This past week I had the privilege of sitting down and having a special conversation with my grandmother. Now, I know you may be thinking that I could casually sit down with my grandmother whenever I feel like it, however, she has 6 children, 12 grandchildren, 2 dogs, and a busy life for a 75 year old woman! I got to sit down and ask some questions I never had the chance to ask and learn more about her as an individual as well as our family history. When I walked into her house, the kitchen had a sizzling scent of spices such as Zataar and various types of pepper. I sat down with her in the kitchen where she always sat by the stove and across from the small TV.
(Please note, the answers have been translated from Hebrew to English)
The Interview:
What are you cooking today?
I made bean soup with sheefteh, and braised beef. I also made schnitzel for my grandchildren with rice because they are picky with food. When your grandfather comes home from synagogue he will eat this with some bread and then we will go take the rest to Dina’s house and let the kids eat while we start cooking for Shabbat.
Can you explain what sheefteh is for those who do not know?
I do not know if you can find sheefteh in a cookbook or on the Food Network, but my mother-in-law taught me the recipe when I married my husband. It is like a regular meatball, but we use rice with ground beef instead of breadcrumbs. Once I make them, I put them in my soup to cook, mostly a variation of my bean soup which I also learned from my mother-in-law and we have them ready all the time. All my grandchildren grew up eating them.
You learned a lot from your mother-in-law, what has she taught you?
When I met my husband, we knew very quickly we were going to get married. It was customary at the time that the wife would learn from their mother-in-law how to cook the staple dishes. I learned how to cook sheefteh, Lahmacun, Kebap, and different types of stuffed vegetables. It was very different from what I was used to eating and cooking because my family did not eat sepharadi foods. Now I can make it all without thinking.
When did you move to Israel and what was the food scene like?
I moved to Israel when I was a few years old. I was born in Germany after my mother was in Auschwitz, my parents met in the refugee camp and I was born there with my brother. When we were finally able to move, we lived in a small apartment but it was beautiful because it was ours. Everyone who lived in Israel was from somewhere else originally, there were a lot of different cultures around us which was very comforting because that was how it was in the refugee camp, everyone was displaced.
Because everyone was from a different country, everyone cooked different foods. We would go to other people's houses for shabbat and try new things all the time. I think that was what made Israel such a special place at the time. I still remember some of the meals, and make those dishes now for my kids and grandchildren.
What are you going to be making for Shabbat this weekend?
I always make my spicy Moroccan fish, I use tilapia. I remember eating this when I was young at a family friends house on Shabbat. I also always make soup with sheefteh and schnitzel to have for the kids. This week I have ground lamb from the kosher butcher so I will use that for some type of kebap, and once I see what kind of meat they have fresh today I will decide what to make. I normally make it in some broth to keep it very tender and soft.
My aunt (left), with my mom (right), grandfather (above) and my grandmother in the center.
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