Hi! We are Devorah and Rachel and we are so excited you chose us as your guides for your cooking journey.
We believe that cooking is for everyone! From a young child just starting to get an interest in food, to mother who cooks what feels like all day every day, to a chef in a Michelin star restaurant, anyone can and should cook. Cooking is a fundamental part of life that can bring so much joy and pleasure and help you connect with the people around you.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Confucius
Education
Who are we and why should you want to even read this blog?
Devorah is a chef, cookbook author, and social media guru who has a passion for cooking and loves food photography. She formally trained at the Kosher Culinary Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She then interned with Jamie Geller for a number of years and currently works with a myriad of food professionals including Fleishigs magazine and the Kosher Guru utilizing both her cooking and marketing skills.
Rachel is a cookbook author, recipe developer, and all-around food enthusiast. She is also a professional web developer and designer. When she’s not caught up in code, she enjoys dreaming up new recipes and loves to experiment in the kitchen. While she may not have any official training, she likes to say she has trained in her mother’s kitchen cooking many meals for family and friends.
Our Cooking Journey
So how did we end up on this crazy journey through the culinary world?
Our story starts way back in 2014. Just before entering college we spent a year in Israel in seminary. There we discovered that many young people were not familiar with cooking and baking, A lot of them have never spent time in the kitchen or cooked for themselves that much so they don’t know where to start. We determined then and there to create a cookbook for anyone, at any age or stage in life who wants easy to follow recipes that take a short amount of time to prepare.
In the four years that followed, we had our share of ups and downs. We spent countless hours chasing after publishers just to get a formal rejection and many more hours reshooting earlier works that we decided was not up to par. Finally in 2018 we signed a contract with Israel Bookshops and we could not have been happier. That was when the real work began.
The next year was filled with edits, photo shoots, and lots of hard work – in addition to our day jobs. But, it was all worth it when on September 9th 2019 we saw our book in print for the very first time. It was a moment of true elation and joy.
Which brings us to now September 9th, 2020. So much has happened in the past year both good and bad. However, the one amazing thing that happened, is we both decided we wanted to keep sharing new recipes with the world. So here we go on a brand new adventure! We hope you enjoy the ride along with us and welcome to the OPOP Family!
XO,
Devorah & Rachel