Memory, Food and Senses

In this lesson, which I adapt to different courses, students explore Centropa’s web page with Jewish recipes curated by Jayne Cohen, and read In Memory’s Kitchen, a collection of recipes women gathered while in the Nazi camps. As a way to learn about pre-war Jewish culture, and to bring that learning from the intellect to their senses, students are asked to find a recipe that they then cook with their parents. Each student brings the dish he or she made to class and everyone gets to taste and smell the cuisine of Jewish culture, in the context of learning about Central and Eastern European Jewish history. Parents comment that they really enjoy doing this project with their students, and the students love learning a different aspect of history, through taste and smell.  Recently, I found out about Centropa’s interviewee, Hedvig Endrei, and will begin using her recipes – collected when she was in a camp with several friends – and her story in this lesson, as well.