Photos from our screening of Oma & Bella – An Eastern European Feast!
This past April Roots & Recipes hosted a screening of the wonderful film Oma & Bella – “an intimate glimpse into the world of Regina Karolinski (Oma) and Bella Katz, two friends who live together in Berlin. Having survived the Holocaust and then stayed in Germany after the war, it is the food they cook together that they remember their childhoods, maintain a bond to each other and answer questions of heritage, memory and identity”.
Sadly, days before the screening Bella, one of the film’s protagonists, passed away. This was a big reminder for us that often, when it comes to the stories (and recipes) of our elders, the time is now. After a busy springtime of events, we keep this in minds as we continue work on our video series, Dishing Up the Past. We are so thankful that Alexa, the filmmaker and granddaughter of ‘Oma’ was able to capture their story in this beautiful film.
No Roots & Recipes event is complete without some sort of feast, so along with the help of some fabulous volunteers we cooked up an Eastern-European feast with recipes from the Oma & Bella cookbook. Blintzes, kasha, pierogies, and the biggest pot of borscht we’ve ever seen. And for dessert? Grandma Hazel’s poppyseed cake! A big thank you to the volunteers and to the Santropol Roulant for hosting us in their kitchen and loft.