible in a modern kitchen. Recalling (but not replicating) traditional Ashkenazic cuisine, these recipes exhibit distinctive spicing and Hungarian influences. Those looking for new desserts would do well to prepare Koerner's unique recipe crossing noodle kugel with bread pudding. Line drawings bring the text to life, and these recipes bring fulfillment to the curious cook seeking a challenge. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A Taste of the Past serves as both historical record and cookbook . . . Koerner has reconstructed a culinary tradition, updating the recipes to make them reproducible in a modern kitchen. Recalling (but not replicating) traditional Ashkenazic cuisine, these recipes exhibit distinctive spicing and Hungarian influences. Those looking for new desserts would do well to prepare Koerner's unique recipe crossing noodle kugel with bread pudding. Line drawings bring the text to life, and these recipes bring fulfillment to the curious cook seeking a challenge."--Booklist

"More than a cookbook, the book is a portrait of a life and a world that no longer exists."--The Jewish Week

"The evocative drawings, the decorative initials, and a typeface designed in 1650 by a Hungarian, together make up an aesthetically exclusive book which is a pleasure to open, read, and perhaps, taste from."--The Budapest Sun

"What is left of Jewish Moson is memories: family stories, photographs, letters, recipes and now, for the rest of us, Koerner's A Taste of the Past. It is a careful and loving re-creation of a world that met an unhappy death, and for a cookbook; or any other type of book; there is not much finer purpose than that."--The Forward

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 444 pages
• Publisher: UPNE; 1 edition (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584652098
• ISBN-13: 978-1584652090
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,419,365 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for foodies and history buffs alike, March 9, 2004

By A Customer

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?

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engages all your senses, January 23, 2004

By A Customer

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exploring my ancestry, December 28, 2008

By	John B. Hills "John Hills: Muskegon, MI USA" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Taste of the Past: The Daily Life and Cooking of a Nineteenth-Century Hungarian-Jewish Homemaker (Paperback)

"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!