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.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Beejhy Barhany, the founding owner and executive chef of Tsion Cafe, an Ethiopian and Israeli restaurant in New York.

“Ethiopian Jewish food is just a little bit of everything,” Barhany explains. “It’s an array of an abundance of flavors … packed with nutrients.”

Her new cookbook, “Gursha” is a celebration of Ethiopian Jewish (Beta Israel) cuisine. It features more than 100 recipes, along with stories and traditions, from the places she has lived: Ethiopia, Sudan, Israel, and Harlem. The recipes in “Gursha,” which is is loosely translated as “mouthful” or “the act of feeding one another,” range from traditional dishes (Doro Wot, Shakshuka, Legamat [Sudanese doughnuts]) to ones that Barhany created (Berbere Fried Fish, Injera Fish Taco, Queen of Sheba Chocolate Cardamom Cake).

“I encompass a lot of heritages and cultures and what have you, and that is actually showcased on the menu [and] in the cookbook,” she says.

Beejhy Barhany talks about her background, Ethiopian Jewish cuisine - including some recipes, and the power of food from different cultures. She also shares her recipe for Ethiopian Matzah, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Barhany believes food is a wonderful tool to bring people together, as well as to engage and learn about each other’s cultures.

“Once you are open to tasting a particular group of flavors and dishes, I think you will have a better understanding [of one another],” she says. “I would say my offering is to have food as a medium of peace, harmony, and understanding and respect.”

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

On the 100th episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Sean Kanan, author, actor, Emmy-award winning producer, and founder of Bad Boy Hot Sauce.

Kanan, who has portrayed Deacon Sharpe on CBS’s “The Bold and the Beautiful” since 2000, got his Hollywood break playing bad-boy Mike Barnes in “Karate Kid III.” He reprised this role on the fifth and sixth seasons of “Cobra Kai” on Netflix.

“Martial arts has always been an important part of my life since I was probably about 14, 15 years old,” Kanan says. “The tenets of martial arts are something that I try to embody every day: courage, honesty, humility. … I look at my life as being very holistic and everything that I do, even though it may seem like they're very different pursuits, they're all interconnected.”

His latest books are the series: “Way of the Cobra,” “Welcome to the Kumite” and “Way of the Cobra Couples,” co-written by his wife, Michele. His new food venture, Bad Boy Hot Sauce - flavors are Cobra Venom, Mango Madness and Red Pepper Punch - are also on-brand.

“Bad boy Mike Barnes, bad boy karate, Bad Boy Hot Sauce,” he said. “It seemed like there was a good synergy there, and it's been really fun.”

Kanan talks about his food philosophies and his favorite Jewish foods, Bad Boy Hot Sauce, martial arts, and living a life of humility and gratitude. He also shares a pasta recipe - pappardelle gemelle - from “The Modern Gentleman: Cooking and Entertaining with Sean Kanan,” along with the backstory. Get the recipe at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

“You break bread with somebody and have a great meal, [then] authenticity tends to come out: walls get dropped, commonalities get brought to the forefront,” he says. “I've always recognized that food has that power.”

Learn more about Sean Kanan, at SeanKanan.actor and BadBoyEats.com. Follow @sean.kanan on Instagram. Watch Sean Kanan’s TEDx on how to be the hero of your own story.

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 nutrition coach and naturopath Remi Haik.

Haik grew up in Israel, where the kitchen was the most loving room in the house.

“It's a sort of love language to feed our loved ones,” she says. “We share this experience, [and] we also are giving and receiving [food].”

One of her favorite recipes is energy tahini and dates balls. They're simple to make, give you a burst of energy when you need it, and most importantly remind her of home.

“Dates, for example, are a very well known food in the Middle East,” she says. “Whenever I eat dates [and also hummus] … I feel connected to that identity.”

Haik believes that how food makes you feel is as important as the act of eating.

“There’s this idea of if I do not eat healthy 100% of the time, I am not healthy; it’s very much an all-or-nothing mentality,” Haik explains. That’s not the case. If you focus on how you are feeling as you eat one meal a week, you can let your healthy eating habits grow from there.

