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Chef Alon Shaya & The Fenves Family Cookbook


Interview with Alon Shaya

About ten years ago, chef Alon Shaya was on a culinary trip in Israel. On a visit to Yad Vashem, his group had a special visit to the archives where they saw a variety of food-related artifacts from the Holocaust.


“I was really moved by it”, Shaya said. “We saw a lot of spoons, a lot of the non-foods that they would eat in the camps, but the thing that struck me the most was the recipes that the women in the camps would write on pieces of cloth, scrap paper, or whatever they could find.” The women shared foods they used to eat with their families, and what these meant to them.


These women used food to distract themselves and to recollect on pre-war life. Shaya shared how powerful it was to realize that these stories and recipes were so important to the women that they risked their lives to steal a piece of cloth and write them down.


Years later, Shaya was at an event and explained to a friend how moved he was by his experience at Yad Vashem. He was connected to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and visited to look through the culinary artifacts and recipes. It was here that Shaya came across the Fenves Family Cookbook, donated to the museum by Steven Fenves.


The journey of the Fenves family cookbook to the United States is one of courage and kindness. The Fenves family had a cook named Maris. When the Fenves family was pushed out of their home, neighbors came to loot the house. Unbeknownst to the family, standing outside amongst the looters was Maris. She entered the Fenves house and saved some of Steven’s mother’s artwork, and this cookbook. After Steven survived the Holocaust, Maris returned the items to him.


“I knew I wanted to cook these recipes”, Shaya said. “I knew I wanted to bring these recipes from the basement and on to somebody’s plate. I wanted to cook the food, eat it, and think about what was on their minds during that time.”


Shaya reached out to Fenves, and found he was willing to translate the recipes and provide firsthand narrative on what the recipes were about. Shaya began cooking recipes from the family book, and shipping food to Fenves to taste. That was the first time Fenves had tasted that food in 75 years, since he was forced from his home in Europe.


Shaya describes that in talking with Mr. Fenves, he really gets a glimpse into his life before the war. “I think he has spent so much of his life talking about his experience during the war, but pre-war there was this beautiful, happy life. And the food was a big part of it. I think cooking these recipes is a way of talking about life before the Holocaust which he seems to really want to do”, Shaya said. Among the recipes Shaya made for Fenves, the semolina sticks and roasted turkey brought back memories.


“Food is always a great way to get a glimpse into someone’s heart or life”, Shaya said. “I was so happy that Steven and his wife were open to sharing this, because I think that the more these recipes can be put on someone’s table, the more we can remember how fragile life can be. Just like we get together and have meals with our families today, they did the same pre-war.”


Shaya certainly is helping put these dishes on more people’s tables. During Passover, he featured the Fenves family recipe for walnut cake at his restaurant Saba. “Staff members were really excited to be able to tell that story and have something with a lot of meaning on the menu”, Shaya said. A portion of the proceeds went to the program that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum now has to raise money.


The recipe for the walnut cake called for a variety of ingredients, but had no instructions of when to add any of them or what to do. Shaya would make it, send a photo to Steven, and take his feedback to improve it further. Years of cooking experience helped Shaya understand the intricacies and techniques required for various baked goods and dishes.


“As a cook, I can really impact people’s lives, and in turn they can impact my life”, Shaya said. “I feel that by using my talent for cooking I can get a pass into people’s souls, almost, in a way that brings me joy and enriches my life, and I hope I have brought somebody else happiness along the way through what I love to do. And that’s the only reason I started doing this, so I could cook the recipes and feel that I was doing something more important. Through that, the relationship that Steven and I have built will always stay with me.”


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