Updated: 11-07-2025
Added: 30-07-2023
A blend made of ersatz coffee rationed in the amount of 300 grams, also available temporarily in free trade for the price of 2 and later 3 Mk for one kilogram (many families collected bags of unused coffee), with sugar additive, possibly with a small amount of margarine, or oil, jam etc, which were dubbed “truffles” and known among gourmets. The mixture was consumed uncooked.
During the great famine, more combinations were made using ersatz coffee, e.g., 0.25 kg ersatz coffee mixed with a tablespoon of flour and a bit of water, then fried in a pan. These small cookies were known as “Lofix” (black briquettes used as kindling).
During the great famine, more combinations were made using ersatz coffee, e.g., 0.25 kg ersatz coffee mixed with a tablespoon of flour and a bit of water, then fried in a pan. These small cookies were known as “Lofix” (black briquettes used as kindling).
Peter Wertheimer
References
Peter Wertheimer wrote about “Lofix” in his regular column in the The Daily Chronicle: “Ghetto’s Small Mirror: Lofix – in ghetto parlance, a type of black pancakes, which are now, in the time of famine, fried in a pan using ersatz coffee as a substitute for any food. Indeed, they look like tar kindling distributed as a substitute for coal. But although for the purpose of kindling it does the job, this “Lofix,” when eaten, fails to rekindle one’s fainting vitality. It has no nutritional value, but if it deceives the stomach for a moment, it can help to sustain the hope that potatoes might soon follow (Kronika, vol. 4, pp. 143–144, entry dated 23 February 1944).