 "Photo: Corwin Wickersham")
"I need a cause. I don't want to just make a 'cookbook', " Christine Herman said. Herman, co-owner of Herman's Meat Shoppe on Cleveland Avenue, has compiled 350 recipes into a cookbook whose profits will benefit a local cancer support group.
"Herman's: Celebrating 40 Years of Service: A Collection of Memories and Recipes from Family and Friends," was created as a fundraiser to benefit the Cancer Care Connection and has already raised $4,000, Herman said.
The cookbook, which costs $25, includes memories, pictures and a history of the store, which opened in 1967, she said. It took a little over a year to create and is a compilation of recipes from customers and family and includes a story of the tradition behind each recipe. Herman's recipe for baby-back ribs and her famous pork-and-sauerkraut are included in the book.
Herman said she talked about her idea with Janet Teixeira, a co-executive of Cancer Care Connections and a five-year customer of the store.
She said she wanted to ensure the profits would benefit local cancer patients and their families.
Teixeira said the cookbook was Herman's idea, but she helped through the entire process.
She said she is pleased by the amount of success the cookbook has had.
"It is a testimony to all that the Hermans have done for the community as a family-run business," Teixeira said. "They serve as a role model to other community members."
Valerie Pletcher, a co-executive director of Cancer Care Connections, worked with Herman and Teixeira in creating the cookbook. She said she is pleased with the results.
"It has been fabulously successful," Pletcher said. "I've worked on other projects like this before in other organizations and this was one of the top that I've seen."
Herman's husband, Tim, is a 15-year survivor of cancer and is still receiving treatments, Herman said.
"That is why it's near and dear to my heart and I've dedicated the book to him and the family," she said.
Herman said she wanted the money to go to local cancer patients because of her experiences with the disease. She said she felt it was the perfect opportunity to give back to Newark.
"We have a niche here in the community," Herman said. "We're not just a store here to make a buck. Community efforts are really important and we help each other. We are all interconnected and we need to realize that and work together."
Pletcher said the cookbook is more than just a fundraiser.
"It's rare these days - a small town shop that's still around that people really value," she said. "If you just look at the size of the cookbook you can really tell that people really trust and love them."
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