& d o o Fomance R Supplement to Jewish News January 24, 2022 jewishnewsva.org | January 24, 2022 | Food & Romance | JEWISH NEWS | 17
New Year Discover New Options
Food & Romance Dear Readers,
W
hether one eats to live or lives to eat, food is always a discussion. And, somehow, food is often tied to romance and friendship.
Speaking of food and friendship, in November, a friend came to town with three copies of Israeliborn British chef Yotam Ottolenghi’s Test Kitchen cookbook. One was for me (really for my husband, the real chef in our home), one for my daughter in Cincinnati, and one for my daughter in Los Angeles. My friend, who lives in Atlanta, also purchased a copy for herself. Soon, the fun began—each of us trying recipes and sharing the results with photographs, tips, and any adjustments made. We’ve got a great group chat going and we’re eating some extraordinary, not too difficult to prepare meals. And, while we’re spread throughout the country, we’re almost cooking together. What a great idea. Thank you, Jean! Like Jean’s gift intends, food often connects and nurtures. Consider two area women we profile in this section who have turned their passion for cooking into businesses. Years of nudging from family and friends encouraged Amy Markman to officially open Soup Love. Page 22. And, Shari Berman, owner of Cater 613, began her cooking career when she and her husband became observant. Her story is on page 24. Both articles are by Lisa Richmon. Celebrity chef Alon Shaya connected with a Holocaust survivor to recreate recipes from his prewar youth. It’s an interesting and uplifting story on page 20. No matter if you’re celebrating at home by cooking, with gifts, or dining out, this section offers some good suggestions on where to shop and dine and who to call. Enjoy!
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jewishnewsva.org | January 24, 2022 | Food & Romance | JEWISH NEWS | 19
Food & Romance
Star chef Alon Shaya helped a Holocaust survivor recreate recipes from his prewar youth Margaret Littman
(JTA)—Visiting Yad Vashem a decade ago, Alon Shaya got to see some of the Jerusalem Holocaust museum’s culinary artifacts that aren’t always on display to the public. It was the James Beard Award-winning chef’s introduction to the fact that concentration camp inmates distracted themselves by recalling and secretly writing recipes—on scraps of hidden paper and cloth—from their prewar lives. “Food is such a big part of everything I do. It really moved me that people who were trapped, who were facing almost certain death, were helped by these memories of food. It reminded me of the power
of food,” Shaya says. “They would not have spent their last moments documenting this if they did not think this was important.” The Israel-born Shaya was raised in Philadelphia and now lives in New Orleans, where he and his wife, Emily, own Pomegranate Hospitality. The company runs several restaurants, including Safta in Denver and Saba in New Orleans. One will open soon at the Four Seasons Hotel, also in New Orleans. Over the years Shaya kept thinking about those recipes at Yad Vashem. “Is anyone cooking these recipes? Do the families know they exist?” he wondered. Seven years later, on a November
2018 visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Shaya would explore its food-related artifacts. He learned about Steven Fenves, a Holocaust survivor and museum volunteer, and saw its collection of more than 140 Fenves family recipes. Fenves recalls that when he, his mother and older sister were forced from their home on the Yugoslavia-Hungary border in 1944—his father had already been taken away—there was a line of people on the staircase jeering while waiting to loot the place. Hidden in that crowd, unbeknownst to the Fenveses, was Maris, their former longtime cook. Maris wasn’t there to steal but to surreptitiously rescue items of sentimental value.
After the war, she surprised the family by returning the recipe book, schoolwork, and lithographs and artwork by Fenves’ mother, who had perished in the Holocaust. Fenves was liberated in 1945, as was his sister and father, although his father died about four months later. Fenves, now 89, had memories of the family going to the market together, choosing seasonal vegetables, and coming home and pickling them together. He remembered potato circles, with yeasted bread and mashed potatoes, which he and his sister were not allowed to eat; those were the special occasion foods for guests. He and his sister loved a roast turkey dish that involved pulling the turkey off the bone, grinding the meat and then
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Food & Romance Fenves would heat and eat at home and provide Shaya with critiques. The process took the better part of a year. Videoconferencing made it possible for Shaya to see Fenves and his family, even if Shaya could not serve him in person, as he wished. “To send him food and have him be able to taste those things for the first time in 75 years, that was one of the most moving things I have ever done,” Shaya says. Friedberg, the museum historian, says Shaya brought an “incalculable” amount of joy to Fenves. “The importance of the recipes books is the way it makes vivid and real and visceral what was lost during the Holocaust,” Friedberg says. “We have to make sure that Jews are not flattened into victims. The partnership of Alon and Steve is one of the most powerful examples of how to appreciate prewar Jewish life.”
