Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 24, 2021

Jake Cohen, author of the cookbook Jew-ish, is on a mission to make Jewish food mainstream. "We're not still in the shtetl. We have beautiful cuisine, and it's continued to evolve." One of the ways Jake is proving his point is with his wildly popular social media presence on Instagram and TikTok (2 million-plus followers) where his bread is beloved. "Challah is a force of connection and community and nourishment. Start to finish, the process of making it and serving it to people pretty much hits every moral and ethical lesson you should get in life." Ultimately his goal is to inspire others to cook more. "Great food? That's a baseline, everything has to taste good. If it doesn't taste good, then we failed. If we can inspire someone to feel more confident, feel a little bit more passionate, a little more joy in the act of cooking, that's the true goal." While another book is in the works, he hopes to take his ever-growing social media following to TV. "I've been very blessed to be a recurring character on a lot of these daytime talk shows in the food world, which has been great, but naturally, I want it all to myself." [laughs]

How did your cookbook Jew-ish come about?

It was a really unexpected exploration of identity that started with my relationship. I think it came about because my husband and I are both Jewish but came from completely different Jewish upbringings. I'm from New York, Ashkenazi, very much like that Seinfeld caricature of the city, and my husband is Persian, Iraqi Jewish. When we realized that the culinary traditions didn't match up at all to the same rituals, it became this really fun exploration of what Jewish food meant to both of us. We chose Shabbat as this anchor for not only building community but also having that be the forum of exploring these traditions. As soon as I started diving into Jewish food, telling Jewish stories, exploring foods from throughout the diaspora, everything made sense. I felt like I understood myself more. It's very similar to the road of coming out as a gay man, you start to understand deeper things about your identity that have always been there, but you kind of say it out loud with pride.

Even though the book features your take on culturally significant Jewish dishes, it's really for everyone. Have you been surprised by non-Jews embracing your dishes?

No, because that was part of the goal. When I got the deal, everyone treated it as a niche book, that only Jews would buy a Jewish cookbook. My response to that was always, "Look at your cookbook shelf, and pick out all the cuisines of cultures that aren't representative of who you are." It's so commonplace that you would have an Italian cookbook, or a Chinese cookbook, or a French cookbook, or any myriad of different cuisines. But with Jewish food, somehow it's considered different, and I think it's all just a marketing thing. All I'm trying to do is change the marketing and make it known that Jewish food is delicious; we're not still in the shtetl. We have beautiful cuisine, and it's continued to evolve and anyone can enjoy and make it.

What's a recipe from your book you're surprised people responded to?

Challah is at the top because there's something so ornate about making bread from scratch. It's a little bit labor-intensive, so I think there's something very intimate about that kind of relationship of making that for anyone. There is one recipe, the Iraqi roasted salmon. It's an example of a recipe that comes from my husband's family. It's a recipe I learned from his mother, who learned from her mother. It's just so unique because we make this mixture of caramelized onions and tomato paste and lemon and spices. The Iraqi curry powder is representative of the Iraqi Jewish community; in Iraq, one of the main jobs that Jews had was managing the spice trade with India. So there's this huge influence of Indian ingredients and flavor profiles in Iraqi Jewish cooking. I made it on the Today show and everyone was going crazy for it. It's super, super special because you don't see it often.

What's one dish from your book that you think every Jew, or really anyone, should know how to cook?

It's funny because what is a Jew? That is so broad. I would love to say matzah ball soup, but at the end of the day, that's only representative Ashkenazi Jews. But in general, I think challah is life. I think challah is a force of connection and community and nourishment. And I think that there is something so meditative about the process of kneading dough, and the teachings of the patience of letting it proof. Start to finish the process of making it and serving it to people, I think pretty much hits every moral and ethical lesson you should get in life.

Your cooking videos on Instagram are addictive! Do you ever struggle to come up with new content?

I think a lot of creatives do. Social media is constant, the internet doesn't go to sleep. And to balance that with bigger projects, like books, or shows or other things that require this kind of big burst of creative energy, it's sometimes difficult to balance. For example, right after my book launch, I took a social media break after promoting, I had nothing left to give. But the thing that I love about what I do on social is that it's not a gimmick. It's not like I'm trying to crack the system with a recipe that's gonna break the internet. I've had recipes that have broken the internet, but it's secondary in the sense it's things that I want to cook for my family or for myself. A perfect example is probably the most viral thing that happened this year, my garlic bread. Now you can see 1,000,001 videos online of people squeezing out garlic like I did.

I'm one of them. I burned my hands.

Of course, because you have to let it cool a little bit. But that's the hardest part of cooking. But it was like, how do I come up with that? I was visiting my in-laws, and my sister-in-law loves brisket. She's the only Gentile in the family. She's an Irish girl from Staten Island, but she does love Jewish brisket because Jewish brisket is a classic. We take the leftover sauce and make brisket pasta the next day. I was like, let's make some garlic bread to go with it. And that's where the video came from, and then I woke up the next day and we're at 50 million views plus.

I was a Food Network kid, but social media has changed the way we watch cooking content. How do you think social media changed the way we cook?

Yeah, it was more intentional; you would put on the Food Network because you were looking for that kind of content and that kind of inspiration. When we look at social, it's this conglomerate of all of my interests coming at me at once. So it'll be fashion, pop culture, news, food, and it repeats itself. So I think there is this idea in which you're just repackaging the same ideas of creative concepts, inspirations, techniques, in a smaller package that's just going to be seen by people all day, every day. It's a constant instead of one burst, like a slow IV drip throughout everything you do, because you'll be constantly scrolling.

What do you have going on next?

Another book is in the works. And hopefully television. That's the goal, to continue telling stories around food and have a lot of fun. I think that I've been very blessed to be a recurring character on a lot of these daytime talk shows in the food world, which has been great, but naturally, I want it all to myself. [laughs]

With the new year upon us, what ways can people cook more next year?

I think that there is this misconception that you have to be stressed in the kitchen or that entertaining is stressful. It's stressful if you let it get there. So let's say you're doing something, what things can be made in advance? What things can be done so that your guests arrive and everything is ready and it just comes out and goes on to the table and you get to enjoy yourself? Too often in the food world, it's about faster, quicker, easier recipes. Everyone has these crazy lives and that's fine but that's never going to change. What does need to change is you creating a sense of pausing. It's very Zen-ish, take 10 minutes to put some intention toward what you want to serve. How much time do you want to spend? And all of a sudden your game plan is going to completely shift, your headspace is going to completely shift, and you're gonna find a lot more joy and fulfillment in cooking for others. That's the goal! Great food? That's a baseline, everything has to taste good. If it doesn't taste good, then we failed. But if we can inspire someone to feel more confident, feel a little bit more passionate, a little more joy in the act of cooking, that's the true goal.

See the original post here:

Jake Cohen Is on a Mission to Make Jewish Cuisine Mainstream - Newsweek

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