Photos: Carter Fish
“Tradition! Tradition!” Tevye sings in Fiddler On The Roof…and that’s what food is all about for food-and-culture aficionado, and long-time Bedford local, June Hersh, whose books celebrate the history and culture of foods.
June is most well-known for having authored Food, Hope & Resilience: Authentic Recipes And Remarkable Stories From Holocaust Survivors (The History Press 2023), with a Foreword from none other than another B&NC Mag local — famous Chef Daniel Boulud. The book was first published in 2011 under the title Recipes Remembered, a Celebration of Survival and sold out of numerous prints. It tells the harrowing and heroic stories of Holocaust survivors… and recreates the timeless recipes they still love and prepare today. These are uplifting and life affirming stories from more than 100 Jewish families, each with a message of survival and sustenance. Food, Hope & Resilience is a moving read…and after some tears of remembrance…will certainly lead to cooking and eating some good Jewish food!
The book was glowingly reviewed by Florence Fabricant of the New York Times, and June travels across the country giving book talks and food demonstrations to share the legacy of the survivor community.
She speaks on behalf of the Jewish Book Council, Hadassah, and UJA Federation, among others, writes regularly for several magazines and online blogs, and has appeared on numerous television programs featuring the book, including during the most popular Noon time slot on QVC’s show In The Kitchen With David — resulting in 6,000 copies sold in six minutes and the book rising to Amazon’s #1 bestseller that day. …And every penny of June’s proceeds have gone to charity; initially New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, and now to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
June has also authored a book titled the Kosher Carnivore (St. Martin’s Press 2011); a book titled Still Here, Inspiration from Survivors and Liberators of the Holocaust (Still Here LLC 2016), a striking black-and-white coffee table book, with photography by Brian Marcus, and meaningful quotes on how to live your best life from over 100 Holocaust survivors and liberators who turned tragedy into triumph, and; what must be the most comprehensive text on yoghurt, titled Yoghurt, A Global History (Reaktion Books UK 2019), which surveys the history, healing, hegemony, and ‘culture’ of the venerable dish…and provides a dozen recipes. It’s been reprinted in Chinese and Japanese, and new publishing rights were just purchased by the United Arab Emirates.
Most recently, June has penned Iconic New York Jewish Food: A History And Guide With Recipes, (History Press 2023) which goes deep into the origin and history, and best places to find bagels, knishes, appetizers and delicatessen, Jewish cakes, cookies, and candy, and the perfect egg cream. Katz’s, Reuben’s, the Carnegie, Russ & Daughters, Zabar’s, Lindy’s, Junior’s…it’s all in Iconic New York Jewish Food. And this one is a fun and quite ‘full-filling’ foodie’s foray…complete with some iconic recipes. The New York Daily News said “It’s as overstuffed as a pastrami sandwich — pure joy!”, and Florence Fabricant called it “authoritative”.
And, in response to the tragic events of October 7, 2023 in Israel, June has now edited an online cookbook to benefit an Israeli organization called Leket.
June grew up in New Rochelle, in a Reform Jewish home, attended local public schools and graduated from New Rochelle High School. “My grandmother, who lived with us when I was growing up, started a business making lampshades during WWII, employing women in the neighborhood whose husbands and sons, like hers, were also away in the military. After my dad, Murray Feiss, came home from the Navy in 1946 and went to NYU on the G.I. Bill, he went into my grandmother’s business, called Stylecraft, and then expanded into lighting, creating Murray Feiss Lighting. Later working with my husband, Ron Hersh, and my sister Andrea’s husband, Robert Greene, as Co-Presidents, they grew the company into the fourth largest lighting concern in the world,” June says with pride. June recalls. “When my grandmother passed in 1984, Mayor Koch named ten blocks in the South Bronx after her — Rose Feiss Boulevard. She was ‘women-in-business’, ‘breaking glass ceilings’, and ‘leaning in’ before they invented the terms. She imbued me and my sister, Andrea, with a sense of having to do something to make your mark, and with a strong commitment to helping others to help the world — what’s called tikkun olam in Hebrew.”
