Page 42 - March-2015-Life-in-Naples-Magazine

Luncheon

proved that old traditions

are still meaningful

T he “Cooking Up Tradition” luncheon took place in
December at the Lerner residence in Quail West to
benefit the education programs for the Holocaust
Museum & The Education Center of Southwest Florida.

Recipes from the cookbook attendees received contained
extraordinary content from Jewish and Eastern European
cooks and some of the items were featured on plates during
the luncheon, including a dish from keynote speaker
Rosette Gerbosi. Gerbosi is a well-known local survivor of
the Holocaust.

Amy L. Snyder is the executive director of the Holocaust
Museum & Education Center of Southwest Florida. She
stresses the luncheon was a celebration of the survivors of
the Holocaust and remembrance of victory.

“That these survivors were able to carry on the family
tradition and that those are still there is really a triumph,”
she says. “The Holocaust Survivor Cookbook (Vol I) and
Miracles & Meals (Vol II) together contain over 200
favorite recipes from Holocaust survivors.”

Snyder says the cookbook project was conceived by
Joanne and Harvey Caras as a means to support the Carmei
Ha’ir Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem.

“They collected the stories of these Holocaust Survivors,
now living around the world, along with their favorite
traditional recipes,” she says. “The second volume, Miracles
& Meals, contains the story and recipes from two of our
local survivors, Sabine vanDam and Rosette Gerbosi.”

Some recipes weren’t linked to old world dishes, but
merely favorites of Jewish people who contributed to the
cookbooks that mean something to them. The Holocaust
Museum has been using the cookbooks as the basis for
an education program entitled Cooking Up Hope: How
Tradition Builds Community, used in the local schools.

“This was the Museum’s first luncheon event and it was
an opportunity to share this particular education program
with the ladies in our community,” says Snyder.

About 115 people attended the luncheon, held at the
home of Maureen Lerner in Quail West. The event raised
$30,000 toward the Museum’s education programs.

For more information, contact 239.263.9200 or visit
the Holocaust Museum & Education Center of Southwest
Florida website at www.holocaustmuseumswfl.org.

42 Life in Naples | March 2015