“Quote” The Maven collected by Pioneer Women/NA’AMAT Baltimore Council 1983
Edgar Allan Poe puns abound in Baltimore (his grave is in downtown Baltimore and he spent some time here) and I was excited to find a cookbook with one. The word maven comes from the Yiddish meyvn, meaning “one who understands” and means to be an expert in something, in this case, cooking.
NA‘AMAT is a nonprofit organization with chapters across the U.S., supporting underserved women, children, and families in Israel. It was known as Pioneer Women until 1981, not long before this book came out, which is probably both names are used on the cover. According to the Jewish Museum of Maryland which holds their collection–“Pioneer Women, the Women’s Labor Zionist Organization of America, Inc. […] The first chapter in Baltimore was established in 1926 as Club 1 by Chana Berlin, Fannie Drazen, Belle Kwash, Pearl Lehman, Sarah Schein, Sadie Schkloven, and Rose Seidel (all members of Paole Zion). Club 1 became the Golda Meir Chapter and over the years other chapters have been established in Baltimore. The Baltimore Council, NA’AMAT USA coordinates the Baltimore Chapters.
The recipes include a startling amount of various kugels and meatballs, recipes for other Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, and appear to be kosher, unlike many other Jewish cookbooks from the area that often include copious amounts of recipes for non-Kosher food like crab and shrimp.
I turned Evelyn Metzger’s Mock Potato Salad (Diet) recipe into Confetti Cauliflower Salad from this book.
I adapted Shirley Feldstein’s recipe for Pea Soup appearing in this book.