Our Story
Gefilteria launched in 2012 with a manifesto and a mission to reimagine eastern European Jewish cuisine.
We began manufacturing food products for holidays and markets (see our gefilte fish origins below), but early on saw that our mission went far beyond packaged goods, and we began traveling around the world cooking, teaching, and engaging with our heritage food traditions, becoming experts and evangelists along the way.
Most of the year we’re leading immersive culinary workshops and collaborating on dynamic events and media projects. And while we don’t have a storefront, we’re always cooking up a dinner or an event in person or, lately, in the virtual sphere.
Our cookbook, The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, builds off of our original manifesto with over 100 recipes and stories.
Oh, and it’s pronounced ge·filte·ria, like a taqueria but with gefilte fish instead of tacos.
Our Gefilte Fish Origins
The Launch of Gefilteria
In the Spring of 2012, we were on a mission to reimagine the dominant perception of Ashkenazi Jewish cooking. Gefilte fish symbolized everything we felt had gone wrong with our food this past century: a jarred product made with synthetic gel and cheap fish. But where others saw the butt of jokes, we saw inspiration for our broader culinary work.
Recipes, Ideas, Inspiration
We knew that if we could change the perception of gefilte fish, the prospects for changing the perception of the entire cuisine would be far brighter. We began researching old cookbooks, making gefilte fish from scratch, meeting with elders and more. We developed multiple recipes for the cherished dish and learned more than any reasonable 20-something should have about its origins. We also nerded out on sustainable practices, threw wild gefilte fish parties, served up sleek versions at the James Beard House, and brought our culinary focus on gefilte fish to cities and countries worldwide. We inspired thinkpieces, including this essay in the New Yorker. And when we wrote our cookbook, we called it The Gefilte Manifesto and slapped an old-fashioned stuffed gefilte fish on the cover (though the book containers over 100 recipes, only two of which are actually for gefilte fish!).
Commercial Production
From 2012 - 2023, we produced artisanal gefilte fish on a commercial scale and shipped it nationwide. It was always made by hand, with great attention to the quality of the ingredients. To this day, we’re pretty sure it’s the only gefilte fish ever featured in Vogue. This was a groundbreaking product and we’re so grateful for all the families that incorporated it into their holiday rituals.
Changing Times:
As of spring 2024, in response to the increasingly high cost of sourcing sustainable fish, significant shifts in our shipping partners’ capabilities to safely transport our product, as well as changes in our company’s priorities, we’ve put commercial gefilte fish production on an indefinite pause. We are sad to make this change after so many years developing relationships with loyal customers like you, and yet we acknowledge the challenging realities of artisanal production.
Please know that we are very much still experimenting with the dish and developing new recipes, always. We look forward to sharing more with you over the years to come! There’s so much more to come with The Gefilteria and our love of this iconic and meaningful delicacy.
Check out our Gefilte Fish Hub for additional resources about this dish.
Meet the Team
Jeffrey Yoskowitz
Jeffrey Yoskowitz is a leader of the Jewish Food Renaissance as an entrepreneur, writer, pickler and cookbook author. He curates and cooks dining events in kitchens around the world, teaches about Jewish cooking and Jewish food heritage and writes about food and culture for publications like The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, and Gastronomica, among others.
Jeffrey co-authored The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods along with Liz Alpern. He was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list and The Forward 50 and has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Saveur, and The Wall Street Journal, among many other publications.
Liz Alpern
Based in Brooklyn, Liz Alpern is passionate about reimagining tradition and bringing people together. Liz is co-founder of The Gefilteria and co-author of The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods. She is also the creator of Queer Soup Night, a global event series highlighting the talent of queer chefs and raising tens of thousands of dollars for locally-based social justice organizations.
Liz received her MBA from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business and has been featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, the Forward 50 and and The Cherry Bombe 100. She is committed to seeing a more just and equitable food system for all so when she’s not in the kitchen with The Gefilteria, she’s consulting for national non-profit organization, Fair Food Network.
Jackie Lilinsthein
Jackie was a founding partner in The Gefilteria, drawing inspiration from her Russian family’s ethnic food traditions.