How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty About the Book
A moving culinary memoir about the relationship between food and family—and sustenance and survival—from a chef, award-winning Canadian journalist, and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
When you’re raised by someone who once survived on potato peels and coffee grounds, you develop a pretty healthy respect for food.
Bonny Reichert avoided everything to do with the Holocaust until she found herself, in midlife, suddenly typing those words into an article she was writing. The journalist had grown up hearing stories about her father’s near-starvation and ultimate survival in Auschwitz-Birkenau, but she never imagined she would be able to face this epic legacy head on.
Then a chance encounter with a perfect bowl of borscht in Warsaw set Bonny on a journey to unearth her culinary lineage, and she began to dig for the roots of her food obsession, dish by dish. Tracing the defining moments of her life, from her colorful childhood in the restaurant business to the crumbling of her first marriage and the intensity of young motherhood, her decision to become a chef and that life-altering visit to Poland, the author recounts a tale of scarcity and plenty, stepping into the kitchen to connect her past to her future.
Whether it’s the flaky potato knishes and molasses porridge bread she learned to bake at her Baba Sarah’s elbow, the creamy vichyssoise she taught herself to cook in her tiny student apartment, or the brown butter eggs her father, now 93, still scrambles for her whenever she needs comfort, cuisine is both an anchor and an identity; a source of joy and a signifier of survival.
How to Share an Egg is a journey of deep flavors and surprising contrasts. By turns sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, this is one woman’s search to find her voice as a writer, chef, mother and daughter. Do the tiny dramas of her own life matter in comparison to everything her father has seen and done? This moving exploration of heritage, inheritance, and self-discovery sets out to find the answer.
The Review
Bonny Reichert is a gifted storyteller, with a unique ability to weave emotion and memory into her writing. As an editor, she has mastered pacing, and as a journalist, she knows how to craft a narrative that leaves a lasting impact while using only the necessary words. How to Share an Egg offers a delicate balance between her culinary expertise and her deeper personal journey.
At its core, this book is a love letter to her father, a Holocaust survivor. Writing it seems to have been a cathartic experience for Reichert, and her profound connection with her father is palpable on every page. Through the lens of food, she attempts to recreate the dishes from his past, which brings her closer to the memories of his childhood and, in turn, to him.
I won’t reveal what the title How to Share an Egg means, but I will say that this book is filled with emotion. Reichert’s father, endlessly positive despite his history, will break your heart. Her exploration of her own generational trauma as the child of a Holocaust survivor is deeply moving. One of the most poignant moments comes when Reichert reflects on her visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a moment of profound dread and reconciliation: “I’ve tried to figure this out my whole life—how the memory of finding those blue-green numbers from Birkenau stirs in me not just fear and grief but also amazement and even a sense of wonder.”
I received this book in 2024 before its official release in 2025. While time constraints delayed my reading, I found the memoir to be wonderfully written and incredibly sensitive. It delves into family relationships and the complex connection between food and memory—both the good and the painful. This isn’t a book to rush through. Much like the intricate recipes Reichert discusses, it’s best enjoyed slowly. I recommend picking it up for Canada Day or as your next book club selection—you won’t be disappointed.
