Celebrating Our Foremothers with Food

by Jodi Ochstein

Mother’s Day is a day that honors not only our mothers, but also our vast and rich landscape of history and love that has traversed generations. Think about the different kinds of foods that have nourished our forebearers throughout the centuries. Our birthright is brimming with so many different foods often prepared by women in all kinds of conditions from all parts of the world. We are the culmination of our culinary heritage.

The recipes my mother used were passed down to her from her own mother as well as my father’s mother and his grandmother. My grandmothers, Ida and Helen, and my great-grandmother, Sarah, live on through their kishke, kieflies and chopped liver. I will inherit these recipes, along with my mother’s famed, melt-in-your-mouth brisket. Certain foods will always remind us of who we are and where we come from and that the person we have become is comprised of many distinctive ingredients.

This Mother’s Day, take a page out of your mother’s cookbook and consider the rich bubbly pot of ancestral stew that makes you unique, or try one (or a few) of the following recipes that symbolize the tapestry of values and traits shared with us by our foremothers.

Tradition: Whitefish Salad on Toasted Bagel with Havarti Cheese

Whimsy: Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (with Infinite Possibilities)

Vitality: Meyer Lemon Risotto with Peas and Asparagus

Love: Chocolate Babka

Heartiness: Kadeh (Kurdish Jewish Cheese Bread)

Trendiness: Kale Sweet Potato Breakfast

Comfort: Freund’s Farm’s Noodle Kugel

Simplicity: Spring Green and Grapefruit Salad

Freshness: Citrus-Cured Salmon with Horseradish Crème Fraîche

Strength: Mashwieh

Delicateness: Cardamom and Fennel Seed Tea

Health: Gluten-Free Granola Clusters

Originally published at jewishfoodexperience.com on May 4, 2015.