Since self-care is another key to a healthy life, Haik also suggests finding one or two things to do each day that make you feel rejuvenated. And, if you feel stressed during the day, the easiest way to do a quick reset is to breathe.

“Literally stop for three seconds,” she says. “If you want, you can put one hand on your chest - on your heart - [and] one hand on your stomach [then] inhale, exhale.”

Doing this, even for a few seconds, reduces your stress hormones. You will immediately start feeling calmer.

Remi Haik shares her personal healthy eating journey and tips for self care, along with the recipe for her energy tahini and dates balls, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Learn more at RemiHaik.com and follow @remihaik on Instagram. 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 Aliza J. Sokolow, author of “This is What I Eat: Fun Activities for Mindful Eating.”

Sokolow, who is a private chef, food stylist and photographer, loves the change of seasons … and the fruits and vegetables that go with it.

“My eating and cooking and shopping is very seasonal,” Sokolow says. “Luckily in California we have microclimate, so we get the best of everything all year round.”

For Sokolow, the simplest thing is to go to the market and look around. Find a few things that look good, sample and eat them. When you buy great ingredients, you do not need to do a lot to your food.

One of her go-to farmers market recipes is a breakfast taco, made with local ingredients: tortillas (from local grain), eggs, avocado and limes. Sometimes she’ll buy salsa at the market or make it herself.

Sokolow wrote “This is What I Eat” as a way to get kids excited about healthy eating and cooking. The book is filled with activities - regrowing produce, food scavenger hunts - designed to make fruits and vegetables fun! Sokolow wants kids to build curiosity about produce through the lens of color, shapes, sizes and seasons.

“Cooking is daunting for many people, but it's really just washing and cutting things [and] not everything needs to be cooked; certain things you can eat raw,” she explains. “I just want to encourage eating things that you find at the farmers market or stuff that doesn't have a nutrition label, because it's [usually] pretty delicious; and if it's not, add a little bit of salt to it and it'll probably bring out the flavors.”

Sokolow talks about her love of produce - and what started it, some of her favorite spring recipes, and ways to have fun at farmers markets. She also shares her fail-proof vegetable puree recipe at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Learn more at SokolowPhoto.com, @alizajsokolow on Instagram, check out her book “This is What I Eat,” as well as the This Is What I Eat Substack.

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 Ben and Max Berkowitz aka the Berkowitz Brothers. The award-winning producing and writing duo (NotABillionaire.com) co-wrote the graphic novel, “The Writer,” along with Josh Gad.

“The Writer,” illustrated by Marvel and DC Comics legend Ariel Olivetti (who they pitched via Instagram DM), is a four-issue series, to be released in trade paperback on April 22. The supernatural adventure comic - in the vein of an Indiana Jones story - follows Stan Siegel, a comic book writer whose life unravels when the fantastical worlds that he writes about start bleeding into reality.

“We also added a lot of our family stories into this as well,” Max explains. “We put our mom into the story; it's literally Josh Gad's character's mom.”

Adds Ben, “Our mother's character, Liz, in the book, is constantly pushing food on the characters.”

Ben and Max clearly have strong ties to food.

“ Our family, we always talk about the next meal, even when we're eating a meal,” Max says. “It's always on our mind.”

“For us, food has always been the connector, bringing people from walks of life [together],” Ben says. “When our dad helped build out the family restaurant business … it was made to bring people [together] to enjoy just good, simple fish dishes.”

Whether your family business is fish or creating content, you need to navigate what's most important for work and your home life.

“At the end of the day, what kind of solved most any argument was a great meal,” Ben says. “If anything, it stops people from talking because their mouths were too full of food.”

The Berkowitz Bros talk about how “The Writer” came together, their family food legacy, bagel and other eating habits, and more. They also share their father’s famous whitefish salad recipe, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Check out NABvid.com and follow @BerkowitzBros and @TheWriterComic on Instagram. For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.