Melinda Strauss, EAT JEWISH: Over 100 Recipes That Blend Jewish Heritage, Modern Flavors, and Family Traditions
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[0:45]Melinda Strauss is the author of Eat Jewish, over 100 recipes that blend Jewish heritage,
[0:50]modern flavors, and family traditions.
[0:53]Melinda has a mass to following on social media at the real Melinda Strauss of over 1.2
[0:59]A space where people feel comfortable asking questions about Judaism, learn about her family's
[1:03]customs, and can't get enough of her Jewish recipes and stories prior to her social media
[1:09]success.
[1:10]Melinda was a full-time food blogger, with hundreds of recipes on her website Melinda
[1:14]Strauss.com.
[1:15]Welcome, Melinda.
[1:16]Thank you so much for coming on Totally Book to talk about Eat Jewish, over 100 recipes
[1:21]that blend Jewish heritage, modern flavors, and family traditions.
[1:25]Congratulations.
[1:26]Thank you so much for having me.
[1:27]You're so welcome.
[1:28]I think this is the first book I've ever read that had a forward buy, a parent.
[1:34]Your dad wrote the forward.
[1:35]That was so sweet.
[1:36]Now, my mom will be all jealous if I ever show this to her.
[1:39]Well, now you're just going to have to do it at some point.
[1:42]We're going to have to be a friend.
[1:43]Yes.
[1:44]So tell me about the cookbooks, tell me about why you decided to start with your dad.
[1:49]And how?
[1:50]Yeah.
[1:51]We'll just go from there.
[1:52]Okay.
[1:53]So I will start by saying that this cookbook was definitely inspired by my TikTok, which is so
[1:57]cool because I've been a food blogger since 2011.
[2:00]So I've been a food blogging for a really long time.
[2:02]But with TikTok, I found my voice.
[2:05]I found my voice as a Jew.
[2:08]I found my voice as someone who isn't just talking about food, but talking about Judaism
[2:12]in general and answering people's questions.
[2:14]And part of that is sharing recipes because food is my life.
[2:18]And people would just like ask me, what's this recipe?
[2:20]What's that recipe?
[2:21]And they started actually naming my recipes and it started with my daughters broccoli.
[2:26]And they started calling it Nora's broccoli.
[2:27]And I was like, there's something here.
[2:30]And I had randomly made a video and just man, I just threw everything out into the universe.
[2:34]And I said one day if I ever write a cookbook, I'm going to have Nora's broccoli in it.
[2:38]And this incredible woman reaches out and she's like, I have a friend who's an agent.
[2:41]Can I introduce you guys?
[2:43]And it was just this like from, you know, from God moment where everything was just
[2:48]working out perfectly, exactly when it was supposed to.
[2:51]And I went from someone who was just sharing recipes to someone who had finally figured
[2:55]out what I wanted to share and knew that publishing a book would actually mean something
[2:59]not just other people, but to me.
[3:02]And my father has been a big part of my social media.
[3:05]People are like, oh, we should have his own account.
[3:07]I'm like, he doesn't even use a phone.
[3:09]It's not happening people, but he is constantly my videos and educating people.
[3:14]He loves to share and speak.
[3:16]It's definitely where I think I get my gift from.
[3:18]So when I was thinking of who's going to write the forward, it made so much sense that
[3:22]it would be for my dad.
[3:23]It's lovely.
[3:24]It just so so nice.
[3:25]Amazing.
[3:26]Tell me about the first time you made a TikTok video.
[3:28]Oh my gosh.
[3:29]Well, my daughter, it was during COVID.
[3:32]I really towards the beginning of COVID was like, I want to be on TikTok.
[3:36]And I was like, if I'm going to let her be on this platform, I know nothing about.
[3:39]I want to be on it too.
[3:40]And I always think of Gary Vee sits in the back of my head, like with all of his
[3:44]advice, chirping, and the best advice he's always like, get on every platform.
[3:48]Just throw again, just throw everything out to the universe.
[3:51]You never know what's going to stick.
[3:52]And so I started sharing actually thinking the first video may have been with my daughter.
[3:57]But it was just some like sweet little, I don't know, silly video.
[4:01]And at the beginning, I had no idea what the heck I was posting or who I was talking to.
