A fascinating insight to a migrant Jewish family, starting in 1870 in Riga Latvia and sometimes by choice but most of the time by necessity always on the move through Eastern Europe, into Russia and Israel, one branch ending up in Italy. The book is in four parts following different branches of the family through stories passed down and diaries, living as Jews through two World Wars so plenty of escaping. Liberally sprinkled with recipes which reflect the circumstances and location that the family find themselves in. From wealth to poverty, but what really shines through is the adaptation to circumstances with different ingredients. It is the culinary experiences that bind this family together.

In her memoir, Or Rosemboim pieces together the story of her Jewish family through diaspora, love and, perhaps most importantly, food. Family recipes become the fil rouge that brings together different generations who try to find and maintain their identity in a changing world, starting from the 1800s. Reading this book now was particularly topical, given that it also offers insights into the complex history of Palestine. Written with love and compassion, this memoir manages to preserve its historical accuracy while never failing to be entertaining. As a fellow academic (the author is an associate professor in Contemporary History at the Alma Mater in Bologna), I admire Rosenboim’s style and her ability to deliver information without ever expressing any form of judgement. On a personal note, I have recently read several books that treat food as the protagonist of a story, and as a means to express love, family history and, most importantly, identity. I feel that this memoir is certainly one of the best books I have read on the subject, and I can’t wait to try some of the numerous recipes listed in the book. The book cover is also fabulous, in my opinion, and it reflects the colours, the scents and the flavours of this enjoyable memoir.

•thanks to #netgalley for the #arc received in exchange for an honest review•

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was hooked by the cover and then enthrawlled by the context. Its quite unlike any other I have ever read: This book is constructed like a picture book. Long pages of text with the occasional coloured plate that brings the story to life. These images are figurative and presented by way of recipes. This book will appeal to someone who reads cook books in bed, likes history and travel writing.

The author is inspired by diaries from her elder relatives. They’re translated and they tell of stories from the past, travelling in cultures, brining with them the taste of home and the changing flavours as new families migrate to new places.

The first chapters follow a bilingual man with the strong name of Zion, making his way in the world and growing away from the pressure of an oppressive father figure. Stories of food on the move pepper this story and bring to mind flavours and textures which are jewels in an otherwise tedious treck along a landscape.

From the outbreak of war, we follow Hananya, Zion’s son, a founder of a community food bank ensuring everyone in the cooperative had enough to eat with the back drop of other hungry residents, gangs and thieves raiding houses and shops for food. It was a war of nutrition as much as a war of attrition. These political activities eventually ended with an arrest and time in prison and two versions of escape attempts. My favourite the one of his mother dressing as a man, travelling to the prison and bribing a guard for his release. I’ll leave the other for you to discover.

The brutal dystopian reality of fleeing war on the road, a trial of cart and horse, living on cabbage soup and stale bread with the constant threat of death from the skies stays with the reader. To preserve their independence they made a journey under this strain for 3 months.

Following the end of the war, the book explores the long wait for displaced people to be allowed to settle. Their lives controlled by a rationing system, discouraged cooking in ones own home in favor of collective dining and anxieties about what food one consumes as being part of the new culture or not. The book moves quickly towards the end, showing the changing attitudes and reflections that food and culture is a history not to be forgotten.

This book is best summarised by one sentence, reflecting on the past in the present. “The scent of oranges and almonds lived only in her memory.”

An endearing story about family and food. Loved all the recipes and family history. Although this might be a bit of a strange time for this kind of story, considering the state of the world.

Or Rosenboim structures her book around three branches of her family tree, much of their history reflecting the turbulent events of the twentieth century. The Asheroffs were prosperous traders who travelled freely between Central Asia and Jerusalem until the Bolshevik revolution. The Efratis were also traders navigating the Ottoman Empire with ease until the rise of nationalism. The Adirims originated in Riga from which Rosenboim’s admirably resourceful sixteen-year-old grandmother escaped just in time, taking the last train into Russia with her family before the Nazis invaded. These three branches are brought together in Tel Aviv where they must forge a new life, some after suffering terrible loss and privation.
Rosenboim uses her male ancestors' memoirs together with the recipes passed down by the women, accommodated to suit their new surroundings while still redolent of home, as a way of piecing together their largely undocumented history. Many of her family recipes are scattered through her book, some sobering such as Cabbage Soup on the Road, made from a few scavenged cabbage leaves amongst other starving refugees, others celebratory and tempting. I’ve always seen migration as a positive thing: Rosenboim’s vibrant, absorbing book which draws on a rich family heritage illustrates this beautifully

So excited to read, acquire,and share with readers this beautiful memoir. Will be sharing a full review and thoughts very soon after completion. I love the way food and tradition time back into family history and I just know this going to be a gorgeous read!