Imagine stepping back in time to savor the flavors of childhood, evoking fond memories that reconnect you to your homeland before it was lost to the Holocaust. Auschwitz survivor Steven Fenves, whose family was forced from their Subotica, Yugoslavia, home into a Jewish ghetto in 1944, donated his mother’s recipe book to the Museum. His family’s former cook had bravely rescued the book while neighbors looted their apartment.
Learn more about Steven, his family’s story, and how and why James Beard Award–winning Chef Alon Shaya recreated dishes inspired by Fenves recipes.
Reserve your seat for the Food and Family Ties Dinner Series event in Denver, Colorado, on Monday, June 9, 2025.
If you have additional questions, please contact Jed Silberg with the Museum’s Midwest Regional Office at 312.905.5459 or midwest@ushmm.org.
Media Coverage
Read some of the articles about how Steven and Chef Alon collaborated to preserve Holocaust memory, the foods of a shared history, and the meaningful recollections they represent. For media inquiries, please contact Raymund Flandez, the Museum’s senior communications officer, at rflandez@ushmm.org.
“Remembrance: Recreating a Jewish family’s recipes”
Researching dishes in the archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, James Beard Award-winning chef Alon Shaya found recipes scribbled on bits of paper, retrieved from Jewish ghettos and concentration camps during the Holocaust. Among the items rescued was a Hungarian family cookbook whose recipes brought back memories for Holocaust survivor Steven Fenves. Shaya and Fenves talk with correspondent Lee Cowan about how food can offer solace in the midst of suffering, and provide the imperative to remember. Watch the video.
“A Holocaust survivor, a rescued family cookbook, and the taste of home”
“This chef worked with a Holocaust survivor to re-create the lost recipes of his childhood”
Chef Alon Shaya and Steven Fenves worked on the recipe project over Zoom during the pandemic. Read the article.
“Star chef Alon Shaya helps Holocaust survivor recreate recipes from prewar youth”
Steven Fenves translates heirloom recipes rescued from looters after his family was deported; 75 years after his mother’s murder, he once again tastes his favorite childhood dishes. Read the article.
“Phil Rosenthal and Alon Shaya to Host Rescued Recipes Fundraising Dinner in Los Angeles”
The ‘Somebody Feed Phil’ star will open his home to raise money for Holocaust Remembrance on Saturday. Read the article.
Explore Our Collection
Leaf through the pages of this treasured artifact.
During a 2017 interview for First Person: Conversations with Holocaust Survivors, Steven discusses his experiences, including his separation from his mother, whom he never saw again.
In this 2005 oral history, Steven tells his account of surviving a death march to Buchenwald, liberation by American forces, and reuniting with his sister and father.
Explore the exhibition Some Were Neighbors: Choice, Human Behavior, and the Holocaust, which includes information about Steven’s mother, Klara, his sister, Estera, and their former cook, Maris.
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