CUISINE THE JEWISH FOOD SOCIETY TRACES AND PRESERVES CHERISHED TRADITIONS

Growing up on a kibbutz in 1980s Israel, Jewish Food Society (JFS) founder Naama Shefi ate her meals with hundreds of others in a communal dining room. The food was simple and the menu repetitive, but from an early age Naama knew that she wanted more from food than sustenance. She would beg her parents to reserve one of the few communal cars so that the family could explore the country’s culinary diversity: from the rich flavor of lamb in the neighboring Arab town of Kfar Kassem, to the hearty soup in the Yemenite Quarter in Tel Aviv, and schmaltz herring in Petach Tikvah. For Naama, it was not just about trying new dishes, it was about connecting with people and cultures beyond the kibbutz. Food became a medium for identity exploration.

Join the JCC for a special event with the Jewish Food Society on February 1 as part of our Books That Changed My Life Festival. For more details, click here.

In 2008, Ilan, her now-husband, invited her to his grandmother Ketty Benatar’s home for Shabbat dinner. The table—covered in dishes like stuffed onions and tomatoes, Swiss chard pie, small pastries called borekitas, and much more—told the story of the family’s journey from Izmir, Turkey to Rhodes island in the Aegean Sea, to Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe), and finally to Israel. Naama felt a strong sense of urgency to protect this culinary legacy and the stories that it tells. She didn’t know it at the time, but that evening planted the seeds for the Jewish Food Society.

Naama, who now calls New York City home, started JFS in 2017 as a nonprofit organization with the goal of preserving, revitalizing, and celebrating Jewish culinary heritage from around the world, so that recipes like those from her grandmotherin-law wouldn’t be lost to time. She and the entire team are guided by the belief that recipes tell the stories of how Jewish people live and love, how they celebrate and mourn; that recipes carry with them the marrow of who we are as individuals, as families, and as a people. They provide a concrete link to Jewish culture, identity, and community.

The heart of JFS’s work is the online archive: home to hundreds of family recipes and the stories behind them. Here, you can read about Stella Hanan Cohen, a cook in Zimbabwe who faithfully maintains 500-year-old Sephardic recipes, or Olga Sternberg, who found sustenance in recipes shared orally among prisoners in Auschwitz. You can read Esther Weyl’s story, tracing her Brazilian community’s Moroccan roots through its recipes, and recreate them.

JFS brings the archive to life through Shabbat dinners, cooking workshops, and one-of-a-kind events. Its flagship event, Schmaltzy, features live, food-related personal tales followed by a tasting of the dishes highlighted in the stories. During the COVID-19 pandemic, JFS launched a podcast by the same name, sharing the best stories from these live events.

In 2021, JFS welcomed a new sister organization in Tel Aviv, Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel. A collaboration with Startup Nation Central, Asif features a culinary library, gallery, test kitchen, rooftop vertical farm, cafe, and local provisions store. It serves as a research and development center to explore the various influences that contribute to Israeli cuisine and showcases Israeli culinary innovation. In celebration of its one-year anniversary, Asif published a special journal with recipes and highlights from its first year of activity.

JFS believes that once the plates have been cleared, the stories and memories should live on, connecting us to past experiences and inspiring future generations.

If you have a special family recipe and story to share, JFS would love to hear from you!