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‘Tomato Lady’ offers family cookbook tips

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By Meredith Moss, Staff Writer 6:57 PM Friday, November 20, 2009

If you grew up in Dayton View, you may remember her as Joan Schillo. Later she was Joan Thomas, acting as an editor at the Dayton Daily News and the Kettering-Oakwood Times and heading marketing and public relations at St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Miami Valley Hospital.

Later, she moved from her native city and became Joan Ungerleider, wife of oncologist Jim Ungerleider.

Now, she’ll return to her hometown as “The Cherry Tomato Lady.” The book title honors a dear grandmother who developed a passion for growing cherry tomatoes in her 90s.

“The book started as a series of family stories for my children and grandchildren,” says Ungerleider who will be the featured guest at a book signing from 1 to 3 p.m. next Saturday, Dec. 5 at the Zig Zag Gallery in Centerville. “I soon discovered that most of my memories involved food — dinners and picnics and parties with family and friends, so I decided on a cookbook format.”

“Cooking With the Cherry Tomato Lady” is an entertaining reading for anyone, but especially nostalgic for local readers who will recognize many of the references. Fresh out of college, for example, Joan worked for the Journal Herald’s Marj Heyduck, who assigned her the food beat. Later, she worked with beloved Dayton Daily News columnist Millie Bingham, who is represented in the cookbook by “Inimitable Millie’s Chocolate Fudge Cake.”

“People who have bought the book apparently have discovered some universal appeal in the stories: They tell me they recall their own grandfathers and fathers hunting rabbits and their grandmothers making pot pie,” says Ungerleider, who published the book herself. “I’ve been surprised by people who have told me they vacationed at Indian Lake in their youth — even a woman who wrote to me from New York state.”

In each recipe, the reminiscences are as important as the ingredients. An offshoot of the book is an online newsletter (www. cherrytomatolady.com) that Ungerleider has developed to encourage grandmothers to cook with their grandchildren.

“I’m thrilled when one of my grandchildren e-mails to ask what we’re going to cook together when Jim and I visit them,” says Ungerleider, who now lives in Georgia.

“On a recent visit to Springboro, Jim suggested that our two granddaughters learn how to make the specialty cheesecake that his mother served at Sully’s. When it was served, the family oohed and ahhed and told the girls their memories of the great-grandmother that they had never met. It was a special occasion — one the girls will not forget.”

Guests at the book signing will sample cookies from the book.

“I will encourage those who stop by to produce a family cookbook and supply guidelines for doing it,” says Ungerleider.  “It’s truly a gift that will be treasured.”