Authors and Contributors

Carol Ungar

Phyllis Koegel

Over the past sixteen years, Koegel has brought in over 2,000 new brands and over 250,000 new products, among them Gatorade, Sambazon, Jelly Belly jelly beans, and Tootsie Roll.

Memorable Loaves for the High Holidays

How did our shtetl foremothers make their Rosh Hashanah meals memorable?

From Homemade to Store-bought: the Evolving Passover Diet

With supermarket shelves bulging with Passover muffins, Passover granola and even Passover breadsticks, it’s hard to grasp that for much of history, this holiday’s fare was limited to the simple…

The “Hole” Truth About Sufganiyot

There is an Israeli folk tale about how the sufganiya, the ubiquitous Chanukah doughnut, got its name.

The Little-Known Story Behind the Latke

According to the late food historian Gil Marks, the first latkes, called kartoffelpfannkuchen, were fashioned from coarse potatoes fried in schmaltz (chicken fat).

Hold the Knaidlach

Sure, many families observe the minhag of not eating gebrokts on Pesach, but why?

Non-Gebrokts Food: The Newest Trend

What’s Behind the Explosion in Non-Gebrokts Products for Pesach? In recent years, non-gebrokts food has become a major trend. “People are noticing that matzah meal, a long-standing Pesach baking staple,…

Holding God’s Hand

For nearly a year now, Simcha Esther (Shari) Gershan has been looking the Angel of Death in the eye and smiling back at him. She’s also been telling the world…