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 Edda Servi Machlin
 
Just enter the name above in Google and you will get a measure of the effect Edda has had upon Jewish cuisine in America since 1981.
     Edda was born in Pitigliano, Italy in 1926. She grew up there, experienced the effect of the anti-semitic laws passed during Fascism's reign, ran away before being rounded up to be taken to a concentration camp, joined a unit of partisans in Tuscany until the American army liberated this area. She came to America in 1957 to help her sister who was pregnant with twins. In 1960 she married Gene, and subsequently gave birth to Rona and Gia. All their friends, upon eating food that Edda prepared, insisted that Edda write a cookbook. So she did and many Jews of America started to enjoy eating! The book was titled "The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews", published by Everest House, and is now a collectible item. This book has been translated into French and Hebrew editions.
     Before she wrote the book she removed a frustration that had affected her life. She obtained the education denied her by the infamous anti-Jewish laws of fascist Italy. Her self-education enabled her to be admitted to a college in the US and she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University with election to Phi Beta Kappa in 1979.
    She then entered upon a career that included lecturing, being a teacher of cooking and the Italian language. She has lectured on the Jews of Italy and Fascism in universities and other forums. She has demonstrated cooking on TV, in cooking schools and in restaurants. Many of her recipes have been adopted by restaurants around the country and produced as foods by elements of the food industry.
     In 1990 Edda purchased the rights to her first book and started a publishing company, Giro Press to continue to keep her book in print. Since then she has written three other books which were published by Giro Press: volume 2 of "The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews", "The Classic Dolci of the Italian Jews", and "Child of the Ghetto". The first three books have been collected into one and is now available from Harper-Collins as "Classic Italian Jewish Cooking".
     In 2002 Edda suffered a stroke. Still able to write with the help of a computer, she has written the three books listed on the home page of this site.  

 Eugene S. Machlin

 

Enter the name above in Google and you will learn that Gene has written many papers that are published in peer reviewed journals during his academic career as a professor.

     Gene was born in the US in 1920. He obtained an education via the facilities of New York City for which he is very grateful. These facilities included not only the public school system of NYC but also City College. Without the latter he would never have had the opportunity for a college education -it was a tuition-free education. Also, it must be mentioned that the library system of NYC also contributed significantly to this education.

     He graduated City College in January 1942, just after Pearl Harbor and was hired as an Aeronautical Research Engineer by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. He spent the war years working on aircraft engines. Soon after he obtained an MS in Physics from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland via night courses and then studied full time at MIT where he graduated with an Sc.D.in 1950. He was then employed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Metallurgy at MIT and in 1951 he became an Assistant Professor at Columbia University. He remained at Columbia University his professional life achieving Associate Professor status in 1954 and full Professor status in 1957. He retired in 1990 as Howe Professor Emeritus, which is his present status. Among his honors are a Guggenheim fellowship, a gold medal for the best paper published in 1954 in the Transactions of the American Institute of Metalllurgical Engineers, various invited lectureships, and being elected a Fellow of the AIME. He was Chairman of the Solid State Advisory Committee of the US Air Force in the 1950s, has served on various professional committees and has been a consultant to many companies. In the latter role he contributed significantly to the development of the jet engine by advancing the art and science of producing high temperature alloys.

     In retirement he wrote three books: Materials Science in Microelectronics, volumes 1 and 2, and "An Introduction to Aspects of Thermodynamics and Kinetics Relevant to Materials Science". These books were published by Giro Press. Since then second editions have been written by Gene and were published in 2006 and 2007 by Elsevier Ltd. His latest books are listed on the home page of this site.