German Food & Folkways: Heirloom Memories from Europe, South Russia & the Great Plains

By R M H Gueldner

Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, Fargo, North Dakota, 2002, 224 pages, softcover.

ODIN (Online Dakota Information Network)
Central North Dakota Library Network

The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection is pleased announce publication of Rose Marie Gueldner's outstanding book, German Food & Folkways: Heirloom Memories from Europe,

South Russia & the Great Plains.

Sample of cookbook page 114

Sample of cookbook page 116

Crispy Bratkartoffeln, succulent brathuhn, creamy Kopfsalat, tasty Knöpfla, brilliant Borscht, savory Strudel, plump Holubsti, Eintopfgerichte that can make a feast, invigorating Hochzeit Red Eye - you'll find more than 400 recipes for these historic foods titled in English and German with comments on how dishes varied withing this seemingly homogeneous ethnic group. It's about family recipes for everyday and for holidays. It's about the farm butcher, the farmhouse cook and gardener, the home vintner. German Food & Folkways is about food and drink that has nourished and nurtured for centuries. And if too much time has gone by since you savored wholesome and delicious foods or just thought about those early times, this is the book for you.

Rev. William C. Sherman, Grand Forks, ND, author of Plains Folk and Prairie Mosaic, writes: "This is not just a compilation of recipes - it is a genuine survey of foods which are unknown to some, exotic to others and delightfully routine to many who have Eastern European roots. The book is history, geography, ethnicity, and the passage of time, all combined; a treat for the mind, a treat for the taste buds."

Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz, North Dakota State University, Fargo, a well known German-Russian researcher and author writes: "Although there are German-Russian cookbooks currently on the market, this one is quite unusual because of the way it interweaves background history, ethnic heritage, and so many mouth-watering Old Country recipes. If the German-Russians have a Martha Stewart anywhere in North America, it may very well be Rose Marie Gueldner!"

Brother Placid Gross, German-Russian folklorist at Assumption Abbey, Richardton, ND, writes: "This book is the crowning achievement of all cookbooks. It is a great and wonderful tribute to our pioneer mothers who knew how to hold body and soul together with hard work and creativity to make a banquet with the simplest of basic ingredients."

The Author
Rose Marie H. Gueldner, a descendant of Germans from Russia pioneers, has worked as an educator, professional cook, writer, journalist, and businesswoman. She spent years researching history, traveling to ethnic communities, visiting cooks, and gathering data for this book.

Gueldner shares in the Introduction: "My research in writing German Foods & Folkways involved not only cooking, tasting and reading, but traveling and interviewing. Most of all, it involved listening to a variety of people - home cooks, botanists, butchers, historians and farmers. Of the five years spent on this book, four of them were research and one was writing."