At Grandmother's Table: Women Write about Food, Life and the Enduring Bond Between Grandmothers and Granddaughters

Catching the rich scent of sugar cookies baking, the savory aroma of a roasting chicken, or the spicy steam from a pot of borscht transports many of us back to childhood and our seats at our grandmothers' kitchen tables. A unique relationship, bound by family and freed by generations, the bond between grandmother and granddaughter is often forged over creaming butter or shelling peas. At Grandmother's Table celebrates this special friendship with essays and recipes by women remembering the food prepared by and conversations they had with their grandmothers.

Adriana Millenaar Brown recalls her grossmutter's soft body and calm eyes during the bombing of Berlin in 1944 and the potato cakes she would make using whatever ingredients she could forage. Nana's Kern (Currant) Teacakes were a staple growing up for Dianne S. Lodge-Peters. She and Nana would drink oolong tea and eat the warm teacakes as Nana told her stories and songs reflecting their ethnic heritages; not until the author was getting her doctorate did she realize Nana's stories were classic medieval folktales. When her mother was angry with her, Lilla M. Waltch's grandmother would comfort her by making Mon (Poppy Seed) Cookies and Waltch could feel "[my] spirits lifting as we beat the eggs and stirred the fragrant mixture."

"This is a book about connections," says editor Ellen Perry Berkeley. "And in connecting across the dividing lines of our own time, we can see our deepest selves reflected in women of very different backgrounds, beliefs, advantages, and pursuits." Often poignant, At Grandmother's Table is filled with the stories of hard-working, loving, difficult, loyal women and the meals they created for their beloved grandchildren. --Dana Van Nest