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Chicken Foot
Stew
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"Being so rooted in their Judaism helped the old
people in their struggles and celebrations. They
were sufficiently comfortable with it to improvise
upon it and adapt it freely as needed, for small
requirements and large. Basha exemplified this when
she described her dinner preparations. She ate
alone in her tiny room. Over an electric hot plate,
she cooked her chicken foot stew (chicken feet were
free at the supermarket). Before eating, she spread
a white linen handkerchief over the oilcloth
covering the table, saying:
"This my mother taught me to do. No matter
how poor, we would eat off clean white linen, and
say the prayers before touching anything to the
mouth. And so I do it still. Whenever I sit down, I
eat with God, my mother, and all the Jews who are
doing these same things even if I can't see
them."
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"Such a meal is a feast, superior to fine fare
hastily eaten, without ceremony, attention, or
significance. Because of such things, I came to see
the Center elderly as in possession of the
philosophers' stone- that universally sought,
ever-elusive treasure, harboring the secret that
would teach us how to transmute base metals into
pure gold. The stone, like the bluebird's feather
of happiness, is said to be overlooked precisely
because it is so close to us, hidden in the dust at
our feet."
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How to Cite This Page
For a bibliography:
Jewish Women's Archive. "JWA - Barbara Myerhoff - Chicken Foot Stew." <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/myerhoff/stew.html>.
For a footnote:
Jewish Women's Archive, "JWA - Barbara Myerhoff - Chicken Foot Stew," <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/myerhoff/stew.html>.
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