On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Inbal Baum, founder of Delicious Israel food tours, Delicious Experiences (virtual corporate events) and Delicious Cities, a global network of immersive food tours.    After working as an attorney in Manhattan, and then becoming a yoga instructor, Baum moved to Israel where she founded her first “Delicious” company. For Baum, food and joy go hand in hand. And, even as she currently resides in the States, Baum continues...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with adman Murray Kalis, who has worked on everything from Taster's Choice Decaffeinated Coffee, Kraft Foods, and KFC to Noah’s Bagels, Starbucks, and Dave’s Hot Chicken.   Kalis started his career in advertising in August 1970. He went from copywriter to VP/creative director with Leo Burnett in Chicago. He then moved to Los Angeles as creative head for Young & Rubicam, before starting his own agency. While Kalis has...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with chef, entertainer, and cookbook author Eitan Bernath. Bernath, 22, has been working in food entertainment for about ten years.    “I didn't really fit in, when I was younger, with the little league or sports, but I really loved food,” Bernath says. “My mom encouraged me [to] try cooking … and I really just fell in love with being in the kitchen.” When he was 11, Bernath randomly auditioned for an episode of the Food...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with celebrity chef Katie Chin, who is an award-winning cookbook author, caterer and playwright.    “There's incredible symbolism in Asian cuisine, but there's also incredible symbolism in Jewish cuisine,” Chin says. Her husband is Jewish and they are raising their 15-year-old twins Jewish; she loves to combine the cuisines.    Chin’s titles include “Katie Chin's Global Family Cookbook,” “300 Best Rice Cooker Recipes,”...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Chico Menashe, the CEO of Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel in Tel Aviv. Founded in 2021, Asif is a non-profit organization, dedicated to cultivating and nurturing Israel’s diverse and creative food culture.    “It's an Israeli food culture, not specifically Jewish culture,” Menashe says. “We have influences from all over the world.”   Menashe talks about Israeli food and cooking with chutzpah. He also shares...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Beth Lee, author of “The Essential Jewish Baking Cookbook,” cooking teacher and OG food blogger at OMGYummy.com.   Lee worked in marketing and communications for high tech companies in Silicon Valley for many years before deciding in 2010 that she liked “pita chips better than memory chips.” She was delighted when she got the url OMGYummy.com. While initially Lee didn’t know what to do with it, she dug in, figured out...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Shani Seidman, Chief Marketing Officer for Kayco Kosher. Kayco’s brands include Gefen, Heaven & Earth and of course Manischewitz, which has been around since 1888.   “They call me Mrs. Manischewitz. ... It’s surreal working on a brand that we had at our table growing up,” Seidman says. “I have these memories of Manischewitz being at my Passover seder or making Manischewitz chicken soup with my grandmother.”    ...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with cookbook author Joan Nathan, who has made a career of discovering Jewish cuisine from around the world and sharing it with others.    The author of twelve books, Nathan’s titles include “Jewish Cooking in America” and “The New American Cooking,” both of which won James Beard Awards and IACP Awards,    Her latest - and she says her last - book is, “My Life in Recipes: Food, Family and Memories.” Nathan hopes her...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Joel Haber, food lecturer and host of the 18 Jewish Foods” podcast. His website is TasteofJew.com.   “[Food] offers you a window into the Jewish culture,” he says.    Each episode of Haber’s new “18 Jewish Foods” podcast explores a food, food category or iconic dish. “Each episode will … also [offer] something to learn about the Jewish people,” Haber explains. “There's a short interview, as well of somebody...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Katie Workman, founder of The Mom 100 website, author of “The Mom 100 Cookbook” and “Dinner Solved,” and a food writer for the Associated Press.   Workman spent her childhood reading cookbooks the way others devour books. She created “The Mom 100 Cookbook” - 100 recipes every mom needs in her back pocket - as “an answer to the everyday cooking challenges, conundrums that parents face, day-in day-out when they're...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Jamie Pachino, a consulting producer on CBS’ “So Help Me Todd.” The show, starring Marcia Gay Harden and Skyler Astin, is about Todd, a “failure to launch-ish” son (Astin) who goes to work as an investigator at his mother Margaret’s (Harden’s) law firm.    Between family dinner and endless conversations about food - both on and off screen - food is a main character on the show. “We talk about it in the writer's room,...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Micah Siva, founder of Nosh with Micah and author of “Nosh: Plant-Forward Recipes Celebrating Modern Jewish Cuisine.”    “I see the word nosh as something that you just can't stop eating,” Siva says. “It's just so easy to eat and to snack on and there's always room in your stomach.”   As a vegetarian, Siva specializes in plant-based cooking. She is a chef, registered dietitian, recipe writer and food photographer....