[4:06]But I figure that's a new platform that I'm on and nobody follows me there and I could
[4:10]just say whatever I want.
[4:11]And I kind of just started building from there because the more you share, the more you
[4:14]find yourself.
[4:17]So what when you said you found your voice and I'm going to go into the recipes and stuff
[4:20]too.
[4:21]But what were you not writing in the blogs that you were able to share in that medium?
[4:27]Because I know a lot of people are like, oh, should I get on TikTok?
[4:30]What would I even do there?
[4:32]And people are confused, but you just jumped in.
[4:35]And so I'm wondering what it was, like what, what did you feel like you couldn't say
[4:39]before?
[4:40]Or you just didn't say, right, I just, it wasn't that I couldn't because I don't have
[4:44]those rules.
[4:45]I just say whatever I want.
[4:47]But I just wasn't even thinking about it.
[4:49]Like I had been a kosher food blogger.
[4:50]I grew up as a religious Jew.
[4:52]I've always kept kosher.
[4:54]So for me, it was just automatic that as I'm sharing these recipes, they're all kosher.
[4:57]But I wasn't necessarily making my blog about education about who I was.
[5:02]It was more about education of the food.
[5:04]Sometimes the holidays because of course, there's a million Jewish holidays.
[5:08]But it was never focused on the education of being a Jew.
[5:13]It was really more about the food.
[5:15]And with TikTok and people, it was really people asking me questions because I would just
[5:18]kind of say like, okay, I'm turning off my phone for Sabbath.
[5:21]I'll be back in 24 hours for 25 hours.
[5:23]And they were like, what's Sabbath?
[5:24]I was like, what's Sabbath?
[5:25]And they're like, well, what's kosher?
[5:28]What is this food you're eating?
[5:29]And I realized that people don't know.
[5:31]And I grew up in this bubble where I just knew all these things, not realizing that people
[5:35]around me have no idea that we're just kind of a mystery for people.
[5:39]So it became this Q&A style because if I see people asking questions, I desperately want
[5:44]to answer them.
[5:45]Amazing.
[5:46]Your recipes, I was so shocked to find cornflakes as one of the ingredients.
[5:52]Hold on.
[5:53]I have to find my recipe.
[5:54]You have my recipe.
[5:55]No.
[5:56]Which one?
[5:57]This was in, yeah, the noodle kugel, which is like my favorite, my grandmother's, I don't
[6:02]know.
[6:03]We'll have to like go toe to toe with my grandmother's kugel.
[6:05]But anyway, cornflakes, how did you come up with that?
[6:07]Isn't that so funny?
[6:08]Ask my grandma.
[6:09]My grandma Dorothy, you know what?
[6:10]She's 100 years old.
[6:11]Thank God.
[6:12]She's still alive.
[6:13]My sister, actually, she lives in Seattle.
[6:14]So my sister took the book over to her and showed her the recipes special moment to watch.
[6:20]But I really should ask her where she came up with that because putting cornflakes on,
[6:24]I mean, it's so good on everything.
[6:26]And it's not just, it's there, the way that they're crushed up and they come in a box
[6:29]already pre-made.
[6:31]I thought everybody knew about that.
[6:33]That's another thing where people are like, wait, you can buy them pre-made like that.
[6:37]You can make them yourself if you can't find them.
[6:39]But I don't know where she got it from, but it just adds such a fun, extra layer.
[6:44]I mean, it's just carbs on top of carbs, you know?
[6:46]Yeah.
[6:47]Can't go wrong.
[6:48]Can't go wrong.
[6:49]I'm also super excited to try to make, hold on, I have this butternut squash kugel that I've
[6:55]never had before.
[6:56]That is funny because it's so good on Thanksgiving, but it's something that, you know,
[7:00]a lot of juice love to put sweets as a side dish.
[7:03]Like we joke that will put like cake.
[7:05]There's a zucchini bread in my book that's really a cake, but it's really also a side
[7:10]dish.
[7:11]And that's one thing we love to add a little sweet to our meal and not just for dessert.
[7:15]So that squash kugel is definitely something which, you know, you can call it a casserole,
[7:18]you can call it whatever you want, a pudding, but it's so good as a side dish.
[7:22]Just adds a little extra sweetness to the meal.
