On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with kosher sushi chef Marisa Baggett, who blends tradition, identity and intention in her culinary work.

“My sushi journey and my Jewish journeys are actually very much entwined,” Baggett explains. “When I was going through sushi school, I was also embracing Judaism, so there was always this kind of… pull between how I'm going to show up as a Jewish sushi chef.”

Baggett, who once owned a kosher deli and has brought her Japanese training into her Jewish food, decided to focus mostly on plant-based food in the last year.

“I think that I was probably always kind of on this path of heading towards only making plant-based sushi,” she says. “It just took me a while to get there.”

When asked what she knows now that she wished she knew early in her career, Baggett says that it’s okay to bring all of the pieces of who you are to the table at once.

“For the longest time, I tried to keep everything separate,” she explains. “I really wish that I brought more of everything together - Southern, Jewish background, the Japanese training - earlier in my career.”

Chef Marisa Baggett talks about her out-of-the-blue sushi origin story, food memories from growing up in the south, and how to embrace creativity in the kitchen. She also shares her recipe for miso mish mash soup, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

“Give yourself permission to have fun in the kitchen,” she says. “There's a lot of flexibility in that one bowl.”

Learn more at MarisaBaggett.com, follow @ChefMarisaBaggett on Instagram and watch Marisa Baggett compete on “Morimoto’s Sushi Master” on The Roku Channel.

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On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Sasha Zabar, founder of Glace and Glace Candy in New York.

While many kids dream of opening an ice cream shop or candy store, it’s something Zabar actually did! The two stores are connected in the middle, so customers and their friends/family can visit one or both sides, and if they want, mix their candy into the ice cream for infinite variations and options.

Zabar has fond memories of getting these ice cream and candy at his neighborhood shops. Since most of those establishments have since gone away, Zabar now gets to be the source of others’ nostalgia … and revitalize the neighborhood in the process. After his first year’s ice cream season, when business started to dwindle, Zabar started thinking outside the box … er cone.

“We created what has become kind of a viral sensation, which is our s'mores hot chocolate,” he explains. “We make a house-made marshmallow [which] we pipe around the rim and toast … it's very theatrical, but it's also delicious.”

Their hot chocolate videos - some of which are in the millions of views - have led to lines around the block every day during hot chocolate season (November to middle of January),

While social media is an amazing tool to see what people and businesses are doing, especially in the food scene around the world, you need to be creative to stand out.

“We take a common conceit - hot chocolate, ice cream, sundaes, candy - and play around with it until we find something that is both familiar but different,” he explains. “We randomly found our way into a corner of the universe: people love … trying something different than what they expect.”

Sasha Zabar talks about growing up in the family food business. His grandparents, Louis and Lillian, founded Zabar's in 1934; his father, Eli, had various businesses, including Eli’s Market and Eli’s Bread. Zabar also shares how he started Glace and Glace Candy, the part social media played in making Glace a destination, and the recipe for one of his favorite year-round treats: apple crumble, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

“I don't remember a time where I didn't want to be in some way in the food business,” Zabar says. “So it is kind of destiny.”

Learn more about Sasha Zabar at GlaceNY.com and follow @GlaceNewYork on Instagram.

For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Emmy award-winning and Golden Globe-winning comedy writer, actor, and comedian Monica Piper. After a smash-hit run off-Broadway, her one-woman show, “Not That Jewish,” returned to The Braid in Santa Monica for the show’s 10 year anniversary; it runs through the end of May.

Piper was a high school English teacher, before she left to try comedy and eventually create this show. She has been a standup comic, a writer for “Roseanne” and “Mad About You,” and head writer on “Rugrats.”

“Not That Jewish” is a love letter to being Jewish, as Piper tells stories of her family - particularly her funny father and passing on the humor gene to her son - and her foray into comedy.

“Someone asked me what's my favorite thing about being Jewish … there's so many things, but right up there was food,” Piper shares. “They said, ‘Even gefilte fish?’ Yes, even gefilte fish.”

In fact, a chopped liver sandwich, one of Piper's go-to comfort foods, is something she strongly associates with her Jewish identity.

“Food is so much a part of life and Jewish life, but it's the comradery,” Piper says. “As a child, my memories [of Shabbat at my aunt’s home with] people talking and arguing and laughing is so much a part of me, so I associate that with food.”

Monica Piper shares food memories, the importance of laughter, and her “Not That Jewish’” origin story, which came with encouragement and assistance from The Braid founder and artistic director Ronda Spinak. There are also tangents on the Instant Pot, goals, and a shared fandom of The Braid.

Taste Buds host Debra Eckerling recently did a Sunday at the Braid event for her new book, “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting,” via Zoom, hosted by David Chiu and along with Katie Chin and Elaine Hall, who are in the book. The Braid’s newest salon show, “For the Love of Animals,” opens next week.

Learn more about “Not That Jewish” at The-Braid.org/Monica and the new show at The-Braid.org. Watch Debra Eckerling’s Sundays at The Braid conversation at @TheBraidStories on YouTube.

For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.