‘It’s A Beautiful Way To Unite Generations’

Gail Simmons with cookbook author Bonnie Stern and Stern’s daughter, Anna Rupert, who demonstrated their challah recipe.

On the programming, Jewish Food Society founder Naama Shefi tells Delish, “Next to the innovation and more modern take on food, it was important for us to highlight tradition. That’s the DNA of what the Jewish Food Society does: We’re building the largest archive of family recipes and the histories around them.”

Delish spoke to Simmons after the event about her own family recipes and how she’s making new traditions with her kids at home.

“I still make so many recipes that my mother made and that her mother made, and now I make with my daughter and my son. It’s a beautiful way to unite generations. And it’s a great way to preserve a sense of community and our culture. The culture changes generation to generation, but food is a way to preserve so many of the traditions,” she tells us.

“I think my children really have a sense of who we are and the flavors that we grew up on and now have integrated into their own lives,” Simmons says. “And I love that they don’t just want to eat the food, but they want to be part of the process. Challah making and matzo ball making, so many of the things that I did with my parents growing up, they now do with me. I find that the more we do it around them and the more they see it, the more they want to be involved. I think that’s the way to integrate them gently into understanding the importance of these foods.”