[7:24]Yeah.
[7:25]And of course you have classic potato latkes in here.
[7:28]Oh yeah.
[7:29]That you add carrots.
[7:30]Okay.
[7:31]So many good things.
[7:32]There's actually, there's another one that's right there with Brussels sprouts and kosher
[7:35]beef bacon in them.
[7:36]Of course people could use it.
[7:37]Oh yeah.
[7:38]And they want, once it's in your kitchen, you make it however you want to.
[7:42]But I've always loved to try new flavors with latkes.
[7:46]It's just shredded potatoes, add whatever the heck you want to it.
[7:49]It's still a latke.
[7:50]So that's why I have my classic same thing with ham and taschen.
[7:53]Mm hmm.
[7:54]And so your rainbow ham and taschen.
[7:56]How beautiful is that?
[7:57]Yeah.
[7:58]Look at these.
[7:59]For people listening, I'm holding a picture of these like amazing rainbow confections.
[8:03]They're just so much fun like it's, and it's one of those things I want people to hold
[8:07]my book and then make it their own.
[8:09]You know, if you've never made Jewish food and you want to follow directions exactly, do
[8:13]your thing.
[8:14]If you like onions and you want to add them to the baracas, add them to the baracas.
[8:17]Like if you are used to the way your grandmother makes a certain recipe and you see
[8:21]mine's a little different, add your twist to it.
[8:23]It's not, recipes don't have to be so black and white, but I love it.
[8:27]It's a starting point for people of that.
[8:29]Okay.
[8:30]You put two orange flavored tea bags in here, homemade honey cake.
[8:34]Mm hmm.
[8:35]That's my grandmother, actually, my softadina who I grew up across the street from.
[8:40]She's no longer with us, but she made the most amazing honey cake and she always added
[8:45]not just oranges.
[8:46]She actually would add an entire orange to her blender with the skin and everything, but
[8:51]I love it.
[8:52]She added the tea bags.
[8:53]It adds such an extra layer of flavor and I happen to love orange tea.
[8:56]So for me, it's always in my house.
[8:58]So if anybody's buying it for their honey cake, just make some tea with it perfect as
[9:02]a side with your honey cake.
[9:04]Mm hmm.
[9:05]Love it.
[9:06]So tell me about how you narrowed it down to these recipes that must have been a challenge.
[9:12]The photography involved.
[9:14]How did that happen?
[9:15]Like how involved are you in all of these decisions?
[9:17]So every single decision from start to end, including the photographer, his name is
[9:22]Schnerre Menacher, and he's he was actually the photographer for a kosher magazine that
[9:27]I love called Flea Shakes.
[9:29]And I asked him, like, have you ever done a book before he'd never done a cookbook?
[9:32]Which to me always gets me so excited.
[9:34]I love to be at the beginning of people's process versus like somebody who's been doing
[9:38]this for a million years.
[9:39]So it was really fun to work with him because I also love his style.
[9:43]And advice that I got from someone is don't work with like a close friend on the photography
[9:48]or you won't be friends.
[9:49]So when it's over.
[9:50]So Schnerre Menacher, I've known for years, but I know that he's just a calm person.
[9:54]And I knew that was going to be really helpful because we did all the photography in my
[9:57]house.
[9:58]We've got everything there.
[9:59]I might.
