Lilian: Israel's First Lady of Cuisine

Interesting books are populated by exceptional people. Drama begins when social, political and psychological conditions are out of the ordinary. Nature was in no mood for understatement when she created Lilian Kert Cornfield, whose eventful and near century-long voyage through life would be hard to find between the covers of any novel. Most women want to be loved for what they are, while men seek recognition for what they accomplish. Lilian came to Jerusalem soon after the end of Ottoman rule, where she met and married her sabra husband Gaalya. She broke the mold as a career woman long before that became fashionable. She was a progressive nutritionist, ever innovative, always seeking out what was best in the other person. She refused to take no for an answer: no position she applied for was denied her, and when she decided to learn to drive at age sixty, doggedly repeated the test six times until her license was granted (perhaps it should not have been). Lilian was too busy all her life to pay attention to the clock. Well into her eighties, she swam in the ocean daily, summer and winter. She observed the aging and deaths of her contemporaries with clinical detachment, as if she herself was exempt. She participated actively in the rebuilding of modern Israel, served as a dietician in UNRRA during WWII, and was wounded in an aerial attack on the IDF base where she was working as a volunteer during the War of Independence. Teacher, journalist, author of a dozen best-selling cookbooks, this larger-than-life personality, hailed as "Israel's First Lady of Cuisine," has left a lasting legacy. Cover drawing by L. Shertok, Giv' at Brenner, 1948 Cover design by Marion Cornfield