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Interview With Joan
Kekst Since 1980, Joan has been the food writer for weekly newspaper The Cleveland Jewish News, and freelance for the Forward, The Cleveland Plain Dealer and other papers related to Jewish holidays. She frequently gives Jewish food lectures/demonstrations for Cleveland institutions and local TV.
Responding to current outreach classes for young families, she assembled basic Jewish law, history and kosher recipes to accompany her second book, Aff Simchas - At Celebrations of Jewish Life. Focused on young families or those new to Judaism, Aff Simchas provides contemporary cultural and pragmatic practices to initiate or enhance daily Jewish life. She finds it continually important to impart Judaism’s rich culture to the next generation. Her favorite occupation, after serving on many community committees, is cooking for her husband, five children, their spouses and her eight grandchildren on Sabbath, at Passover, holidays and Aff Simchas. How did you get your start as a writer? How did I get started? I feel that I am still starting! Each experience is new.As a youngster, I spent time in my grandmother’s kitchen and did most of the kitchen duties at home. After my marriage, I learned to keep a kosher kitchen. I was determined kosher food could be tasty and look better than my grandmother’s. To make occasions special for our five children, our table became important: at birthday parties, Friday night dinners, Jewish holidays and graduations. When I returned to school, my girls and some of their friends urged me to switch from an English major to Home Ec. because they all loved my tiny kitchen! In my kitchen, they made cookies for the obligatory bake sales - and chatted! I loved their conversations! Our kids and their friends broadcast that I was good in the kitchen. They told me to apply when the CJN food writer made Aliyah; I got the job and still love it. Writing the recipes and food stories naturally followed. You've been writing a food column for the Cleveland Jewish News for 20 years. That's a long time! Don't you ever run out of material? Getting stale is something I worry over. Yet, each time I teach a
class, I find new material. Students of all ages once again desire to cook at
home. Whether they now have young families, or their parents live far away, the
kids are growing up, or they’ve became grandparents, they want to enter or
return to their kitchen for that special home-made flavor. And a myriad of
questions surface – many barely relate to food! People inquire about Jewish
holiday history and rational, ‘Jewish’ food for life cycle events, how to
convert recipes to kosher or low fat cooking, or how to create a kosher kitchen
– this always gives me new material! I follow food trends and spend a lot of
time testing converted recipes. Lately, people seek old world recipes, for which
I search. Food and Judaism are really entwined – never boring to me. I am
careful to stay within Jewish traditions, and still use current trends. I wrote Passover Cookery for several of the above reasons, and
especially for those new to Judaism or making their first Passover for their
families. The holiday organization is difficult enough, let along the confusion
and fear of the unknown to people doing it on their own for the first time. Our
family has a long history of Passover celebrations. I asked my daughters and
daughter-in-law if they could do it alone. "NO," was the emphatic
answer, "not all of it." How unfair we are to our own kids, let alone
those who sincerely want to enter the wonderful world of Jewish life! So much
Jewish culture emanates from the kitchen. "Mom, write it down,"
pleaded my daughter Amy. I did. One comment I loved hearing was from two
sisters-in-law who celebrate together. They both used the book and told me that
it was the calmest, best-organized holiday their families had ever had. I get a lot of ideas from current food magazines. When I convert recipes to
remain within the dietary laws, I may take a bit of license and consider them
mine. Good kosher cookbooks are plentiful and it’s really hard to be
absolutely original! Besides, who can be an expert at every food facet? I try to
be efficient, not pretentious or contrived with food, so ultimately most recipes
echo my kitchen methods. Friends and family members contribute numerous recipes
and I always try to give credit for their recipes. I can’t even remember the
source of many recipes, so I guess by now, I can claim them. Essentially, there
are personal parts to most of my recipes, but it would be wrong to say they are
all mine. In Passover Cookery, I included a bit of family history; the meaning
of the special items on the Seder table, which foods are kosher for Passover and
which are not, and a ‘Countdown to Passover’-- a timetable for the endless
chores that a Passover celebration requires and a lesson on beating egg whites,
a prime requisite for Passover baking. Comments about these inclusions stated
that they were very helpful and some of the Seder procedures made sense. Five Star Publications (my publisher) also provided publicity and marketing.
Linda Radke was outstanding at getting the word out to Jewish newspapers,
magazines, newspapers and radio stations who wanted segments on the holiday. She
received quotes from several well-known authors and used them widely as well as
her excellent web site. The week the book was released, my sister arranged an
afternoon open house for me in Boulder, C.O., and a book signing at her
synagogue. Her personal touch was enormously successful. It confirmed to me that
there are many communities starved for a serious approach to Jewish observances,
outside of orthodoxy. Locally, I taught five Passover workshops, did several
major book signings and friends helped spread the word! Passover embodies so much Judaism, it can’t be separated from being a Jew.
The book of Exodus conveys a major portion of Jewish history. We need to know
and identify with it, to experience our origins. Abraham may have been the first
Jew, but I feel Judaism and Israel were born in Exodus. Besides, what better way
for a family to acknowledge who and what they are, than through their history at
the table? It is a total family experience that puts no personal emotional
pressure on family members – the whole family is focused on itself as a family
in Jewish history. It’s quite awesome that we each become part of the
continuum of Jewish history at the Passover Seder. Such an exciting experience. It was luck! I liked Linda Radke when we spoke
on the phone. We signed a contract by fax. With just months before the book had
to appear for Passover, there was a lot of pressure. Linda remained positive and
I grew to love her as we worked together – electronically! I wish each person
could have someone as devoted to them as I felt I was with my publisher. Much of
the success of Passover Cookery belongs to Linda, her staff and the
choice of her graphics artist. I’m not sure what I’ll do when we meet –
probably give her a big hug – for about a week. The time frame and the importance of the publisher/publicist. There are no small elements to publishing a book. From research to layout, recipes writing and proof-reading - nothing is unimportant. I made my own food, used my own professional photographer, with whom I worked intimately to create exactly the images I wanted. Each one of these parts must fit together like a fine tuned Swiss watch. Publicity is critical - don’t stint on those dollars. Never get discouraged if you really have something to say! Visit Joan's website at http://www.joanskitchenonline.com/.
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"Jewish
Kitchen Culture" is a curriculum she developed to teach kosher cooking
classes at local institutions, including The Cleveland College of Jewish
Studies. Student inquiries led her to write Passover
Cookery: In the Kitchen with Joan Kekst (March, 2001). It provides a
guide to Passover preparations, contemporary and traditional kosher recipes to
encourage young families or those new to Judaism to "make Passover"
and their own Seder. 
