“The table could sometimes breed violence and it could be the backdrop to the proscribed and the forbidden and the perverse … But feeding people made them happy; it made me happy, and grounded me.” From “Treyf” by Elissa Altman
From left to right in the photo above, here are my favourite food memoirs. All of them are beautifully written (in varying degrees) and all evoke the way food played a part in the author’s life. Some contain a bonus: recipes. Read more…
My mother Ruth Schachter (née Nisse) in the garden of her flat in Primrose Hill, London UK, in 2014
I wrote this in 2002 when I was food editor for the Toronto Star. My dear mother, 95, died peacefully in her sleep a month ago on April 21, 2018
Today is Mother’s Day and this is a tribute to the person who first inspired my love of food and cooking – my mum. Read more…
This appeared as my column in the Toronto Star on June 25, 2005. IN MEMORIAM: Evelyn died in May, 2015. Read more…
Every time I visit my birthplace, Montreal, I discover some new delicious food source. Of course, I try to re-visit favourite spots (Schwartz’s and L’Express top that list, depending on my mood.
A couple of weeks ago, my brother Eric and I – he lives in the city’s Francophone, blue-collar east-end ‘nabe of Hochelaga Maisonneuve – made a return pilgrimage to wondrous Portuguese eatery Doval located at 150 Marie-Anne Est not far from the former Jewish ghetto where our dad grew up. This noisy, always-packed, inexpensive eatery with the giant portions and great prices has another attraction: it’s a block away from Leonard Cohen’s house that faces a small park not far from Bagels Etc. on Boulevard St Laurent where there have been sightings of Lenny by my trusty bro. Read more…
