On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Sarah Nathan, founder of NOOISH, a modern Jewish comfort food brand. Nathan has always been a huge fan of soup. Matzo ball soup in particular is well-known and beloved, so it’s no wonder instant matzo ball soup is NOOISH’s first product.

“[With soup] you get this melding of flavors and that warmth in your heart,” Nathan explains. “We call it a hug in a cup for a reason.”

NOOISH’s matzo ball soup, which uses clean, high-end ingredients, is similar in format to Instant Ramen. “Just add water and microwave for two and a half minutes, and you get a really delicious steaming fresh bowl of matzo ball soup,” she says.

And even though you get instant gratification with this matzo ball soup, it still counts.

“I get comments online all the time: ‘My grandmother would be turning over in her grave; if you're not making it from scratch, it's not real,’” Nathan explains. “Well, I'm making it from scratch, so you don't have to.”

The brand, however, is about more than soup. NOOISH’s mission is to elevate and make Jewish food accessible to everyone.

Nathan has been in the culinary space for a while, and was a producer on the Great Big Jewish Food Fest at the beginning of the pandemic. During that time, she noticed how everyone was seeking comfort and connecting through food. Then, after the pandemic, Nathan noticed a gap. Others were still elevating their own culture's food, but nobody was really doing that for Jewish food, outside of the kosher aisle.

And now there is!

Nathan shares the NOOISH - and her own - food origin stories, her love of Jewish comfort food, and the recipe for one of her favorites: New York Shuk’s Jerusalem latke, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Learn more at NooishFoods.com and follow @NooishFoods on Instagram and YouTube. For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Hannah Sattler, owner of Hannah's Kitchen, a Jewish-focused catering business and cafe in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sattler prides herself on nourishing the soul, preserving tradition and creating meaningful connections through food.

While Sattler always loved food and cooking, she started off as an engineering major, ended up in the financial industry (“I’m a numbers cruncher”), and then took time off to be a stay-at-home mom to her three daughters. She ended up running her synagogue’s kitchen, starting as a volunteer, before being hired as their kitchen manager.

About 10 years ago, when her life went through some changes, Sattler started Hannah’s Kitchen.

“I've always been really organized and [that applies] especially in the catering world,” she explains. “You really need to not just know food, but how to organize and delegate.”

It may have taken a while to get to her destiny, but she ended up in the right place.

Hannah Sattler talks about her childhood food memories and career journey. She also shares tips for not overwhelming yourself when cooking, whether it’s for the family or a larger occasion, as well as her grandmother’s recipe for parve strawberry ice cream, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

“Not everything, culinarily, has to be complicated,” Sattler says. “You can make some easy meals and [then have] quality time with your family.”

Learn more at HannahsKitchenmke.com and follow HannahsKitchenMke on Facebook and @Han_kit_mke on Instagram.

For more from Taste Buds, go to TasteBudswithDeb.com, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with filmmaker, Accidental Talmudist and longtime “Jewish Journal” contributor Salvador Litvak. Litvak’s Passover classic, “When Do We Eat?” stars Max Greenfield, Ben Feldman, Shiri Appleby, Lesley Ann Warren, Michael Lerner, and Jack Klugman. Litvak directed the film that he co-wrote with his wife and partner, Nina Davidovich Litvak.

The Litvaks’ second movie was “Saving Lincoln.” Their new film “Guns & Moses” is out this summer.

“The perennial fifth question of the Passover Seder is, ‘When do we eat?’” Litvak, who is also the author of “Let My People Laugh: Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time,” says. “There's all these holiday movies… but there was no Passover movie.”

When the Litvaks made “When Do We Eat?” they were connected to Judaism, but not yet Orthodox.

“The movie's probably a little bit edgier than we would make it today,” Litvak says. “One of the main plot points is that one of the kids doses his dad with a strong hallucinogen at the Passover seder, but also the movie contains wonderful spiritual teachings.”

He adds, “[Our dream: that] it would become the Jewish, ‘It's a Wonderful Life,’ the movie that people watch every year.”

Salvador Litvak shares the backstories behind “When Do We Eat?” and his new Jewish joke book. the connections between Judaism and food, and his recipe for Sal-mon, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts. He also talks about creating The Accidental Talmudist, how that community embraced his Passover classic film aka “My Big Fat Jewish Seder.”

“My mom always used to say there's two kinds of people: those who get into conversations in the checkout line at the supermarket and those who don't,” Litvak says. “We are [the first] kind.”

Learn more at SalvadorLitvak.com, AccidentalTalmudist.org, and GunsandMosesMovie.com. Check out Salvador’s new book, “Let My People Laugh: Greatest Jewish Jokes of All Time.”

For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.