Cooking Archives - Taste Buds with Deb

Tag: Cooking

Chaya and Yossi Segelman, Our Big Kitchen LA & Gnocchi

Posted on December 21, 2023January 22, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

Food volunteerism is “a beautiful conduit to bring people together,” Chaya Segelman, co-founder of Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles (OBKLA), says.

Founded by Chaya and her husband, Yossi, OBKLA provides quality meals, made with love, to Angelenos in need.

“When you see people connecting on something, which is very simplistic – [preparing] a meal going to someone in the next 24 hours to sustain them – it’s very powerful,” Yossi says. “It’s not just nourishing people’s stomachs, but it’s lifting up their spirit.”

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Lisa Brown & “The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming”

Posted on December 14, 2023January 22, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket is back in print.

The beloved tale, first released in 2007, is about an angry latke (hence, the screaming), who jumps out of a pan of hot oil and runs away. On his journey, the misunderstood potato pancake encounters various symbols of Christmas: colored lights, a candy cane and a pine tree.

It’s a light-hearted, slightly off-kilter, educational tale.

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CW Silverberg: “Schmoozing and Cruising” & Easy Chicken & Rice

Posted on November 30, 2023January 21, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

CW SIlverberg, host of “Schmoozing & Cruising: A Trip Through Kosher Americana,” grew up kosher in a non-kosher neighborhood in Minnesota. His love for kosher Americana – and sharing “wonderful stories of positivity, food and fun” – is what drives this project.

“We live in a golden age of exploration and communication,” Silverberg told says. “I get to try all those kosher things that you would never think would exist.”

He adds, “That’s really what the TV show is also about. That’s what my whole lifestyle is about.”

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Chef Alon Shaya, Rescued Recipes & Lutenitsa

Posted on November 9, 2023January 21, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

Israeli-American celebrity chef and restaurant owner Alon Shaya has been cooking and working in restaurants nearly all of his life.

“The first thing I ever made by myself was hamentashen,” the author of Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel, says. “I was 7 years old.”

He called his mom at work and she talked him through the recipe.

“She was wondering if I was gonna burn the house down,” he said. “But I got them done, and they came up pretty good.”

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Chef Susan Feniger & Filmmaker Liz Lachman, “Forked”

Posted on November 2, 2023January 21, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

Susan Feniger: Forked is a story of resilience with the backdrop of food. Add a dollop of cooking – and a dash of the food history (in and out of the media) – and you have a recipe for success.

Chef and restaurateur Susan Feniger is the subject of the documentary. It’s produced and directed by her life partner, filmmaker Liz Lachman.

“This is about what it takes to create and see a project through,” Lachman says. “[To] go on that journey and be willing to just see what comes in life.”

Adds Feniger, “It’s about the human spirit.”

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Dana Shrager, Jewish Recipes & Tzimmes Recipe

Posted on October 12, 2023January 21, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, I speak with Dana Shrager of DanasTable.com. Shrager, who specializes in Jewish holiday recipes and healthy-ish dinners, shares why she started developing recipes – and how she modernizes them. She also talks about her Jewish Cooking Facebook Group, her love of Jewish Italian food and her modern Tzimmes recipe.

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Mandy Silverman & How to Stuff a Challah

Posted on October 5, 2023January 21, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

Challah coach and therapist Mandy Silverman, aka Mandylicious, is the “People’s Challah Person.” She is all about helping others have success when baking challah, including how to stuff a challah.

“Challah could really take a toll on you,” Silverman says. “I spend so much time trying to help people understand their challah or baking situations … and help them feel better about themselves.”

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June Hersh: New York Jewish Food, Hot Dogs & Onion Rings

Posted on September 28, 2023January 21, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

Cookbook author June Hersh says her latest book, Iconic New York Jewish Food could have also been called, “Iconic New York Food That Happens to be Jewish.”

“When I was beginning to write the book I realized that … most of the dishes that are the most crave-worthy in New York – that people travel across the country to sample that line up on a weekend to to taste and savor – happen to be Jewish foods,” Hersh says. “These are not just Jewish foods; they’re foods that really everybody loves and associates with New York lifestyle and New York culture.”

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Jonathan Bernhard, Plant-Based Eating & Shabbat Scones

Posted on September 21, 2023January 18, 2024 by Debra Eckerling

The attachment to food and food memories remains strong, even when the ingredients change.

“Food is important in terms of our memories, our identity and our culture,” Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe Bernhard, Executive Director of Jewish Initiative For Animals (JIFA), told the Journal. JIFA’s mission is to help align people’s food choices with their stated Jewish values.

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Sephardic Spice Girls, Preserved Lemons & Stuffed Artichokes

Posted on September 14, 2023October 2, 2023 by Debra Eckerling

The Sephardic Spice Girls Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff have been cooking and teaching together for years. The duo has collaborated on events for the Sephardic Educational Center, as well as many community cooking classes.

“Mostly what being a Sephardic Spice Girl is all about is making cooking and entertaining easy,” Gomperts explains. “We’re connecting people to the recipes of their grandmothers [and] their mothers, [while] inspiring younger chefs to go ahead and not be scared to be in the kitchen.”

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