[10:00]prepared my family for it. We took over the house and it was so much fun to be there for the
[10:04]whole process and really like being involved in every single part of it including of course
[10:09]picking every single recipe which was tough because I could probably list like two,
[10:14]three hundred recipes and they were like let's get to 110. Over 100 was the goal and I just like
[10:19]had to pull back and then of course we tested some recipes that didn't make it in as well
[10:23]for book two. Those will be for book two when I have more time to test them but I wanted everything
[10:28]to feel like home to me. You know so it's not just like pushing myself because at the beginning
[10:33]I was like why I need to have a type of Jewish food from every background. I've never really made
[10:37]those food. I grew up in an Ashkenazi community with a huge Greek and Turkish community around me
[10:43]my best friends were Greek and Turkish. So it's a mix of those different types of food but I didn't
[10:47]grow up eating Syrian food. I wanted to put it I was like oh I'm gonna put this in that book and that
[10:52]and I was like you know what if I put those in and I've never even had made them before it's not gonna
[10:57]feel like it's my book. And I feel like the stories every every recipe has a personal story in it
[11:04]and that's something that I know people are really connecting to it. It feels like it's their story
[11:08]even though it's my story interesting. And how did it go or have you experienced any
[11:15]semitism along the way of getting the book published? Are you worried about coming out with this
[11:20]book and the current landscape? So definitely worry about you know the I say more like the feedback
[11:27]I'll get like on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and good reads and things like that because they just
[11:31]when they go hard they go extra hard. The one positive it will be if they come hard will come
[11:36]harder will come in with the positive. It's the anti-semitism has been happening since I started
[11:41]sharing on TikTok. It's actually one of the reasons that I started sharing even more about Judaism
[11:46]because I was answering people's questions and people would sometimes say I didn't realize
[11:49]anti-semitism still exists. I thought it stopped when the Holocaust ended. I'm like oh we've
[11:55]got a lot to talk about. So no matter what else I talk about with Judaism and I really try and keep
[11:59]things light and positive. It feels very important for me to always talk about anti-semitism especially
[12:05]since October 7th since they you know quadrupled. I mean I don't even know what number to say
[12:10]since then that I don't worry about it with my book. I actually feel like my book is fighting anti-semitism
[12:18]my entire account through educating people about Judaism. It's fighting anti-semitism even though
[12:22]doesn't like say on the book. Each of you ish fighting anti-semitism it just does just by existing.
[12:28]Agree. Well part of this is it's about the culture it's who we are as a people what we eat like
[12:35]food is so essential to that identity and if how can you understand what you hate if you don't
[12:42]even know what it is. I mean so much of the hate in the world really does come from a place of
[12:47]ignorance. It doesn't say I'm not saying to a person you're ignorant but somebody just believes
[12:53]every single anti-semitic trope. The reality is that they just don't know anything about Jews so
[12:58]it's teaching them a little bit about us is is helping them the next time they hear something
[13:03]negative and they go you know that doesn't sound right because I learned this from this person.
[13:07]I learned this from Melinda or this other Jewish tech to talk or educate her it does make a huge
[13:12]difference. Yes 100%. Wait what is this second cookbook you're working on? Oh I mean I'm not
[13:18]working on it yet although I have the whole thing in my mind. I already told my publishers like when
[13:22]you're ready let's do it so I do have an idea for a second book really still following in the
[13:28]Jewish food realm but you know that'll come out when it's ready. What are you making today?
[13:35]What am I making today? I'll go why am I going to go to Trader Joe's today? You know part of writing
[13:40]this book and really putting it out right now has been me focused in my home. I did go fishing
[13:45]a few weeks ago to kind of have that like pre vacation or pre book coming out kind of vacation
[13:50]so I haven't been grocery shopping in a while so before I even make anything I'm going to go get
[13:55]inspired in Trader Joe's. What is the community of Jewish foodies like do you know all the other
[14:04]cookbook authors like Jake Cohen and all those people like or are you very siloed or like what is
[14:10]a Dean assessment like what is what's the what's the behind the scenes? Oh my gosh well for some
[14:15]Adina was a huge supporter and meant her for me she's thanked in the book as well she's been
[14:20]she is the biggest supporter like I'm just blown away by how how generous she is with sharing
[14:26]information and helping along with the process even from like how do I want to book my events
[14:31]when I'm planning to promote my book like everything along with here like Adina I need
[14:34]some help she's like get on the phone let's do it I know Jake I actually have not met Jake in person
[14:38]yet so that'll be really fun when we get to meet I don't know every single Jewish author we have a
[14:43]huge community of food bloggers being someone in the field for so long I used to actually plan a
