How to Share an Egg

A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty

De: Bonny Reichert

Narrado por: Bonny Reichert

An “absolutely transformative” (People) culinary memoir about the relationship between food and family—sustenance and survival—from a chef, award-winning journalist, and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

“Beautifully written, heartbreaking and hopeful.”—Ruth Reichl, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Novel

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. Stepping into the kitchen to connect her past with her future, the author recounts the defining moments of her life in a poignant tale of scarcity and plenty: her colorful childhood in the restaurant business, 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. 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.

©2025 Bonny Reichert (P)2025 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“I started crying on page one; a few pages later I burst into laughter. This beautifully written book takes readers on an emotional journey that is both heartbreaking and hopeful.”—Ruth Reichl

“A beautifully written, eye-opening mem­oir that movingly shows how food—and writing about it—can bridge divides and heal generations.”—BookPage

“Bonny Reichert’s stunning memoir is proof of the power of hope in the face of epigenetic sorrow, and how the human soul and spirit hew inexorably to healing, sustenance, and life. The need to sustain oneself and one’s loved ones is pervasive here, and Reichert’s ability to weave together a seamless story about food, love, and withering tragedy is masterful. I was captivated.”—Elissa Altman, author of Motherland

This book is teaches so much!!! Loved it!!

The author’s accomplishments from many different jobs-tells the story of her beloved father! The cooking -the foods -the calming voice is incredibly written - painful and joyful!! Wow!! Page turner!!!

Loved this story ♥️ Highly recommend. Kept us entertained for hours...

What a remarkable story. I chose to listen to this on a long drive to Canada for a family ski trip. We did not want the book to end. Well written and kept us entertained throughout.

A inter-generational memoir

Read by the author, the intimate and sometimes difficult nature of this poignant memoir shines. Bonny Reichert shares her father’s Holocaust memories, and also reveals her own story, shaped by both generation’s experience and their shared love of the pleasure of eating. Her writing is beautiful and her delivery of the story is memorable.

Thank you for writing your story Bonnie!

I’m so glad Bonnie was brave and wrote this story for all of us to hear.

The author’s courage to share her story

This book is amazing and brought tears to my eyes. A must read or listen.

The author’s father’s story is interesting. Her story is not.

I really wanted to like this. I share much of the same family history, food, etc. But it simply wasn’t very interesting. The made-up portions to reflect things her father may have experienced stood out as very odd even before I got to the author’s note where she says she made them up.

Not What I Expected

I thought this book was going to be about the author’s father’s experiences as a young Jewish man during the holocaust. Instead, I got the rambling rantings of a spoiled upper middle class woman. There were a few insights into her father’s tribulations, especially towards the ending of the book, but mostly it was about her boring life. The narrator sounded like a petulant teenager. Her pronunciation of lox was laughable. This was a waste of my time and money.