Canada’s food scene is chockablock with female Jewish success stories, and Gail Simmons has some ideas about why. 

“My nonscientific theory is that it’s because we are a younger country,” she said, and Canadian Jews are “less assimilated than American Jews.”

Simmons, 48, is the longtime host of the Bravo television cooking series Top Chef as well as a respected food authority. By age 35 she had written a memoir, Eating My Words, having already served in a top post at Food & Wine magazine and joined Top Chef, whose current season, billed as Destination Canada, is taking place north of the border.

“We’re still Jewish first, Canadians second,” said Simmons, whose mother was a culinary instructor. “It’s such an immigrant culture, and that’s still leaned into. So when Jewish women do food here, you can feel that in their personalities and work.”

One of those personalities is Eden Grinshpan, chef, social media personality and host of Top Chef Canada, the long-running Canadian version of the original American series. She was in a celebratory mood when I spoke to her just before the scheduled spring release of her new cookbook, the vegetable-forward Tahini Baby.

“I’m so pumped for this project,” Grinshpan told me by phone from her home in Toronto. With nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram, Grinshpan, 37, is part of an impressive crop of Canadian Jewish women who have established themselves at the top of their country’s food chain, infusing their Judaism into their work in a variety of ways.

Grinshpan, whose father is Israeli, riffs on Jewish and Mediterranean flavors in Tahini Baby with recipes like smoky shakshuka sandwiches and eggplant schnitzel. Online, she posts snippets of her life as a wife, mom of two and in-demand food professional. (Her accompanying recipe for Baked Feta and Olives With Citrus is the perfect start to a Shavuot meal. 

Grinshpan, who hosted her first show, Eden Eats, for the Cooking Channel at age 23, lived for years in New York City but returned to her native Toronto with her husband, Ido, during the Covid pandemic. “There is a really strong, close-knit Jewish community in Canada, and in my case, Toronto,” she said. “We rally around one another and encourage one another to support our dreams.”

That community has been strengthened since the events of October 7, 2023, as Jews look to gather and seek comfort in shared spaces. Sadly, some of those spaces, including synagogues and kosher establishments in Toronto and Montreal, have been vandalized since the Hamas invasion.

Montreal Jewish food maven Kat Romanow said the incidents in her city, including a swastika on her synagogue, has left her “feeling scared and on edge as a Jew in Montreal.”

But Romanow said she’s been encouraged by her rabbi, Lisa Grushcow, who released a statement after the incident that urged everyone—Jews and non-Jews—to educate themselves about antisemitism, and in turn become activists and allies.

Romanow founded the Wandering Chew, a Jewish food nonprofit and culinary-event organizer, back in 2013 to document and preserve stories and experiences related to local business like St-Viateur Bagel and smoked meat emporium Schwartz’s Deli (neither is certified kosher).

“We’re all looking for Jewish Joy and connection these days,” said Romanow, 40, who said she was drawn to Judaic studies as an undergraduate and eventually earned a master’s degree in the subject with a focus on Jewish food history. Born into an Italian Catholic family, she converted to Judaism in 2019.

Montreal is also home to the classic Ashkenazi luncheonette Beautys, run by third-generation proprietor Elana Sckolnick, and to the popular retro diner Arthurs Nosh Bar, where co-founder Raegan Steinberg is a constant, bubbly presence in the dining room while her chef-husband, Alex Cohen, runs the (nonkosher) kitchen, cooking up standouts like a crispy chicken schnitzel sandwich on challah and matzah ball soup. Their new cookbook, Arthurs: Home of the Nosh, scheduled for a May 6 release, features the accompanying recipe for Cheese Blintzes—a Shavuot classic.

Many trace the origins of Jewish women in the food business north of the border to Winnipeg native Norene Gilletz, who passed away in 2020 after decades living in Montreal and later Toronto. She wrote Second Helpings, Please! in 1968 as a fundraiser for B’nai Brith Women of Canada that to date has sold over 200,000 copies and taken on mythical status among Canadian Jews.

Bonnie Stern, another pioneering figure, ran an eponymous cooking school in Toronto from 1973 to 2011 that educated generations of Canadian cooks, Jewish and otherwise. Classes often included Jewish dishes like her famous cream cheese rugalach. “A lot of what I do isn’t specifically Jewish,” said Stern, 78, “but almost everything I do is inspired by my being Jewish.”

