On the 300th anniversary of the Vilna Gaon, the intellectual and spiritual leader of one of the most influential Jewish communities in history, chefs Jeffrey Yoskowitz (Gefilteria, Brooklyn, The Gefilte Manifesto cookbook, and Co-Executive Producer, The Great Big Jewish Food Festival) and Nida Degutiene (A Taste of Israel: From classic Litvak to modern Israeli) join us to discuss Lithuanian-Jewish cuisine and the legacy of “Jewish” culture and food in Lithuania today. Explore the foods that travelled with members of the Lithuanian community to new lands in Israel, the United States, South Africa, and beyond. Participants will receive a few recipes to make at home! Moderated by Gabriella Gershenson.
In partnership with the Lithuanian Culture Institute, Consulate General of the Republic of Lithuania in New York, and The Gefilteria.
Jeffrey's a Brooklyn-based food entrepreneur, creative producer, and thought leader at the intersection of food, culture and business. He's also a Jewish food expert and a devotee to all things fermentation. As co-founder of The Gefilteria, he produces a cutting edge artisanal gefilte fish and culinary events, presents lectures and cooking demos around the world, and creates unique content related to Jewish food. Jeffrey co-authored the cookbook The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, which was named a National Jewish Book Award finalist and a top book of the year in USA Today, Epicurious, Newsday, etc. The book sparked a national conversation about the legacy of eastern European Jewish food traditions. In May, 2020, Jeffrey served as co-executive producer of The Great Big Jewish Food Fest, a 10-day virtual food festival that raised over $150,000 for COVID-19 relief efforts. Jeff serves as the chef and scholar-in-residence for the innovative culinary heritage tour through eastern Europe he developed in conjunction with Taube Heritage Tours and the award-winning POLIN museum (next tour date is TBD).
Nida Degutiene is an experienced businesswoman, devoted food blogger, writer and freelance journalist. Hailing from Lithuania, she arrived in Israel in 2009 as the wife of the Lithuanian Ambassador to Israeland South Africa and immediately fell in love with Jewish food, culture and traditions. Once she discovered that many nostalgic dishes from her childhood are actually Jewish culinary heritage, blended over centuries into Lithuanian cuisine, she begain to share this knowledge and her experience of living in Israel on her blog (www.nidoreceptai.lt). She currently has 30 000 unique followers and boasts more than 40 000 visits per month. Over the past five years Nida has written over 300 articles covering lifestyle, travel, culinary arts, culture and business for Israeli and Lithuanian newspapers and magazines, and has her own column in Lithuania’s leading monthly lifestyle magazine. In 2014 Nida published her first cookbook, A Taste of Israel in Lithuanian and it reached the Top-10 seller list in that country.
Gabriella Gershenson is a James Beard Award-nominated food journalist based in New York City. She has been an editor at Saveur Magazine, Rachael Ray Every Day, and Time Out New York, and is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal. Her work has been published In The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Tablet, Food & Wine Magazine and many other publications. She is an editor of the recently published books The 100 Most Jewish Foods (Artisan) and the IACP Award-nominated Hummus (Magica), and moderates a series of food talks at Symphony Space and Temple Emanuel's Streicker Center. She has been featured on the Food Network's 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and has made multiple appearances on TV and radio. She is a food writing instructor at NYU Steinhardt’s graduate program in Food Studies.