In the vast world of online culinary personalities, the microcosm of Jewish food influencers of Instagram is mostly ruled by a handful of extremely popular accounts. Although they range in cuisine and cooking styles, they all seem to adhere to similar tenets when it comes to their success: approachability, creativity, and a devotion, to varying degrees, to their Judaism.
“I pinpoint mine and others’ success on two things: consistency and authenticity,” said Sivan Kobi, whose Instagram account Sivan’s Kitchen boasts nearly 700,000 followers. “Those two things are crucial to your growth because you can start at it really strongly but, if you don’t show up every day, people forget about you. And if you’re not real to your audience, they are not going to listen or believe you.”
Jake Cohen, who recently reached the 1 million-follower count on Instagram and has leveraged his social media popularity into his TV debut on A&E’s Home.Made.Nation’s Jake Makes it Easy, agrees. “To be authentic is the key,” he said. “Don’t be filtered—don’t put on a show of what you think the world is going to like, but show people who you really are.”
Jewish online food stars’ commitment to honesty, though, has been put to the test ever since the horrific Oct. 7 attacks, and the worldwide antisemitism that has risen in their wake, turned virtually all social media users into political pundits and experts, suddenly putting the very basic tenets of Judaism, and Jews’ right to exist, under the microscope. Even social media accounts unrelated to religion quickly became fierce battlegrounds.
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