My Mother's Kitchen by Peter Gethers

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Imagine growing up as part of the family that owns one of New York’s iconic restaurants. It is a life where food becomes the main reference to most major events. That is the story that Peter Gethers tells in My Mother’s Kitchen, but it is not his story. It is the story of his mother, Judith Gethers nee Harmatz. She is one of the children in the family that founded Ratner’s, one of New York’s most famous Kosher restaurants.

Judith Harmatz was born in 1922, in New York, and grew up in and around Ratner’s restaurant, co-owned by her father and her uncle. This was her life until she married Steven Gethers, a television writer. His work eventually took the family to Los Angeles, where she was mother and wife. At the age of 53, with both of her sons out of the house, Judith decided that she wanted to do something more. She wanted to learn how to cook like a chef. So, she took an unpaid position at Ma Maison, one if LA’s swanky-ist restaurants at the time. She worked with Wolfgang Puck, Jonathan Waxman and Nancy Silverton, among other top name chefs. Eventually, she became an instructor at Ma Maison’s cooking school. She has also written six cookbooks.

By Wes Washington (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

In her eighties, Mrs. Gethers suffered two strokes and several bouts of cancer. As she was reaching the end of her life, Mr. Gethers decided to put together a day’s menu of his mother’s favorite dishes, breakfast, lunch and dinner. That is the structure that he has given this exploration of his mother’s life. He has used this format to include the recipes for the dishes that his mother chose.

Breakfast covers Mrs. Gethers early life. Her family history and growth of Ratner’s as a cultural icon are explored. Ratner’s was a kosher dairy restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It became one of the most famous kosher establishments in the city, and a hang out for many of New York’s celebrities. Mr. Gethers also gives us a recipe for one of my favorite childhood dishes – Matzoh-brei. This is a mix of moist matzoh pieces cooked with scrambled eggs. My mother served it with maple syrup, a wonderous dish of sweet and savory flavors.

Lunch covers the early years of Mrs. Gethers’ marriage, and Peter’s life. Starting with an apartment in Peter Cooper Village, in lower Manhattan, and then a house in Rockland County, Mr. Gethers explores the ups and downs of his mother’s life. He explores the family issues as Ratner’s ownership change generations, and her desire to be away from pressures from her siblings.

Dinner brings us to life in California. Here we follow Mrs. Gethers blossoming into a chef, a teacher and an author. We meet some of the many chefs that came into the Gethers’ family. We watch her blossom into a social fixture among the restaurant set in Los Angeles. As her life experiences grow, the recipes given become more complicated that are included. But as the food becomes more interesting, so does the tale of Mrs. Gethers’ life.

My Mother’s Kitchen gives us a fascinating look at the story of a woman who led a quiet, but amazing life.  Mr. Gethers does a great job weaving together food and life experiences, just as it happens to us all every day.