The Consulate-General of Israel in New York will be sponsoring a new web series hosted by foodie influencer Jake Cohen titled Zoom-Eat, which will feature renowned chefs from across Israel and the United States collaborating and cooking together on themed dishes.
The series premiere will be broadcast via Zoom on Monday at 12 EST (7 p.m. local time), and is also accessible through the consulate’s Facebook page.
“During COVID-19, while we are staying home and spending most of our days in front of screens, we wanted to bring some creativity while giving a fun and delicious fusion experience with the flavors of Israel meeting America,” said Israel Nitzan, acting consul-general.
“Israel might be known as the Start-Up Nation, but we are also leaders in the culinary world; I hope that COVID-19 will be behind us very soon and that the viewers of this web series will be able to visit Israel and get a real taste of it in a few months,” he added.
The first episode will feature American celebrity and TV personality chef Amanda Freitag, who was the Food Network’s TV judge on Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay and Iron Chef America.
She will be joined by Israeli chef Nir Zuk, a celebrity chef in his own right within Israel, who has opened numerous award-winning restaurants in both Israel and the United States.
Considering it is the holiday season, the first dishes will feature recipes ripe for pumpkin season and the Thanksgiving holiday, where each chef will have to cook a different meal centered around a feature ingredient.
Before each episode’s running, the recipes will be listed across the consulate’s social media accounts so that the viewers can follow along at home and cook alongside their favorite chefs.
The Foreign Ministry has been sponsoring various countries in the Diaspora to take up culinary initiatives to connect the world through a love of food.
“Seeing how seriously the Israeli Consulate of New York is taking their social and digital media efforts is really inspiring to me. This initiative brings together talent with a total following that is in the millions! This innovative and COVID-19-appropriate approach is the exact way hasbara [public diplomacy] should be going in,” said founder of “Jews of NY” Yoav Davis.