New cookbook filled with flavours, culture from former refugees

The scent of freshly nixtamalized masa fills Yasmen De Leon with joy. Washed, boiled, soaked overnight in an alkaline solution, drained and washed again, nixtamalization transforms maize into hominy, which can then be stone-ground to make masa. The process forms the foundation of many Mexican foods, including tortillas and tamales.

“The happiest moment of any given day is the moment when I smell the nixtamal,” says De Leon, owner of Comal y Canela, a Mexican restaurant in Toronto. She outlines how to make nixtamal masa as part of her tamales recipe in Tastes from Home: Recipes from the Refugee Community, a free digital cookbook published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Canada to commemorate the agency’s 70th anniversary.

The collection features stories and recipes from 14 former refugees who have resettled throughout Canada, including former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, who moved to Ottawa with her family after the Japanese army invaded Hong Kong during the Second World War, and Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen, who made a solo trip to Canada from Mogadishu, Somalia at 16.

Roughly 25,000 people have downloaded the book in less than a month, and a group of anonymous donors has pledged to donate as much as $50,000 in aid of the UNHCR’S food security efforts.

FROM POLAND TO CANADA VIA PIER 21

Liba Magarschak Augenfeld’s story of resilience is told by her daughter, Rivka. On the day of Liba’s high school graduation in 1942, the German army occupied her hometown of Vilna (then part of Poland; the city is now the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius). An only child, her parents and grandparents were killed in the bombing. At 20, she joined the United Partisans Organization, a Jewish resistance group established in the Vilna ghetto to fight against the Nazis.

“She said that the commander who interviewed her ended up in tears because he said, ‘Look at how tragic this is that a young girl like this is telling me how she wants to fight to resist the enemy. She should be doing something else,’ ” says Rivka.

The clandestine group of resistance fighters relocated to a forest outside of Vilna in 1943, which is where Liba met her husband, David. Born stateless in Austria, two-yearold Rivka arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax with her parents in 1948, and then settled in Montreal. After Liba died in 2018, Rivka stowed away her box of recipes, which she has since started decoding with the help of Jewish food historian Kat Romanow of The Wandering Chew.

Because her mother wanted her to study, not cook, Liba didn’t spend time in the kitchen until she arrived in Canada. Trying to recreate the tastes she remembered, Rivka recalls, she started with “standard issue” dishes such as honey cake and kugel, the recipes for which are in the book. But Liba also experimented, enticed by new eating experiences in Montreal. Cooking with zucchini — “whoever heard of a zucchini in Poland?” — and trying to replicate the honey garlic ribs she enjoyed at Chinese restaurants.

Many of the documents in Liba’s collection aren’t so much recipes as they are lists of ingredients, mostly in Yiddish. Some of them, like her honey cake, were fairly straightforward to follow — with the exception of the confusion around a cryptic “L,” which could have meant either a lefl (spoon in Yiddish) or lefele (little spoon; teaspoon). But others, especially those for doughs, were more opaque. “You have all the ingredients and then it says in Yiddish, ‘Flour, as much as it takes,’ ” says Rivka, laughing.

After recreating her mother’s recipes with Romanow, Rivka remains a selfprofessed non-cook. But her participation in Tastes from Home has given her a greater appreciation for all that food represents, and she was honoured that the UNHCR invited her to chronicle Liba’s story.

“Telling somebody else’s story is a big responsibility and it felt really good. It’s all part of the same theme in the book: The resilience of people,” says Rivka, adding that she finds it remarkable what former refugees can achieve. “What would we be without all these people who’ve arrived in Canada? It’s just such a richness.”

PEACE BY CHOCOLATE BUILDS COMMUNITY

The story of Tareq Hadhad and his family, whose joyful portrait is on the book’s cover, has captivated many since they arrived in Antigonish in 2015. Hadhad’s father, Isam, had owned a leading chocolate company in Damascus, Syria for more than 20 years when it was destroyed in an airstrike during the civil war. After resettling in Canada, Hadhad founded Peace by Chocolate, where they consider chocolate to be more than a confection.

“Some people make chocolate, some people feel chocolate — we do both,” says Hadhad. “We feel chocolate, and we feel that it can build a connection with our community and with our country.”

In 1987, when Hadhad’s mother bought his father’s first chocolate bar, he included a note that read: “My name is Isam. I don’t make chocolate, I make happiness.” The sentiment stayed with them, Hadhad says, and whenever they have the opportunity to share their food traditions, chocolate is unfailingly an ingredient. In Tastes from Home, he chose to include a recipe that holds special meaning for his family, chocolate wraps with strawberries, hazelnuts and caramel.

“We believe food is all about sharing identity, sharing culture. It’s like ambassadorship for our own culture coming from Syria and starting a new life here in Canada,” he says.

Tastes from Home reads like an invitation — as if you’re being welcomed into a familiar kitchen, pulling up a chair at the table. The contributors’ portraits and words convey a sense of strength and warmth. The UNHCR acted as an intermediary for his family, Hadhad says, helping them in their move to Canada. In return, he embraced the opportunity to take part in honouring its anniversary.

“They are still supporting refugees who are living a double struggle during this time. It’s the struggle of being refugees and the struggle of a pandemic,” he says, adding that the timing of the book couldn’t be better.

“It speaks the language of today. Of resilience in the face of adversity. Of coming back after we lose everything in life. Of the ability for human beings to adjust and build new things for themselves and for their community. There is a lot that this one document of (119) pages can tell. It’s more than the food. It’s more than the recipes — it is the stories. They are human beings and they are us.”

Tastes from Home is available for download at unhcr. ca/cookbook (the French version is available at unhcr.ca/ cuisine).

DARREN CALABRESE Tareq Hadhad and his family gather in their kitchen in Antigonish. The Syrian-born founder of Peace By Chocolate is featured in the new free, downloadable cookbook Tastes from Home: Recipes from the Refugee Community.