Among her dozen books—including the most recent, Don’t Worry, Just Cook, from 2022—is Friday Night Dinners. Stern’s Shabbat meals, featuring her famous challah, are the stuff of legend in Toronto.

Other influential Canadian foodies include Top Chef Canada winner Erica Karbelnik, who runs a successful catering business with her chef husband, Josh; and Jamie Milne, who expanded her social media reach during the pandemic and now has three and a half million followers combined on TikTok and Instagram, where she goes by Everything Delish. 

Milne posts recipes for Israeli and other classics like shakshuka and her bubbe’s chicken soup alongside trendy Mediterranean fare such as baked feta and tomato pasta. She’s now working on her debut cookbook, which she plans to publish next year.

Since she married and had her son, Jack, in 2024, Milne said she’s become even more connected to her Jewish identity. She recently teamed up with Jewish food influencer Ruhama Shitrit, of Ruhama’s Food on Instagram, for a sold-out cooking demonstration in Toronto.

“Food is my passion,” said Milne. “Being able to do more things Jewish and food together is the icing on the cake.” 

Cheese Blintzes — makes 10 to 12 blintzes

Ingredients

FOR THE CHEESE FILLING

• 1 1/3 cups high-quality ricotta
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons full-fat cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons cream cheese (preferably Philadelphia)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• Lemon zest (optional)

FOR THE CREPES

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil or melted coconut oil
• Clarified butter, for frying

Directions

1. Make the cheese filling: Place the ricotta in a cheesecloth-lined fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl. Let sit overnight in the fridge. In a separate bowl, use the same method to strain the cottage cheese. This step is common in restaurants, used to intensify flavor and attain a velvety texture by removing excess water.

2. The next day, blend the strained cottage cheese in a blender until smooth. Transfer it to a large bowl, along with the strained ricotta, cream cheese, egg, powdered sugar and a bit of lemon zest. Stir to combine.

3. Make the crepes: In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until fully smooth.

4. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt.

5. Transfer one-third of the liquid mixture to a small bowl and stir in the sour cream little by little until there are no lumps. Add the butter and oil and mix until incorporated. Transfer back into the original liquid mixture and whisk to combine.

6. Pour half of the liquid mixture into the dry mixture. Using a large spatula, mix until no lumps remain. Add the rest and stir well to fully combine. Let rest for 20 minutes before using.

7. Cook the crepes: Set an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low and lightly brush it with clarified butter.

8. Tilt the pan toward you, then ladle about 1/3 cup of batter into the pan. Rotate the pan to evenly spread the batter in a circle. Cook just until the side facing up is cooked through (it will turn matte). Repeat the process for each crepe, brushing the pan with clarified butter between each one.

9. Fill the crepes: Lay one crepe on a plate, browned side facing up. Place about 1/3 cup of cheese filling at the lower-middle part
of the crepe, leaving a bit of space around the edges. (As you go you’ll figure out what the best amount of filling is and where to place it.) Fold in the short ends and roll it, burrito style, making sure the closing seam faces down and is somewhat centered. If you don’t get a perfect roll, it’s not a huge deal, but it will help seal the blintz when you fry it.

10. Fry the blintzes: Add some more clarified butter to the nonstick skillet and set over medium heat. Place the blintzes, seam side down, in the pan. Fry until golden, then flip and repeat. Work in batches to avoid crowding.

11. Serve immediately with jam, fresh fruit, sweetened sour cream and crumbled meringue. If serving at a later time, reheat in a 300° oven for a few minutes, or gently re-sear in a pan.

Baked Feta and Olives With Citrus — serves 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pitted or whole Castelvetrano olives
• 1/2 cup pitted or whole Kalamata olives
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fennel seeds
• Zest of 1/2 orange
• 1 medium fresh cayenne chile, sliced
• 5 fresh oregano sprigs
• 1 pound Greek feta, drained and patted dry with a paper towel
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• Flaky sea salt
• Good crusty bread, for serving

Directions

1. Position the top oven rack about 6 inches under the broiler. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. In a small baking dish, combine the olives, fennel, orange zest, chile and oregano. Nestle the feta in the middle and drizzle everything with the olive oil.

3. Bake until the feta and olives have softened, about 20 minutes. Set the oven to broil and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden on top.

4. Drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with flaky salt. Serve with bread.

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Adeena Sussman lives in Tel Aviv. She is the author of Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from My Kitchen to Yours and Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors from My Israeli Kitchen. Sign up for her newsletter on Substack.