From the front lines of the mom wars, here's Bethany Mandel and Kara Kennedy.

Hello and welcome to another episode of your favorite podcast. Notice how it went from new to

semi-new. Now we're just your favorite podcast. If you could review us to reflect that new favorite

status, that would be great.

In the meantime, we are joined by my friend Melissa Strauss, who I think everyone in the

Jewish world knows. She is a New York-based content creator and influencer with over

1.6 million followers on TikTok and Instagram. I know, very impressive stuff. She explores Orthodox Judaism,

kosher recipes, Jewish history, anti-Semitism, and Zionism, while sharing insights into her

everyday life. She's one of the few Orthodox Jewish influencers that I follow who talks about

orthodoxy that doesn't drive me bananas, if not the only, honestly.

Everyone else kind of drives me nuts because it's, it feels very, I'm veering off of her bio.

It feels very like preachy and prescriptive from other people.

It doesn't feel that way from Melinda.

Through her blend of cultural practices and modern storytelling, Melinda provides followers with a fresh perspective on following tradition.

Fact check, that's true. She was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, where she was just,

and I feel weird knowing that, but I follow her on Instagram, so I know that she was just there

on an amazing fishing trip, and I'm interested in knowing more about how I can do the same.

She has been blogging and sharing her love of cooking since 2011, and because of that, her debut

cookbook, Eat Jewish, is set to release on September 2nd.

So right around when this podcast is being released, not by accident.

If you are thinking about cooking for the holidays coming up, there's like an entire month of Jewish holidays.

And I'm very excited for Nora's broccoli and all of the other recipes that I will find in this cookbook.

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