Every time the red light goes on in the studio, indicating that we are on the air, I find myself wondering – how on earth did I get to be a cook, an aficionada of recipes and kitchen tips? How come it is I who conducts the only cookery program on Israeli radio?
For years, I regarded anything to do with food as a tiresome chore. My dream was to be able to pop a food-pill and be done with it! Just like in Erich Kaestner’s book, The 35th of May, which describes a country where people take pills instead of eating.
At my parents’ house – a "Yekke" family – food was a marginal issue. The really important things in life were books, classical music, and studies. Food was simple, basic, no-fuss, no-frills – and tasted that way, too…
When I met my husband, Zvika, I got to taste my mother-in-law’s Romanian cooking, and found out what delicious food was all about. It was my mother-in-law, Hanna, who taught me how to cook. Grandma Hanna Laster does not invent new recipes; she just cooks the way it has always been done in her family. The dishes she makes are based on simple ingredients found in any grocery store. The secret lies in the method, and in the small details; every little thing can add or detract from the final flavor.
And so, when food began to acquire both flavor and significance, I came to realize that when you cook really tasty food, your reward is twofold: you enjoy it once when you eat it, and again when the compliments pour in.
I decided that the Secrets of the Kitchen were worth learning.
Like a painter embarking on a new painting with a blank canvas and three basic colors, combining them with his imagination and talent, so did I embark on the art of cooking. I discovered new flavors that emerged from mixing basic ingredients, and as the culinary world became a tastier and more challenging place, so was I encouraged to try more and diverse culinary creations.
My grandmother, Friedel Strauss, used to live in Basel, , and engaged in cookery. She wrote and published at least one or two cookbooks every year. As a child, I thought that she was an expert typist, who typed away and the cookbooks just kept piling up. Only when I myself discovered the wonderful world of food did I understand that cooking is far more than ingredients, quantities and methods; it takes love, aesthetics, creativity – as well as many hours of kitchen-duty.
I now also understand whence this kitchen-addiction comes from… it’s my grandmother Friedel’s genes manifesting themselves. The longer I spent in the kitchen, poring over recipes, stoves and ovens, the more I understood: the kitchen gene has taken over and has become a central force in my life.
Armed with many years’ worth of knowledge, tips and advice on easy and fun cooking, and moreover with a burning desire to share and talk with others about food, I came to "Kol Rega" radio manager Haim Hecht and asked him to let me try and present a cookery program. Haim liked the idea, and got back to me with an okay the very next day.
Success was immediate. During the very first broadcast I managed to present my audience with only a fraction of the material I had prepared. The listeners completely overtook the program… the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. The unbelievable happened: the heady aromas of cooking food flooded the studio and wafted into people’s homes, into shops and buses, whetting people’s appetites. I listened, and I could see my audience cook in their kitchens, just as they saw me. I tasted their dishes and they tasted mine, as we exchanged recipes.
Throughout the years, my listeners and I have presented thousands of recipes. Believe it or not, but every recipe I give, and most recipes my listeners give me, all get tried, tested and tasted at home, as well as by neighbors and by the staff of the Maxillofacial Surgery Department of Poriya hospital which my husband Zvika manages.
My husband Zvika is my chief food-taster; not only because I get a kick out of watching him enjoy his food, but also because I so totally trust his judgment. When he pronounces a dish a delicacy, I know it is indeed a success; but if he pronounces it a flop, into the bin it goes, without reprieve or a second chance.
The devoted audience of my radio program share a love of cooking, an eagerness to try and add new recipes to their collection, and a desire to help others, share their knowledge and advice with fellow-cooks.
During each program I learn fascinating new cooking secrets.
For me, each recipe is a world unto itself, as are each and every listener. For me, the recipe I receive from a listener is a precious souvenir from a person who shared something with me, connecting with me for a while, in this wondrous, flavorful world of Cooking for the Sabbath.
Osnat Laster
