How Alon Shaya is bringing a family's culinary memories to life through 'Rescued Recipes'

As chef-partner in Pomegranate Hospitality, Alon Shaya has shared the rich culinary landscape of Israel through his acclaimed restaurants—Saba in New Orleans, Safta in Denver and the newest, Silan in the Bahamas. But, he says, it has been one of the greatest honors of his life to help preserve one family’s legacy through the Rescued Recipes series of dinners he’s hosting in cities across the country.

Alon Shaya | Photo by Rush Jagoe

Shaya began this project after discovering a recipe book from the Fenves family during a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The collection had been saved by the family’s cook after the parents and children had been sent to concentration camps during World War II. After the war, the cook was able to get the cookbook into the hands of the son and daughter and it eventually ended up at the museum.

The first Rescued Recipes dinner was held last year in Washington, D.C., and now Shaya is expanding them across the country to Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and New York City. The dinners will raise funds to preserve and digitize the Museum’s Holocaust documents.

Listen as Shaya shares the memorable story of the Fenves family legacy, how his cooking is bringing their culinary memories to life, and how his restaurants continue to give back through Hummus for a Cause.

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