June went on to major in Elementary Education and Journalism at the University of Pennsylvania, where she completed her studies in three years and graduated Magna Cum Laude. “After college, I taught for several years at Solomon Schechter Day School in White Plains, and earned a Masters Degree in Gifted and Talented Education at Manhattanville at the same time. We were living in Purchase, right down the street from my sister and nearby to my parents, and after my daughters, Allison and Jennifer, were born, in 1979 and 1982, I pivoted, and started a successful clothing company out of my home, called Fancy Schmancy, using the sewing skills my grandmother had taught me when I was a child. In 1987, I pivoted again, and joined my husband to work in the family lighting business, where I worked until we sold it in 2004. I was in charge of creating the catalogs for our product line, and loved writing the copy. I also wrote about education and local issues for Spotlight Magazine among other publications.”
“Ron and I moved to Bedford once the girls were out of the house, about eighteen years ago, but even though we were empty nesters, we decided not to down-size — so we would always have plenty of room for our daughters and their significant others…and grandchildren!...to come and stay,” June smiles as her thoughts turn to family. June and Ron have 3 grandchildren, an almost 9 year old from Allison and her husband Dan, and a 10 year-old and 7 ½ year old from Jennifer and her husband Seth. “You know why Hanukkah has 8 nights and we do the same exact dinner for Passover 2 nights in a row?” June asks rhetorically, setting up the punch line… “It’s so that Jewish mothers and grandmothers can repetitively teach their children and grandchildren how to make their family’s recipe for traditional dishes like matzoh ball soup, potato pancakes, brisket, kugel, tzimmes, and rugelach! My grandkids can’t wait to come over to cook with me, and when I’m teaching them I often feel my mother’s and my grandmother’s spirit in the room. I realize now that my grandmother and mother were really teaching me everything about Jewish history and culture while pretending that the focus was the recipes we were working on. The food is a vehicle to communicate a message and a memory! It’s the tradition in the food that drives me! Without the story…it’s just ingredients! And it’s true of anyone’s heritage!”
“I call my publishing entity Eat Well Do Good, LLC…and that’s my purpose,” June declares. “I was honored when the Museum of Jewish History encouraged me to write Recipes Remembered, as it gave me the opportunity to meet and interview more than 100 Holocaust survivors in the process of writing it, and then support the Museum with its proceeds. On the lighter side about the year or more it took me to write, I say that we ‘ate like Polish peasants’, as I almost every night prepared one or more of the recipes I was writing about in order to get ‘the full flavor’ of the times before the Holocaust.”
“Writing Iconic New York Jewish Food…was just plain fun!” June remarks. “Did you know that the bagel was invented because Jews were restricted from baking, and turned to boiling as a way to produce their daily bread? Or that the hot dog bun was innovated by Charles Feltman back in the early 1900s, in order to save money — supplying a bun to hold the sausage instead of having to supply the customer with a knife, fork, and plate. Feltman became the largest restaurateur in the U.S., and hired a man named Nathan Handwerker to do the menial task of grilling the buns. After a while, the then unknown personalities Jimmy Durante and Eddie Cantor approached Handwerker and suggested he set up his own shop, with the simple premise of undercutting Feltman by 50%...and Nathan’s was born!”
June is presently working on several new projects. One resulted from a serendipitous encounter with two-time James Beard award winning, New Orleans-based Chef Alon Shaya. The chance meeting came after June discovered that Alon had cooked from a cookbook rescued from the Holocaust. They began talking about doing a project together, which was just greenlighted by Harvest, an imprint of Harper Collins. The book will relate stories of World War II from a broad and diverse group of Jewish and non-Jewish people from all walks of life, where food was actually the central character or hero of the story. She has also penned a book about the culinary curiosities and contribution of Upstate New York, slated to be released by The History Press in Spring 2025.
One of June’s favorite Bedford perks is having a backyard garden — which was installed with some advice from none other than gardening guru Martha Stewart — that provides lots of fresh herbs, vegetables, and berries. And an unusual tidbit about June is that for the last two decades she’s served to sound the ram’s horn called a Shofar during the High Holidays at Congregation Shaaray Tefila in Bedford.
In addition to running her Eat Well Do Good for charitable purposes, and being an active member in Les Dames d’Escoffier, the leading culinary organization for women in the field, June and her family are involved in supporting research of Dystonia, a neurological movement disorder which has a disproportionate impact in the Ashkenazi population, and from which the Hershes’ daughter Allison suffers. Ron and Allison sit on the Board of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation. And June and her family are also involved in supporting cancer research through the Israel Cancer Research Foundation, and have sponsored a research grant for a number of doctors who have earned the Nobel prize for this work. “Like I said, traditions like tikkun olam run deep in our family…and traditional cooking is a ‘palatable’ tool for handing those traditions down from generation to generation. …For people from every origin, background, and culture!”
