Jev04again's Full Review: Elizabeth Coblentz and Kevin Williams - The Amish ...
The Amish life has always fascinated me. While growing up, I had weekly contact with the Amish people, having lived in southern Michigan for 19 years. I used to love to watch the Amish families travelling in their black, horse-drawn buggies and see the shy but always courteous children peek out of the windows and wave with a demure smile, before darting back around the corner. The parents always seemed to be so regal and yet they never failed to raise their hand in a friendly wave. The more I saw them, the more curious I became about their lifestyle.
My curiosity is still intact to want to know more about their world, so I was very happy to come across this wonderful book, "The Amish Cook – Recollections and Recipes From an Old Order Amish Family."Mrs. Elizabeth Coblentz and journalist Kevin Williams wrote this book together. Co-author Kevin Williams was first introduced to the Amish life while writing a high school research paper, about efforts to build a chemical plant on prime Amish farmland outside of Mansfield, Ohio. That research paper would eventually become his first published magazine article in "Environmental Action" magazine. While Kevin Williams was conducting his research, the idea of writing an Amish cookery column was conceived and his search for a co-author began.
The Search…
His first choice was Mrs. Catherine Eicher. He met Mrs. Eicher when his local newspaper did a story about his article and then offered him a journalism internship for the summer. Kevin Williams took an assignment with a Michigan publication to write a story about the state’s growing Amish population, and this is how he met Mrs. Eicher. He interviewed her about life on the Amish farm, which almost always begins by 4 A.M. and doesn’t end until the last dish is sparkling clean and every household and barnyard chore is completed – which of course takes all day and all night long. After his interview was complete, he went back home, submitted his story, and decided then and there that the budding idea of "The Amish Cook" column had to become a reality.
He was sure that he could talk Mrs. Eicher into the idea of helping him write the column so when he went back to convince her to do it, she politely declined saying that she was too busy with cooking, cleaning, and canning to write such a column. Kevin Williams was undeterred, however, so he stopped by some of the homes of other Amish women he’d met while on assignment for the magazine. All greeted him with polite but suspicious stares, and they all turned him down as well. Finally, after a long, tiring day of searching homes, Amish bakeries, and dry good stores in the rural Indiana settlement, he decided that perhaps maybe he wasn’t going to have any luck at all with finding the columnist that he’d envisioned for so long… Until he saw two Amish women standing in a driveway and he took the chance of stopping to talk with them…
Kevin Williams had such wonderful luck when he stopped by the farm of Ben and Elizabeth Coblentz. Unbeknownst to him, Elizabeth was already a well-known writer, having contributed letters to a subscription newspaper called "The Budget", which is based in Sugarcreek, Ohio. This newspaper is circulated throughout Amish communities nationwide. Since the Amish don’t have telephones, faxes, email – or anything technology related – they rely on "The Budget" to find out news about their friends and families. This paper keeps everyone up to date on news from their communities, lets everyone know of births, deaths, weddings, and everything else of interest. So when Kevin Williams asked Mrs. Coblentz about writing an Amish cookery column, he was pleasantly surprised when she said yes. Mrs. Coblentz was comfortable with the idea, since she’d been writing for "The Budget" since she was aged 16, so it was natural for her.
The Amish cookery column was such a success, that Kevin Williams knew that "The Amish Cook – Recollections and Recipes from an Old Order Amish Family" cookbook had to be written. So after countless writing assignments, nail-biting slowness of the USPS, lost manuscripts, revisions that took weeks to complete (because of the lack of modern technology), and 12 years of hard work, the book was completed. During that time, the Coblentz family, the people of their community, and Kevin Williams became like family.
"The Amish Cook – Recollections and Recipes from an Old Order Amish Family" has a ton of color photographs of the farms in or around the Indiana Amish community where Elizabeth and her family live. There are lovely pictures of laundry drying on the clothesline, a sunrise over the Indiana farmland, schoolyards, kerosene lamps, horses and buggy’s, and many photographs of Mrs. Coblentz’s delicious, yet simple meals. I loved looking into those photographs to see all of the details of a supper table that is set for a family of 10! That is a lot of food, for sure.
A Bit Of History…
The book also gives you a history of the Amish, such as how their name came to be. The Amish derives their name from their spiritual founder, Jacob Amman of Switzerland. He, with a group of followers, separated from the Mennonite movement in 1693, because he believed that the Mennonites had become too liberal. I found it interesting to learn that when the Amish immigrated to America, they became referred to as "Pennsylvania Dutch" but this is wrong because the Amish aren’t Dutch at all. The Amish speak a dialect of Swiss-German and they came to be called "Pennsylvania Deutsche", which means "Pennsylvania German". But because the word "Deutsche" looked and sounded like the word "Dutch", the Amish came to be called "Pennsylvania Dutch." You will find many facts and stories in this book about the Amish history, and I found it all to be extremely fascinating.
The Recipes…
The Amish family refers to their meals as "Breakfast", "Dinner", and "Supper." The term "Lunch" is hardly ever used. Each chapter of "The Amish Cook" cookbook has many delicious and simple recipes, such as "Breakfast Casserole", "Breakfast Biscuits with Homemade Milk Gravy", "Fried Cornmeal Mush", "Garden Vegetable Soup", "Homemade Ham Salad Spread", "Velvety Cheese Soup", and even "Fresh Vegetable Pizza." Every recipe features wholesome ingredients and they are all so simple to prepare.
The book also covers "Desserts" and "Sundays and Special Occasions." I’ve always loved Amish-made desserts, because they’re not as sweet as some of the desserts we’re used to. The Amish cook doesn’t use a lot of processed sugars, but relies on fruits, fruit juices, honey, molasses, and other natural sweeteners. This is why a lot of people find Amish food to be ‘bland’ but for me, as a person who is sugar intolerant, it’s just a very comforting sweetness. I have made the "Soft Sugar Cookies" and I am looking forward to making the "Rhubarb Crunch" recipe, once rhubarb is available at my local outdoor market. We’re blessed to have a community of Amish people a few miles away that will sell their baked goods at local markets and I can’t wait for my first taste of their fresh peach pie. Yum!
Final Thoughts…
All throughout this book, you will find excerpts from Mrs. Elizabeth Coblentz’s newspaper column, "The Amish Cook." Each column talks about the happenings around her farm and in her community. It’s so interesting to read about the events that take place. One of the most poignant columns that Elizabeth wrote was when her beloved husband, Ben, passed away. They had been married 43 years when he had a stroke and he never fully recovered. He passed away suddenly at the age of 69, and he was much adored by his loving wife and eight wonderful children.
I’m so glad that I read this incredible book, "The Amish Cook – Recollections and Recipes from an Old Order Amish Family." It only makes me want to learn more, and it brings new respect to a community of people who are humble, quiet, and unassuming. Mrs. Elizabeth Coblentz is to be admired for her work with her weekly newspaper column, and her work with "The Budget" is appreciated by the whole of her community for the last 40 years. I’m sure that her eight children and thirty-three grandchildren adore and cherish her.
Hardcover – ISBN #1580082149
Published 11-1-02
182 pages
Illustrated Color Photos
A unique collaboration between an Amish grandmother and a modern-day newspaperman, this is an authentic look at a disappearing way of life. This full-...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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