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with father-daughter team Phil and Lily Rosenthal, authors of Just Try It! Phil Rosenthal is creator and host of Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix, author of Somebody Feed Phil: the Book, and creator of Everybody Loves Raymond. Lily is an actor, writer, producer and now food lover!     Just Try It! is more than a kids’ book about food. It’s an illustration of their family philosophy to have an open mind. “It's all about...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Amy Kritzer Becker, founder of What Jew Wanna Eat and Modern Tribe. She is also the author of “Sweet Noshings: New Twists on Traditional Jewish Desserts.” Becker shares her blog’s origin story, lots of food and cooking anecdotes, and her recipe for drunken honey pomegranate cake. She also offers tips for making cooking fun, your food colorful, and your experiences amazing.  Follow Amy Kritzer Becker on Instagram...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Sonya Sanford, author of  "Braids: Recipes From My Pacific Northwest Jewish Kitchen." The child of Ukrainian immigrants, Sanford grew up in Seattle and is the first born American in her family. She is a chef, writer, and podcast host, and has been studying cuisine in the diaspora for more than 15 years. “Jewish food differs in any region,” Sanford says. “That's because of what's available to people and what the cultural...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with award-winning culinary historian, food writer and chef Michael W. Twitty. Twitty is the author of Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew, which received the 2023 National Jewish Book Award.  “I've grown up with …African diaspora foodways from the Caribbean, Latin America and foodways from African immigrants in the United States,” he says. “And I've lived an entire life with Jewish food from...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with poet Jehanne Dubrow (JehanneDubrow.com), author of  “Taste: A Book of Small Bites.” Dubrow, professor of creative writing at the University of North Texas, has also written nine poetry collections and a non-fiction book, called “throughsmoke: an essay in notes,” about how she came to fall in love with the sense of smell.  “Taste and scent work together in particular to tap into the part of the brain where we access...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Amy Steinhaus Kirwin and Rebecca Edana, hosts of “Two Jews Making Food” on ChaiFlicks. Amy and Rebecca love to cook, eat and share their joy of cooking with others! During the half-hour episodes, the duo shares recipes for food and drink, based on their weekly theme; they also have a loved one Zoom in to share the Yiddish Lesson of the Day.  “We're not kosher, but we love food and we love stories and we love to learn,”...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Judy Elbaum, founder of Leave it to Bubbe.  A food columnist and author of ”Judy Elbaum's Seasonal Delights,” Elbaum shares her cooking origin story, along with other food memories and lots of cooking tips. She also talks about her mother’s amazing chicken soup and the recipe for Colombian “Penicillin” that is another family favorite.  Get the soup recipes at JewishJournal.com/Podcasts. Happy National Soup Month! ...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Noah Bleich, founder and artistic director of The TeaBook. The company, founded in 2015, offers organic, kosher teas with punny names and custom art to go with it, as well as a literal “TeaBook” organizer.  Bleich shares his love of tea and the power of PositiviTEA, as well as what goes into these unique creations. He also talks about the benefits of tea, the fun of tea flavors, and some of the differences between tea...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Reviews, Memoir, and More, now in its fourth edition.  Jacob, who also co-authored two cookbooks: Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas and The United States of Pizza, teaches and coaches food writers.   “If you are trying to write recipes, you need to take ownership of that recipe, she says. “It's your recipe. It's the way you like it,...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Michaele Weissman, author of The Rye Bread Marriage, as well as other books and hundreds of articles. Rye bread is a beloved foodstuff with a rich history. To author Michaele Weissman, it’s so much more.  “What do you do if you're a writer, married to a guy who was born in Latvia, is obsessed with Latvian rye bread and stays obsessed through [all] decades of your lives,” Weissman said. You write a book, called The Rye...

Food volunteering is a beautiful way to bring people together. It brings joy to the participants, as well as the recipients.  On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Chaya and Yossi Segelman, founders of Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles (OBKLA). At OBKLA volunteers come together for 2-hour sessions, where they prep, cook, and package meals for Angelenos in need.  The Segelmans talk about OBKLA’s origin, mission, and process, as well as food volunteerism and their...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Lisa Brown, illustrator of Lemony Snicket’s The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story.  The beloved title, first released in 2007 and now back in print, is about an angry latke, 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. Brown talks about the book’s origins, the...

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Pam Stein, founder of In Pam’s Kitchen.  When Hampton Water Wine Co., co-founded by father-son team Jesse Bongiovi and Jon Bon Jovi, started offering virtual Happy Half Hours during the pandemic, it inspired Stein to start cooking and baking with wine. She created a strawberry rosé cookie and sent it to the company; Jesse Bon Jovi made it during one of their virtual events and, she says, the rest is history. During the...