Arts (Student) Lounge, Arts & Convocation Hall

Central European Cafe

Our November Central European Cafe offers a delicious assortment of beverages, European-style pastries, and an inviting atmosphere for lively discussion! We will be joined by Jewish Studies Week guest speaker Bonny Reichert, daughter of Toby & Saul Reichert. As always, our Central European Cafes are free to attend, open to the public, and do not require registration to attend.

Bonny Reichert is a Canadian writer, chef, food stylist, and journalist whose work often explores the intersection of food, family, memory, and identity. Born in Edmonton and raised in a restaurant family, she has worked for major magazines (such as Today’s Parent and Chatelaine) and contributed regularly to The Globe and Mail. She also trained in culinary school in midlife and holds an MFA in creative nonfiction.

Her latest book is How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty (2025), her debut memoir. In it, Reichert traces her personal journey through the lens of food – growing up in her family’s restaurants, cooking with her grandmother, the role of meals in her childhood – while also confronting her father’s Holocaust past: his near‑starvation in Auschwitz‑Birkenau, the scars (including the tattooed number) he carried, and how that legacy shaped Bonny’s life. The book is as much about heritage and survival as it is about how cooking and nourishing one another can be acts of love and resistance.