Death ... So Seldom Happens Nowadays In

Family Dinners Are More Often Than Not An Ordeal Of Nervous Indigestion, Preceded By Hidden Resentment And Ennui And Accompanied By Psychosomatic Jitters.

... Most Bereaved Souls Crave Nourishment More Tangible Than Prayers: They Want A Steak. What Is More, They Need A Steak. Preferably They Need It Rare, Grilled, Heavily Salted, For That Way It Is Most Easily Digested, And Most Quickly Turned Into The Glandular Whip Their Tired Adrenals Cry For.

There Is A Communication Of More Than Our Bodies When Bread Is Broken And Wine Is Drunk. And That Is My Answer When People Ask Me: Why Do You Write About Hunger, And Not Wars Or Love.

It Is Easy To Think Of Potatoes, And Fortunately For Men Who Have Not Much Money It Is Easy To Think Of Them With A Certain Safety. Potatoes Are One Of The Last Things To Disappear, In Times Of War, Which Is Probably Why They Should Not Be Forgotten In Times Of Peace.

As For The House, It Is Scrubbed To The Tiniest Mousehole Before Passover, To Avoid Such Dangers As Even A Forgotten Cake Crumb Might Cause. Passover Dishes Are Probably The Most Interesting Of Any In The Jewish Cuisine Because Of The Lack Of Leaven And The Resulting Challenge To Fine Cooks.... Everything Is Doubly Rich, As If To Compensate For The Lack Of Leaven... [w]oes Are Forgotten In The Pleasures Of The Table, For If The Mosaic Laws Are Rightly Followed, No Man Need Fear True Poison In His Belly, But Only The Results Of His Own Gluttony.