Rabbit Stew in WWII, The Road Remembered by Kaye D. Schmitz

Rabbit Stew in WWII, The Road Remembered by Kaye D. Schmitz
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 by Sally Jo Pitts

Investigating Food Used in Novels

This month’s food scene and recipe comes from the WWII novel, The Road Remembered, by Kaye D. Schmitz

Here’s the scene featuring main character Sam Ryan:

We woke to find that in addition to a tent shortage, the camp also suffered a food shortage, so we scrounged for anything we could find. I was luckier than most. My mother had taught me to recognize edible greens, like watercress, and I pulled enough of it to make a scant salad. In the days that followed, the shortage continued, so I trapped a few rabbits—scrawny little things—and cooked them on my alcohol stove until our food supply caught up with us. My cooking abilities increased my popularity among the men and at the end of our famine period, I banked quite a stash of candy bars and cigarettes, traded to me for some of my rabbit stew.

Rabbit Stew

Author Kaye D. Schmitz shares the recipe with these special notes:

The Road Remembered were actually my Dad’s experiences. And this was one of them. But in his real-life version, he found a farmer who raised rabbits and bought some from him using whatever currency he had for the country he was in at the time. He said he had no idea how the money translated to U.S. dollars, so he just handed the farmer a bunch of bills and the man’s eyes popped, so he figured he had probably given him enough money to buy his whole farm. He always laughed when he talked about that.

Sam’s version wouldn’t have included olive oil or Riesling, but probably would have included wild onions, an old potato from the mess hall and possibly a carrot or two if he could have gotten hold of them. No leeks, fennel, or tomatoes or fancy herbs like Rosemary. He may even have been able to get hold of a beer to add to the pot.

For the recipe Click Here.

More about The Road Remembered:

Love and humanity triumph amid the atrocities of World War II.

In the final months of World War II, Sam Ryan takes his place as a new soldier in the 89th Infantry Division on the front lines in Europe. He's trained to kill but struggles with the thought of taking the life of another human being, a contradiction with the way he was raised. How, he wonders, will he ever reconcile the action his head dictates with the way his heart feels about it?

On the other side of the war, Gerda Ziegler's heart aches over the monster her beloved Germany has become. But she confronts the Nazi soldiers who guard the Jewish-only sector in Zwickau and is appalled to learn that a Jewish baby will be killed because of a large birthmark. Can she manage to whisk the child away right under the noses of the brutal Nazis?

Sam and Gerda face their enemies head-on, but they also battle internal elements on their own sides of the fighting that violate their shared values of humanity. They meet under the worst of circumstances but find a way to help each other through the trauma of war.

About the Author:

KAYE SCHMITZ is the author of the award-winning novels, THE CONSORT CONSPIRACY and ON DEADLY GROUNDS, winning both the prestigious Literary Titans award and Florida Authors and Publishers Award. Active in the writing community, she is a member of the Florida Writers’ Association, Sisters in Crime national, Northeast Florida Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and Women’s Fiction Writers’ Association. She is also an active speaker and teaches a writer’s workshop titled, “Fiction Writing Tips and Techniques That Work!!” Ms. Schmitz makes her home in St. Augustine, FL, where she lives with her husband, Michael, and close to their two grown children and four grandchildren. https://www.kayedschmitzauthor.com/

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