Pioneer Recipes: 99 years after the late pioneer Malka Artzi, one of the veteran and iconic agricultural women of the Jezreel Valley, wrote a personal journal that included Passover Seder recipes, the “lost book” has been discovered and will become one of the key exhibits at the Valley Museum in Kibbutz Yifat.
The museum was forced to temporarily close its doors due to the Home Front Command restrictions of the current war, however.
Malka Artzi immigrated to Israel from Romania in 1925, and in September of that year began studying in the first class of Hana Meisel’s agricultural school for girls in Nahalal. During her studies, she joined the “Hasharon” group and settled with it in the Jezreel Valley at Ramat David. After 25 years, following a split, she moved to Kibbutz Yifat.
For most of her life, she worked in orchards and was among the veteran planters of the valley — a hardworking, diligent and idealistic woman. She was highly active in community life and maintained ties with soldiers of the Jewish Brigade from the Hasharon group.
Miriam Aharoni, 80, head of the archive at Kibbutz Yifat, said that “after work hours, she founded the archive and preserved materials out of a deep historical awareness of the importance of safeguarding documents for future generations.”
Artzi died in 1986 at the age of 84 and was buried in Yifat. “My mother was responsible for baking cakes in the kibbutz,” said her daughter, Talma Ofir, 82. “She wrote this book in 1927, and all those years it was in her home, and we had no idea. We knew our mother had been writing and collecting recipes for decades, and that she had them, but only after she died did we find this book. Later, we gave it to the Valley Museum as a treasure trove of pioneer recipes. It is an invaluable document, and through it you can understand pioneer-era cuisine.”
Ofir is a mother of five, grandmother of 10, and “eagerly awaiting” her first great-grandchild. “I studied home economics at WIZO and managed the kitchen at Yifat for years. I cooked a great deal, but unfortunately I was not familiar with my mother’s recipes. I’m spoiled — as much as I used to cook and even won awards, today I don’t do much, though I proudly make matzah balls. But sadly, I am nowhere near my mother’s level — I bow to her standard.”
Iris Gruman, director of the Valley Museum at Kibbutz Yifat, added: “The museum is currently closed due to Home Front Command guidelines, and during our ‘Passover cleaning’ we came across this amazing book. We were stunned when we found it. Our museum tells the story of communities, settlement and history — and ultimately of people who took responsibility for the place they lived. This is truly a historical document that represents the connection between all these values: Zionism, women’s empowerment, pioneering spirit, fulfillment — and what we convey to our visitors. We have been privileged to give our visitors a glimpse into the culinary world of the pioneers.”