Book Review: A Rage to Nosh

Book Review: A Rage to Nosh

Author: Ruth & Bob Grossman

Date: 1966

Publisher: Paul S. Eriksson, Inc. (Galahad Books)

ISBN: 0-88365-083-5

Length: 78 pages

Illustrations: black-and-white drawings

Quote: “We have become a nation of nibblers.”

“Nosh” is one of those Yiddish words that have become standard American English by now. It means nibbling, grazing, snacking, and as an everyday practice (as the authors remind readers) it’s not healthy: “Everyone who has ever been read to as a child knows the story of Little Miss Muffet. However, it isn’t too commonly known that she remained a ‘Miss’ and had only spiders for friends because she was terribly overweight...She would sit by herself on her tuffet all day eating the curds and whey.”

Noshes have their uses, however, and the Grossmans classify their 60 recipes according to the purpose of the snack: “Noshes for the party, so they should do something besides drink. Spreads...for pieces of bread that are too good to throw away. Noshes to break the diet. Noshes to pack for the train.”

An additional purpose of this book seems to be celebrating Yiddishkeit, as it existed only in the early to mid-twentieth century. There’s a consistent Yiddish sentence structure (“Butter first on both sides the slices bread”). There’s self-deprecation, aimed not only at noshing but at the individual recipes: “[S]erve to fancy company, like the rich cousins from Philadelphia—even if they didn’t feed you so hot last time you were there.” The drawings are also cartoonlike, and each recipe is introduced with a one-line joke identifying the recipe with a famous or infamous historical character.

And what about the recipes? Most of them are too rich for current standards. You could drastically reduce the amount of butter, cheese, and oil in each snack, and any noshers you might want to enable would probably be pleased. But then, you don’t have to think of them as snacks. Most of them are savory, substantial sources of protein. If you eat a reasonable portion, then fill up on unoiled salad, you’ll have a reasonably balanced meal.