Preparing the dishes in this substantial new cookbook feels like paying homage to resilient survivors. The elegance of this new volume, “Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors,” assembled and copublished by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation led by Ronald S. Lauder, almost camouflages the horrors until you read the first-person accounts. That starving people think about food and summon rich memories is not surprising, as the book, not the first to cover this topic, explains. The mostly Eastern European recipes, like a simple butter cake, a plum torte, green beans in dill sauce, chicken paprikash and Elie Wiesel’s latkes, are often excellently rendered. Some give copious quantities to serve what were once large, extended families, and might require adjustment. Proceeds from the sales of the book will benefit the Foundation.
“Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors” (Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation, Melcher Media, $45).
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