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packing it back on before baking. The two would work their way through the ground meat to reach their favorite part, the bone. But Fenves never prepared those foods of his youth. And that’s where Shaya stepped in. The chef wanted to help Fenves experience again the tastes of the food made by his mother and grandmothers—food he hadn’t savored in 75 years. Fenves translated 13 recipes from Hungarian and the book’s table of contents working off a high-resolution copy, as the original is quite fragile, says Edna Friedberg, a historian with the U.S. museum. While Fenves has an affinity for languages—even as a child he was trilingual—translating the “rescued recipes” was beyond entering them in Google translate. The recipes are handwritten, so he had to decipher 100-year-old script that may have regional differences of language. Some survivors’ recipes may be written in a combination of languages, such as Yiddish and Polish. And it’s an emotional process for survivors remembering their losses. (The museum is accepting donations to fund the translation and rescue of more recipes so that prewar food traditions can continue.) Shaya searched the translations for dishes he had never made and recipes to which Fenves had a connection. He chose the potato circles, the turkey, a walnut cake and semolina sticks, which Fenves identified as a delicacy he missed. Fenves told Shaya the snack—crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside— needed to look like fish sticks. So Shaya made a Cream of Wheat-type substance cooked down with milk, then lightly breaded and fried. The dish was perfection, according to Fenves. It’s also now in regular rotation at the Shaya home. “The semolina sticks and ground turkey exactly replicated what I remember,” Fenves told an audience in a live video presented by the museum. The recipes are largely lists of ingredients, without techniques and oven temperatures, so Shaya worked with Fenves to recreate them. Due to the pandemic, Shaya worked in New Orleans and shipped Fenves food packed in dry ice.
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jewishnewsva.org | January 24, 2022 | Food & Romance | JEWISH NEWS | 21
Food & Romance
Amy Markman fills cups with shots of Soup Love Lisa Richmon
T
ender at the Bone is the title of a memoir by Jewish food icon Ruth Reichl. It doubles as a culinary storyteller’s
nod to the alchemy of ingredients that make the Soup Love, an Amy Markman original. Fueled by a foodie father, and a healer’s heart, Markman re-imagined the classic care package. While raising two sons, the Jewish food fairy of Virginia
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Beach cast her spell on family, friends, and friends of friends with her thoughtful chicken soup and comfort food deliveries. Facing surgery or a serious illness meant receiving a delicious treat that was equal parts comfort and healing—and indulgent surprise. “My late father Bert was always in the kitchen cooking something. He taught me all about cast iron. Clean or dirty, his big, flat, round cast-iron pan was on the stove at all times, often with remnants of oilkissed onions and garlic,” says Markman. “I loved the way the house smelled when you walked in.” For years, Bert Markman and Marilyn Simon Weinberg’s daughter was content making matzoh ball soup, inspired by her grandmother Dorothy’s recipe—as a genuine expression of caring, or a token of friendship. She celebrated Passover with her family, fully embracing all aspects of food prep. Markman never hesitated converting holiday soups to thoughtful gifts for friends of all faiths and cultures.
A culinary caregiver, and former respiratory therapist and geriatric social worker, Markman found her place in the home-based commercial kitchen, and in 2019, turned up the heat on her passion project. An offer to prepare from-scratch matzoh ball soup for a friend’s coffee shop in 2018 was pivotal. The response from customers made it as clear as a luscious bone broth. Positive feedback from strangers with no skin in the game, gave Markman the push she needed. The idea of making bank out of matzoh balls simmered on low long enough. Now she had a business in mind and the name was Soup Love. Years of nudging from family and friends finally paid off. Palate met palette in Markman’s 150 square-foot commercial kitchen attached to her home. Pops of pink are the yin to the yang of the sterile stainless-steel prep stations and refrigerators. Her dedicated team, with son Dillon on board, work by her side crazy hours, always eager to learn
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Soup Love’s Amy Markman makes a delivery of lunch to the front line workers at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.
