Mission Mission

The only problem is, you’re gonna have to make them yourself. (Or befriend Ariel Dovas or his mom Barbara.) (I was out of town for their annual Hanukkah party this past year and it was a total bummer.)

This month Lucky Peach started a new series called We Love Mom, about great food our moms make. For each installment, they get a kid to write a little intro about one of their mom’s recipes, then they do a little Q&A with the mom and print the recipe.

Here’s part of Ariel’s intro to today’s piece about Barbara’s latkes:

I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, CA, and my mom and I moved to San Francisco’s Mission District in 1993, when I was thirteen. Despite the fact that she was a single mom who worked long hours, she made sure I always had a good meal. She is endlessly supportive, and a great model for being a caring, compassionate, nurturing yet powerful force in this world. And she’s just really fun.

No matter what we had in the kitchen—or didn’t—my mom saw an opportunity for a great meal. She was truly amazing at pulling together a balanced meal seemingly out of thin air. We ate eighties Santa Cruz hippie health food, and while other kids had things like cookies sweetened with things stronger than fruit juice, our food was our food, and I just kind of accepted that. For the most part, my mom’s food wasn’t flashy or showy; it wasn’t supposed to be. It was healthy, warm, comforting, and it was there when I was hungry. It’s still what I try to replicate when I cook for myself at home.

Read on for more more pics, Q&A with Barbara — and of course the recipe.

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