From Ruth's Kitchen with Love

“As a multi-faceted author, gracious hostess and cook, Ruth has long been admired by her many friends who have been invited to her dinners. One cannot forget her multi-ethnic specialties, among them Romanian eggplant salad, Colombian Ajiaco potato soup, Bukovinian Schmettentorte (sour cream cake), to name just a small sampling of her culinary repertoire. French gastronome Jean Brillat-Savarin once remarked that ‘the discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the new race than the discovery of a star.’ George Bernard Shaw also believed that there was no love more sincere than the love of food. A sampling of the recipes from this book readily confirms both opinions.”

—Vladimir F. Wertsman, author of What’s Cooking in Multicultural America (Scarecrow Press, 1996)

This is an unpretentious cookbook designed for epicurean tastes. It is also a tribute to the women of various ethnic backgrounds who left us the legacy of fine cuisine, which I hope to pass on to future generations. The majority of these recipes are from Bukovina, once Northern Romania, and other countries which were once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Some of the Bukovinian dishes are almost legendary in their nostalgia. Many have never before been documented and, most probably, have never been featured on restaurant menus.

I have wandered across four continents and have experienced life under monarchies, communism, and fascism, all of which I survived. These multiple acculturations were extremely difficult, but had also some positive effects: one of them being the acquisition of a myriad of recipes. I am pleased to share with you some of them in the hope that you will enjoy this adventure as much as I did.

—Ruth Glasberg Gold