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Food & Romance from a soup maven, while putting their hearts in every aspect of her enterprise. “It’s pretty incredible the way my team operates. I’ve built great relationships with these people,” says Markman. “As you get older, you can feel safer doing that.” As an emerging business owner, Markman’s core goal was to make things easy for the customer. “It was all about soup that’s easy to love and receive. Soup Love was conceived in the age of Square and Venmo. Customers get great soup without having to pull out money or talk to anyone. We just drop it off and they grab it. Most of the time we don’t even see the customer.” Serendipitously timed, Soup Love gained months of traction when it launched, producing a groundswell of customers, on and off Facebook. Markman quickly leveled up the doorstep delivery concept. Her menu consisted of a 24-hour chicken bone broth she developed as the stock/base for the brand’s original Matzoh Ball, Chicken & Noodle, and Chicken & Rice soups. “I only buy organic bones from local farmers for the bone broth I use for my chicken soup.” Soup Love was already off and running soups around Hampton Roads when COVID hit. “I can’t tell you how many COVID calls we get. At first, they wouldn’t say the word COVID” says Markman. “It was like leprosy. They would just call and say, ‘we really need your soup.’” Today is quite different. “Everybody’s an open book,” says Markman. “Now it’s more like, ‘my whole house has it. Just drop off and don’t touch the rail or doorknob.’ ‘My daughter has it and wants her ‘magic soup.’ Last week someone called and said, ‘I don’t live in the area, can you drop off some soup for my son?’” The Soup Love recipe for success has tripled with 16 year-round soups ranging from Harvest Vegetable, Heart Healer, and Roasted Root—to Lemon Chicken with Orzo, Chicken with Dumplings and Brunswick Stew—and two 24-hour bone broths. Two spring/summer and two fall/ winter specials were rolled out in 2021. When people are vulnerable and unwell, it’s essential that they have
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nutrition that’s appealing and comforting, and doctor tested. Not only did the retired geriatric social worker study the health benefits of bone broth when she launched, she’s become more mindful about seasoning and is judicious with the use of the finest quality pink Himalayan salt. She says it’s important to her to support the community and buy local, which is one reason why she only uses organic bones from local farmers for her bone broth. Producing and promoting healthy soup closes a loop. Markman’s soft spot for the geriatric population can be traced back to 10 years as a geriatric social worker at Beth Sholom Home, and then five years at the Catholic Dioceses. She is elated when physicians recommend bone broth to patients preparing for a colonoscopy or other body compromising treatment like chemo. “I get happy just adding turmeric. I haven’t made my rounds to all the docs yet, but I’ll get there. Right now, we have our Tuesday and Thursday delivery schedule and a set menu. But, if you’re sick, we make an exception. I can’t remember a time we couldn’t accommodate someone. We really try. We want it to be easy for the customer and workable for us.” By wholesaling to Taste Unlimited with locations throughout Hampton Roads (and for whom she makes an exclusive Tuscan chicken and white bean stew), Markman fulfills her purpose to make
sure everyone in the region gets a shot at some soup love. Soup Love participates in more than 100 individual local markets during market season (and during COVID peaks) when the need to shift to drive-thru markets kicked in. “What really put us on the map is all the local farmers markets. Groceries are great, but people are buying local.” Giving back to the community has always been a priority. Markman is a life member, with 10 years active, on the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad. She’s served on the board of several Jewish organizations and is a Lion of Judah. “I really want to be there for the Jewish community. It’s my heritage and I want to be there for them.” If expansion talks continue, adding kosher could be on the table. “I haven’t considered it yet, but I’ve been asked. I may have to look at a second location. If that happens, I will look at kosher to see if it’s doable. If it aligns with my business I would love to.” Against mentor advice, when time permits, Markman offers kugel and chopped liver as an add-on to her larger matzoh ball soup orders. She has a waiting list (Jews and non-Jews) for her chopped liver. “My advisors ask me ‘why are you doing this?’ It’s not an efficient use of my time, but it makes me happy to do something special for my people. It feels right to me.”
