"Tell me a story from when Papa was little!" My daughter, Maya, who had the good fortune to be born here, in America, started asking me for stories from my Russian childhood when she was about four years old. Now, when she has three kids of her own, I would like to remind her of some of the things she heard me talk many years ago. These first couple of stories, as it happens, all revolve around food, hunger and the struggle for daily sustenance. As...