Schmaltzy

For Gil’s candied pomelo recipe + Einat’s holiday recipes head to Jewish Food Society's digital recipe archive.

Twenty years ago, Liz Neumark was a mother to four kids under 10 and was just getting her catering company off the ground. One night, the two youngest pleaded with her to abandon bedtime and make latkes. Liz couldn’t resist. Today, latkes and the memory of that night hold a deep meaning. 

For Liz’s latke recipe, head to our digital recipe archive.

When Liz Alpern arrived at business school, she didn’t exactly fit in. She rocked a carefully styled lesbian haircut, smelled of onions, and professed a deep passion for her gefilte fish company. At her big presentation, she was met with blank stares from her straight (laced) classmates. For the first time in her life, Liz's path to success was brought into question.

Growing up in Michigan, Umber Ahmad’s family stood out. Immigrants from Pakistan, they were living “1000 Arabian Nights,” she jokes. When Umber brought friends over for playdates, she dreamed there would be Little Debbie Snack Cakes. Her mom had other plans.

Jake Dell, the owner of Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side, comes from a long legacy of deli owners. So, naturally, he planned to be a doctor. A gap year spent living in his grandfather’s footsteps and a moment with a 94-year-old customer changed all that.

“Man v. Food” host Adam Richman grew up as a not so typical Jewish kid in Brooklyn. He downed Carribean food, got deep into The Smiths, and rocked a bi-level haircut. Yet, every Yom Kippur, he followed the ritual of prayers, fasting, and bagels. As an adult, Adam felt lost, disconnected from his roots. On a filming trip one Yom Kippur, he found himself on a unique mission: to locate a traditional break-fast meal in Amish country. He ended up finding much more.

Acclaimed baker Zoe Kanan’s grandmother Helen was an unlikely Texan. A born-and-bred New Yorker, she moved to Houston to be near her daughter and granddaughter — and Jim, not the son-in-law she expected. One year, with a sprained wrist, Helen was forced to hand over the Rosh Hashanah cooking duties to 10-year-old Zoe and Jim, an Irish Catholic former punk rocker whose attempt at homemade gefilte fish included jalapeño. 

Try Zoe’s riff on Helen’s honey cake recipe here.