"Aunt Babette's" Cook Book

(COOK-BOOK)

Bloch

Cincinnati

1889

Fourth Edition. English with smattering of Hebrew (note "Charoseth" in Hebrew typeface on p. 452)

The recipes in this collection reflect little adherence to Jewish tradition (e.g. the Passover recipes--referred to as "Easter dishes"--on pp. 452-66), as well as accommodations to American lifestyle (e.g. "oysters on half shell" on p. 473). Most audacious is the entry in the Index, "Trefa," which leads the reader to this pithy remark on p. 492: "Nothing is 'Trefa' that is healthy and clean." The Bloch Publishing Company was closely allied with the Reform movement. Reform ideologue Isaac Mayer Wise was married to the sister of Edward Bloch, with whom he established the firm of Bloch and Co. in 1885. "Aunt Babette" was the pseudonym of Bertha F. Kramer. See B. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, "Kitchen Judaism" in Braunstein and Weissman-Joselit, Getting Comfortable in New York: The American Jewish Home, 1880-1950 (New York: The Jewish Museum, 1990), pp. 75-105