When Nancy Becker moved on a whim from New York to fruit tree-rich Oregon in 1975 at the age of 23, she could never have guessed she would meet her life's mate, gather up some missing pieces of her family history) and rebuild a holiday culinary tradition.
These days, Becker, a registered dietitian, and her husband, Ed Reckford, and their two boys, Jacob, 11, and Louie, 7, celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, by making zwetschgenkuchen.
For anyone familiar with the delicious rich plum pie, a south German and Alsatian specialty served during the fall holidays, this might seem at odds with her work, which specializes in heart disease prevention and low-fat cooking. But Becker's yearly ritual is much more than simply baking; it is the culmination of a long and memory-laden journey.
For years, every Rosh Hashana, three generations of redheads--grandmother Elizabeth Levy, mother Ellen Becker and, as soon as she was old enough to help, granddaughter Nancy--made zwetschgenkuchen for dessert. The open-face pie is made with Italian or prune plums that ripen in September in a sort of swan song of summer fruit. Unlike American-style pies that are often overly sweet, zwetschgenkuchen packs a powerful tart-sweet punch that almost explodes in the mouth.
"Growing up, I had no idea it existed outside our family," remembers Becker. She just knew that every year she could count on her mother to pat muerbeteig (a cookie-like tart dough) into pans, layer in ripe plums and bake at least a half-dozen of the intensely flavored pies.
Becker's grandmother Elizabeth brought the old ways with her when she finally fled Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 1939 with her 16-year-old daughter Ellen and sister Margot.
Part of the wealthy Jewish class, the Levys didn't believe until the last moment that their cigar factory would be confiscated by the Nazis, that they would be persecuted so ruthlessly, their very lives in jeopardy. They had lingered so long that the German quota to the United States was full, but eventually they were all able to make their way to New York.
There, Otto Becker met Ellen on a blind date; their similar south German backgrounds were a powerful bond. They married and enjoyed a comfortable life in New York with children Nancy and Jim, celebrating the Jewish holidays in a blend of Ellen's German-Jewish traditions and Otto's all-American ways.
