Steve Rotschild

In his memoir Traces of What Was, Steve talks about his tough and determined mother, who even landed a roundhouse kick to the back of a stranger's head when he made strange comments about being with her at night. When she was 84, his mother suffered pancreatitis, from which she recovered through seemingly sheer willpower. After the incident, she continued to live alone and climb several flights of stairs a day despite a third of her heart tissue having died. At the time the memoir was written, she was still alive.

The recipe that connects to his story is a traditional, meat-containing cholent that he would sometimes eat during his childhood. His grandmother, along with other members of his extended family would make cholent, despite worsening circumstances. The ingredients vary depending on where it is made but the general instructions & idea remain a constant for the ~2000 years the dish has existed. It is a dish that represented his family working together & making the most of what was available to them.