Interview with Jake Cohen
Interview with Jake Cohen
NYT Bestselling Author Jake Cohen Modernizes Jewish Cuisine
“I'm just continuing tradition by cooking Jewish food through the lens of NYC with a mashup of my Ashenazi heritage with my husband's Mizrahi background!”
Jake Cohen is a NYT Bestselling cookbook author and nice Jewish boy from NYC. After working in some of NYC’s best restaurants and test kitchens, he wrote his first book, Jew-ish, about his love of modern Jewish cooking and baking. Jake and his recipes have been featured on Food Network, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appetit, Food52, and more, as well as Forbes, making the 30 Under 30 List in 2022 for Food & Drink. When he’s not posting challah-braiding videos and recipes on his Instagram and TikTok (@jakecohen), he’s eating around NYC with his husband Alex.
1. Your New York Times bestselling cookbook Jewish-ish reinvents traditional Jewish dishes and modernizes them with various cultures and traditions. How did you come up with the idea for creating this type of cookbook?
It’s a natural extension of my life which isn't foreign to the Jewish world at large. As the Diaspora has dispersed our culinary traditions have adapted and picked up bits and pieces from the places we settled. I'm just continuing tradition by cooking Jewish food through the lens of NYC with a mashup of my Ashenazi heritage with my husband's Mizrahi background!
2. You are a board member of OneTable, a non-profit organization that allows young Jewish people to experience and enjoy a Shabbat meal. What is the significance of experiencing this traditional meal?
Shabbat is life! It's the most powerful tradition that I didn't grow up with. My husband and I decided as adults to begin hosting Shabbat as an act of self-care that allows us to disconnect, recharge, and build meaningful moments with our community. For many aspects of Judaism, secular Jews struggle to visualize what rituals can look like when made to fit our people’s lives in whatever form that means. I'm beyond proud to be part of OneTable's work in helping young Jews discover and bring a sustainable Shabbat practice into their homes.
3. As a total immersion culinary institute, the GCI is surrounded by over 80 ethnicities and cultures that our students will have the opportunity to experience. In what ways does this benefit a culinary student?
It means everything to see food through another lens. At the end of the day, so many techniques and ingredients overlap. Getting a sense of how different cultures tackle parallel dishes or techniques creates a deeper understanding of cooking while opening minds to what is possible in the kitchen.
4. If you could add one new field/ subject to the curriculum of a culinary institute, what would it be?
Agriculture/Farming/Raising animals. Deeper understanding of where our food comes from is super crucial. I believe it should be included in non-culinary education, so it definitely NEEDS to be part of a culinary institute.
5. What’s a fun culinary fact about you?
My go-to bagel order is tuna fish on a cinnamon-raisin bagel, and I'm obsessed.