First published 2013
Mark Russ Federman recounts the century-long saga of his family's legendary appetizing store on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Beginning with Joel Russ selling herring from a barrel in 1907 after arriving from Poland, Federman traces how one immigrant's modest venture evolved into a nationally renowned institution. The narrative follows the shop through the Great Depression's hardships, World War II food rationing, and the challenging transition as the neighborhood declined and hundreds of family businesses fled. Federman details the passing of responsibility between generations and the area's eventual revival. His account weaves together intimate family anecdotes about the art of smoking and pickling fish with the broader sweep of twentieth-century New York history. The book reveals how relentless dedication and expertise in gourmet food transformed a simple pushcart operation into what critics have called a shrine to caviar, smoked salmon, herring, and chopped liver. Federman offers readers both a triumphant immigrant story and an insider's view of four generations united by their passionate commitment to perfectly prepared fish.
Genres: family-life, 20th-century, business, american, biography-memoir, 21st-century, food-and-drink, food-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-saga, immigrant-story, rags-to-riches
Setting: Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City
Period: Great Depression, Twentieth Century, World War II
224 pages · Hardcover · Schocken