This Japanese American Jewish Cook Is Building A Lifestyle Brand For ‘Ethnically Blended’ Households
Posner at work. Image by Instagram
“Nourish Co is a lifestyle brand for ethnically blended and interfaith households,” the Japanese Jewish American Kristin Eriko Posner tells the Forward. “What we do is create nourishing rituals with them.” What that means is Posner creates guides and recipes around the holidays, from [Rosh Hashanah](https://forward.com/schmooze/320610/rosh-hashana/ “Rosh Hashanah”) to the Japanese New Year.
Things have changed since 2017, when Posner wrote her first blog post. Now, eight hundred newsletter readers later, Posner gets emails from people all over the world, including one from Iran, telling her that Nourish Co made it onto the news there.
When Posner got engaged to her now-husband Bryan, who stems from a “very secular American Ashkenazi Jewish family from New York,” she realized her life was lacking tradition. “And Jewish traditions seemed really well preserved to me, compared to my personal experience of my Japanese American heritage,” says Posner. She began taking introductory classes and exploring Judaism, ultimately shocking Bryan and his family when she decided to convert to Judaism.
“Right before converting to Judaism I had this huge freak-out moment, where I worried that my Japanese heritage wouldn’t have enough room to exist in my life,” says Posner. Her rabbi looked at her and asked why there couldn’t be room for both, and in that moment Posner realized that he was right.
Posner makes room for both on her website, where she creates recipes for dishes that combine the best of both her heritages, like mochi latkes and chicken soup with gyoza kreplach. What’s on Posner’s table right now? A melt-in-your-mouth brisket made with tonkatsu sauce, which is Japanese homemade barbecue sauce. And if a recipe makes it onto Nourish Co, chances are Posner’s been making (and perfecting) it for a long time, for tried-and-true results.
Last March, Posner had a Bat Mitzvah ceremony and delivered a dvar Torah about the significance of taking on traditions. “But then I think, once you have that foundation and background, and understand them, you can update them,” she says. “Choose what resonates with you only. Because otherwise you just won’t do them, and then what’s the point?”
So Posner has chosen her traditions, from the Japanese heritage she was born with to the Jewish heritage she has taken on. And she’s celebrating her chosen traditions with her diverse ethnically blended base of followers, over a plate of chocolate chip cookies with matcha salt.
Shira Feder is a writer. Follow her on Twitter @shirafeder
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.