It’s also so nice when the Jewish holidays coincide with those of other groups, as it shows the communal joy of celebrating tradition. Several years ago Thanksgiving and Chanukah shared a Thursday, and this year Chanukah and Christmas will both see December 25th as a special night and New Year’s as a shared occasion. To commemorate the coming together of observances, I thought it would be fun to do a mash-up of foods that celebrants from all backgrounds can enjoy.
Zucchini Laced Latkes
Nothing screams Chanukah more than a crispy fried latke. This version has the healthy-hidden veggie addition of zucchini added to the usual potato and onion mixture. For fun, you can chop up leftover brisket, corned beef, or pastrami and add that to the batter in place of the zucchini. No matter the mix, be creative with toppings, from gravlax to caviar, to pickles, they are a perfect vehicle for your favorite indulgence.
- 1 small zucchini, washed
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup matzo meal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1–2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Oil for frying
- To easily grate the potatoes, use a food processor with the shredding disc. Alternatively, you can use a box grater, but watch your knuckles! Shred the potatoes, followed by the onion and zucchini.
- Place the mixture in a dish towel and wring to remove the excess liquid.
- Place the dry potatoes and onions in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the eggs until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the matzo meal and baking powder and work it through with your hands to see if the mixture holds together. If it does not, add flour until the mixture can hold its shape when rolled into a ball.
- In a large skillet, heat ¼ inch neutral oil over medium to medium-high heat until shimmering. Test it for temperature by dropping a piece of shredded potato into the oil. If it quickly browns, the oil is ready.
- Roll the mixture into a ball a bit larger than a golf ball and place it in the pan, allowing enough room for the latkes to be pressed flat with the spatula.
- Fry 3–4 minutes, or until the underside is browned; flip and continue cooking until both sides are brown and crispy.
- Remove with a slotted spatula to a paper towel and allow to drain. Continue frying until all the mixture is used.
- If topping with gravlax, allow the latkes to cook down a bit, you don’t want the heat to cook the gravlax.
Home-Cured Gravlax
Nothing tops a latke more admirably or crosses off one of the seven fishes better than home-cured gravlax. It takes a humble piece of Atlantic salmon and turns it into a delicacy. What’s even better, is how simple it is to create this luxurious, silky treat.
This recipe originally appeared in Iconic New York Jewish Food by June Hersh, The History Press, 2023
- 2 (1-pound) pieces of Atlantic salmon, belly portion
- 2 tablespoons chilled vodka
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 bunch fresh dill weed
- 1 bunch fresh basil
- Have your fishmonger cut two pieces of salmon that match up so that you can lay one on top of the other and they fit perfectly together.
- Cover a portion of your counter with enough plastic wrap to lay the salmon pieces down and then wrap them up. Place the salmon side by side, skin side down on the wrap. Drizzle each piece with 1 tablespoon of chilled vodka.
- Mix the sugar and salt in a bowl, then sprinkle both pieces with the salt and sugar mixture. Season with freshly cracked black pepper.
- Lay enough dill and basil to cover the entire surface of both pieces.
- Using the plastic wrap as an aid, lay one piece of salmon over the other and tightly wrap the salmon pieces so the meaty sides firmly adhere to each other. Take another piece of wrap and continue to seal the package.
- Place the package in a shallow dish and lay a plate or small pan on top of the salmon. Place several cans or a heavy item on top of the pan or plate to weigh down and press the fish. Place the dish in the fridge, turning the salmon over every twelve hours for 2 days.
- Remove the salmon from the fridge, discard all the herbs, and lightly rinse. Pat dry. Using a very sharp long knife, begin slicing the salmon at a forty-five-degree angle, being sure to not cut through the skin.
- Serve on top of a latke. A dollop of crème fraîche, sour cream, or tzatziki adds a nice touch, especially when spiked with grated cucumber or dill. For Christmas dinner as part of the seven-fishes use as a starter for the meal, with thinly sliced rye or pumpernickel bread.
- The salmon will hold for up to 5 days, tightly wrapped, in your fridge, but I bet it will be gobbled up long before that.
As featured in the November/December 2024 issue of Bedford & New Canaan Magazine