Cookbook author discovers hidden family recipes from the Holocaust

VISTA, Calif. — A Vista cookbook author shares her French family’s recipes that survived a Nazi invasion during World War II.

In this Zevely area I met the author of 11 cookbooks. In the world of cooking, Kitty Morse is a big deal, just like her great-grandmother’s famous carrot cake.

I watched Kitty Morse make carrot cake from an old family recipe and you won’t believe where she got it. “I was stunned,” Kitty said.

Tucked away in a battered family suitcase in a closet, Kitty found her great-grandfather’s World War II diary. “This documents the advance of the Germans between April and December 1940,” Kitty said.

His great-grandparents, Prosper and Blanche lived in France where they also hid more than 100 handwritten recipes in this suitcase. “Family documents and photos,” Kitty said. “I sat back on my haunches and couldn’t believe it.”

Kitty’s great-grandmother, Blanche, was taken to Auschwitz and killed, and her great-grandfather, Prosper, died in France.

“He suffered from dementia, so the Nazis left him to die in the hospital,” Kitty said. That’s why the discovery of the war diary and these recipes mean so much to Kitty.

“I feel compelled to tell this story,” Kitty said. Last year, Kitty traveled to France to follow in her family’s footsteps. She went to the same tunnel where her great-grandfather hid from the Nazis.

“I was so satisfied, I don’t say happy too, I was so fulfilled to be where he was sitting,” Kitty said. “You know, I said Prosper, I’m doing this for you.”

According to her journal, after hiding in this tunnel, some friendly women fed her great-grandfather rabbit stew, a recipe Kitty included in her latest cookbook: Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France.

In addition to the tears, Kitty hopes you will share her joy in finding these recipes, so that her family’s meals and desserts can live forever, including the star of them all. “I made Blanche’s carrot cake,” Kitty said.

The recipe was shared in newspapers and magazines. A cake as soft as my eyes after hearing Kitty’s story. “Thank you, Blanche,” said Kitty, who was born in Casablanca, Morocco, to a French mother and a British father, and who emigrated to the United States in 1964.

Kitty’s career as a food writer, cooking instructor and speaker spans more than three decades. She has published 11 cookbooks and written articles in French and English.

For more information about Kitty and her cookbook, click here.