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jewishnewsva.org | January 24, 2022 | Food & Romance | JEWISH NEWS | 23
Food & Romance
Our mothers, ourselves. Shari Berman in the kitchen. Lisa Richmon
A
catering mentor once told Shari Berman, ‘We eat with our eyes.’ As a young kosher caterer, art lover, and teacher, she took his words to heart and allowed her brain to release childhood memories. “When I was in high school, my mother’s culinary talent impressed everyone but me,” says Berman, owner of Cater 613. “I was a rebellious daughter with zero interest in learning how to use cookie cutters to make shapes out of carrots or how to make cream puff swans from matzoh meal for chicken soup. I was Audrey Gutterman’s daughter, but while everyone else raved about her creativity, I was totally indifferent to the cakes she baked in the former JCC.” Along with a loaded volunteer schedule and the responsibility of full-time motherhood, Audrey Gutterman was a gourmet food consultant who taught local chefs how to prepare a Passover seder and guided iconic businesses like Custom Cake Shoppe in their formative years. Berman’s move to acknowledge her ‘inner-Audrey’ was made for her 20 years ago when she and her husband Bruce became observant and joined B’nai Israel in Norfolk. “I had no option but to learn how to cook. Everything I tried not to learn from my mom came back to me.” Berman also put her loaded restaurant takeout menu collection to good use. Years of eating out and ordering in from La Galleria and No Frill Grill in Norfolk, and anywhere Cowboy Sydney (Mears) set up shop, paid off. “When I started cooking, I started copying,” says Berman “I really figured out on my own how to make popular dishes that look beautiful and taste amazing. Her crossover meal was pistachio encrusted salmon, or salmone in crusta di pistacchi, inspired by infinite meals enjoyed at La Galleria. Confidence gained in her version of the dish led to a big compliment from Pat Robertson at Swan Terrace on the CBN campus.
“Dr. Roberson was recording an interview with a rabbi and an orthodox scientist. When I arrived to prepare their kosher lunch, I was escorted by a very present and gregarious security guard. I set one table for Dr. Robertson and his kosher guests in a room that accommodates 50. At the end of the meal, I served coffee and tea in disposable cups. I offered to serve Dr. Robertson in one of the fine china coffee cups from the restaurant. He politely said no thank you, ‘I will have everything the same as the Rabbi!’ As I was clearing their meals, he said with a southern drawl, ‘Shari, this kosher food is one of the best meals I ever had!’” The subject matter on the table was an anti-tumor compound known as CPI- 613. 613 refers to the number of mitzvot one is commanded to follow. The name, Cater 613, reflects Berman’s commitment to the observant community, without any intention to exclude. “When I’m serving at an event, I want people to see my food and say, ‘I’d rather have that,’” says Berman. “My mentor worked with a very well-regarded kosher caterer in New York. He taught me about presentation, which fit my background as an art teacher who taught art in public schools for years as well as at HAT and Toras Chaim. Cooking for all the senses tied everything together for me.” Be careful what you ask for. When Herb Zukerman and Associates chose Top Golf as their holiday party, Cater 613 was there. The food was prepared at
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the B’nai Israel kosher kitchen and taken to the venue. Berman learned fast that a polite sign indicating kosher food was Shari Berman (left) with her mom Audrey Gutterman necessary as the non-kosher and brother, Adam. guests unknowingly swarmed the kosher table. also ran the Purim event at B’nai Israel for In December 2021, Kirk Levy was many years, and in 2009, conceived and among those members of the community chaired the B’nai Israel Reconnect Brunch. who facilitated the Dafna Kaffeman visiting “My mother had a Bat Mitzvah at Beth artist lecture at the Chrysler Museum. Part El in her 60s. She threw a party afterwards of his vision was to have kosher food that dedicated to all-things chocolate. All those everybody would enjoy, but only certain years I thought her creative cooking and people needed to know its status. community projects were lost on me. But, “The Israeli glass artist event looked when I looked at those Jackson Pollack like a dream,” says Berman. brownies at the Chrysler, I was filled with “I put a Jewish twist on popular dishes. I pride. I totally turned into my mother.” know where people eat and what they love. We came up with a meat menu, which was the perfect context for my brisket wontons. For my Jackson Pollack brownies, I drizzled mint brownies with chocolate. When the museum’s event director reported to me that her donor was in love with the brownies, I sent her out with a full pan, knowing how important it is to keep donors happy.” A reduction made from denial is good for the (Jewish) daughter’s soul. “Does this sound familiar?” quips Berman. “I’m a proud mother and super active in the Jewish community, fusing food and service.” Berman sits on the board at their Yeshiva, served as past president of Toras Chaim, and for many years ran the PTA. An honoree at the 10th Anniversary Dinner Shari Bernman with Jamie Geller. for Toras Chaim, she