[14:50]conference for Jewish bloggers so I've been connected with a lot of people at so many different
[14:56]levels many of them are authors and many of them just you know how their food blogs or have their
[15:00]social media and we just love to support each other like I did change for this but I was wearing
[15:05]a shirt before it said we let you know we rise by lifting each other it was just too hot I was in
[15:09]a sweatshirt but I love I love that because that's actually one of my favorite parts about being in
[15:14]this world is that we all support each other not everybody you know there's there's always people
[15:20]don't know each other but for the most part we really aren't in it to help each other at least
[15:24]that's one of my favorite things about it and did you have any food training like what how did you
[15:30]learn to be such a good cook? Zero training whatsoever that's why I am not a chef I love my mom's
[15:35]like Melinda's chef I'm like no I'm really not I do have my my book out now so I'm published which
[15:40]is really really cool to even say that but with my food blog it was just testing recipes constantly
[15:46]growing up I actually never cooked I would watch my grandmother in the kitchen I would watch my mom
[15:51]I sat with my little easy bake oven on the counter I would like bake brownies that's about as far
[15:55]it went my mom when she toast my bread is still taste better so if I'm home in Seattle I'm like mom
[16:01]Lee toast the bagel for me it tastes so good but I never actually when I was diagnosed I have
[16:06]type 1 diabetes and I was diagnosed in college and that's when I really started to cook and realize
[16:11]how much fun it is well I mean my mom makes cinnamon toast that is the weight of my heart
[16:20]yum I try to make it for my kids and it just doesn't taste the same it never does my nephew was
[16:26]just having toast I'm he was with my parents I'm like did you have grandma Shelley butter the toast
[16:30]for you he's like no I didn't myself I'm like oh it was as good yeah and are you a big reader of
[16:38]like fiction memoir like how do you what's your relationship to all types of books? Well I would say
[16:44]that I am a fantasy reader hmm are there vampires are there witches to things have wings the
[16:50]answer is yes I will read it and I'll read like YA and new adults so I love romance to see
[16:55]very much in my romance to see era right now so every single Saturday night on Instagram I actually
[17:00]come on and I tell people you know here's what I read on Chavez because it's literally all I do
[17:04]I shut off my phone for 25 hours and I eat and I sleep and I read and people know like don't bother
[17:10]Melinda don't even invite her over she just wants to read but yeah I'm very much in the fantasy
[17:15]era dragons as well wolves all that kind of stuff I went to the twoy Sutherland wings of fire
[17:21]conference with my kids oh you ever read the wings of fire oh my god not yet I think yet because
[17:27]they all get to me eventually and I'm I'm a methodical writer I love to like take my time with the
[17:32]book and I it's like I'm watching a movie when I'm reading it so when they really like describe
[17:37]everything for me I take my time with it love them any exciting stops on this book tour or things
[17:44]you're really looking forward to that the book has made possible oh my gosh well first of all even
[17:49]just going back to Seattle and going to the JCC which is where I grew up going to and being able
[17:54]to actually speak there and and speak to the whole community I'm really excited about that we're
[18:00]kind of in the process of figuring out like where I'm going right now I'm not I do love to travel
[18:04]I don't like want to bounce from city to city every single week I love being home with my family
[18:09]so they're like mom go there they're so happy for me to like leave and go on tour and have fun
[18:15]but I think being in Seattle is going to be really special so awesome well I just love how this
[18:22]evolved sort of organically and how just by tapping into who you really are and your community you've
[18:28]built yet another community it's it's it's a a master class it just honing in on the things that
[18:36]you love to do and letting others be part of that joy and then it's infectious I hope that people
[18:43]see that on and hope that people are inspired by it to do it themselves because I want the
[18:48]community to grow and it's not necessarily saying everybody needs to write a book but it's if you're
[18:52]not on TikTok or Instagram if you're not using your voice use it and if you don't know what to talk
[18:56]about neither do I my original videos which are still up somewhere are horrendous but like and you
[19:02]know what my original photos for my food blog are all still on my website and they are really
[19:08]really bad but they led to I'm really proud of I mean I didn't take the photos in this book and
[19:13]I'm really proud when I do take my own photos of how they look but it took a long time to figure
[19:18]out but you're only going to figure it out if you start putting yourself out there and sounding
[19:23]like really dumb at the beginning and maybe nobody's watching at the beginning but with that
[19:27]you'll find your voice you just have to not be afraid to look silly for a little while
[19:32]love it well I'm so excited for you Melinda each Jewish congratulations thank you Zibi okay
[19:38]thank you for listening to totally booked with Zibi formerly momstone have time to read books
[19:43]if you loved the show tell a friend leave a review follow me on instagram at Zibi Owens
[19:49]and spread the word thanks so much oh and bye the books