Social media plays an ever-increasing role in our lives, especially in this unique moment while we are home and looking to connect with people in safe ways. Now is a great time to join cooking and baking groups online, either to connect with others, find new food projects, or a little bit of both. I love seeing what other people are cooking and discovering variations on dishes. It gives me inspiration when I am in a cooking rut, and I’ve formed real-life friendships from some of these groups. Come for the food, stay for the connections with people near and far.
1. Jewish Food x What Jew Wanna Eat
When Amy Kritzer Becker of Modern Tribe started this group in 2014, it was sort of on a whim — a place to share some of her own recipes and engage more online. But today the group has over 27,000 members from all around the world sharing drool-worthy photos of Jewish foods, recipes, and other cooking inspiration.
More than just the food, Jewish Food x What Jew Wanna Eat has become a real community. “Recently someone posted a recipe she had made in honor of her mother who had recently passed and got hundreds of comments of sympathy and support. Another person asked for Jewish recipe ideas related to her new illness-related diet and got tons of replies. It’s really become this supportive and helpful community,” Amy shared with me.
Whether its the food or the people, you’re sure to be inspired.
2. The Nosher: Jewish Cooking & Baking Group
Well, I couldn’t talk about Facebook groups without mentioning our own group, The Nosher’s Jewish Cooking & Baking Group. Come join us to share cooking tips, holiday ideas, challah pics, or your grandma’s favorite kugel recipe. You might even end up mentioned in one of our articles! We will also be sharing information about our monthly cook-along classes and other special food events being hosted by The Hub. Come join us!
3. Kosher Trader Joes
Some say this group has a “cult following,” and they aren’t wrong. If you love Trader Joe’s like we do, you will adore this group, which was started by Shelley Serber in 2015. With over 50,000 members from all over North America, it is your go-to for all information on kosher-certified products carried by Trader Joe’s. But it’s so much more than that.
It has really become a community. Shelley shared recently, “When someone posts about a simcha that they used Trader Joe’s products — flowers for centerpieces, babka for a kiddush, the ‘Mazel Tov!’ comments are truly heartwarming.” Members share recipes using all kinds of TJ’s ingredients, and they are always up on the newest Jewish and kosher products carried at stores across the U.S.
4. Sephardic Recipe Swap
While most spaces around Jewish food in the U.S. are Ashkenazi-centric, you won’t find any matzah ball soup or knishes over here. Sephardic Recipe Swap focuses a lot on just that: recipe sharing. And it’s delightful and inspiring to see so many variations on meatballs, kubeh soup, stuffed vegetables, salads, and so much more from its more than 11,000 members.
5. Modern Jewish Baker Challenge
This Jewish baking-focused group was started at the height of pandemic lockdown in 2020 by Aliza Herman Plotkin of Houston, TX. It began as a baking exercise, choosing one recipe from my cookbook Modern Jewish Baker and making it all together. Similar to other Facebook groups mentioned above, the community quickly and organically grew at a time when people were looking to connect. Now at almost 2,000 members, the baking challenges continue, and people ask questions to troubleshoot all kinds of recipes, sharing challah tips and braiding ideas, too. But the best part of the group? The carb-positive community.
