Food and family go hand-in-hand. And 57-year-old chef and educator Danny Corsun, founder of the Culinary Judaics Academy (CJA), has added Judaism to the equation. He created CJA, now an online platform, to infuse meaningful Jewish learning into cooking classes for all Jews, no matter their age or level of practice.
CJA is all about “making Judaism relatable, applicable and transformational in contemporary terms,” Corsun told the Journal.
Food, which has always taken center stage in Danny and his wife Andrea Corsun’s Encino home, runs in the family. Daughter Zoey, 19, a sophomore at Berkeley, is Corsun’s co-chef and co-host for CJA. Son Zachary, 21, is a senior at the University of Michigan, where he has a challah business (@zachallah on Instagram).
“My house emulates the home I grew up in,” Corsun said. “We ate dinner together every night growing up … and ‘how was your day’ was conversation at the dinner table. And it might seem like very 1950s, but that’s the how my kids grew up too.”
Zach and Zoey starting cooking at a young age. They began making their own lunches in the fourth grade. When their grandparents came to town, the Corsun kids created the Yum Yum Restaurant, complete with menus and dinner service.
“On Friday nights we would play ‘Chopped’ dessert,” Corsun said, referring to the Food Network show. “I would make dinner for Shabbat and then we would play. My wife would compete against me or I would compete against one of the kids and I pulled no punches.”
Corsun started working in education in 2000, after spending 13 years in the entertainment industry; after his first child was born, he sought a more stable and family-friendly career.
A friend who taught fulltime at Franklin Elementary School in Santa Monica, near where Corsun lived at the time, suggested substitute teaching, so Corsun got his credential. And, since teachers tend to call on their favorite subs, he made a dozen rugelach (his grandmother’s recipe) for every teacher at the school. As a result, he worked a lot.
His transition to chef-educator started when Corsun was asked to take on the special education class, first as a substitute and then to finish the school year and beyond.
“Every Friday, I taught a review class teaching math, science, history and the language arts all through a cooking class,” he said.
Within two weeks, there was a noticeable change. Once the classroom was under control, Corsun invited five general education neurotypical students into the classroom every week. They would cater a snack for those students to bring back to their classroom at the end of the day.
“My room went from the room you don’t come near to the cool cooking room every student in the school wanted into,” he said. “My students were no longer the kids you don’t talk to, but the cool kids that bring us food.”
Corsun could have chosen literature, theater or art as the vehicle, but cooking was his thing.
“I grew up in a home where my grandmother was a phenomenal baker, [and] my mother is a fantastic Jewish cook,” said Corsun, who was raised Conservadox in Queens. “My sister is very good and my brother actually went into the industry as a chef and owner of his own restaurant in Manhattan.”
Corsun’s program, teaching academic disciplines through experientially engaging cooking classes, resulted in better student grades.
In 2005, he took his culinary classroom outside the school walls, creating Culinary Kids Academy, which evolved into Culinary Judaics Academy in 2009. Last year, CJA unveiled its dynamic, online platform to bring its empowering, innovative cooking workshops to the world. It’s a combination of Food Network-quality videos with high-level written curriculum for all skill levels. The program is for individuals and families, and is also customizable for organizations.
While the pivot to this platform may have been motivated by the pandemic, Corsun maintains it couldn’t be created just for COVID.
“We’re in a new landscape of information, entertainment and education content consumption,” he said. “So while the pandemic necessitated a collective transition online, we must curate transformational content that nurtures, educates and entertains long after Covid exits.”
Over the last two years, Danny and Zoey filmed 45 pieces of content in their backyard studio for six different series: Holidays, Jewish Values, A Jewish Home, Kitchen/Jewish Cornerstones, Jews Around the World and Israel.
Over the last two years, Danny and Zoey filmed 45 pieces of content in their backyard studio for six different series: Holidays, Jewish Values, A Jewish Home, Kitchen/Jewish Cornerstones, Jews Around the World and Israel. The videos are 12 to 17 minutes long; some of them are literal lessons, relating to holidays, while others promote Jewish values of love and kindness.
The sample workshop on the homepage is on “How to Make G-d a Verb,” and the dish Zoey and Danny make is sweet potato mac and cheese.
“The reason I chose that for that particular lesson is it’s the first recipe I taught [Zoey] to make on her own, so she owned it,” Corsun said. “Thus, [it’s] making G-d a Verb: owning your Judaism.”
Cooking is a self-sustaining life skill, but it’s so much more.
“It’s a wonderful thing, to be able to have that kind of confidence and independence and responsibility [from cooking],” Corsun said. “Cooking teaches so many amazing things.”
CJA’s HARVEST VEGGIE SOUP
Growing up, Corsun’s mom made soup each Shabbat and it’s a tradition he has continued.
1 large onion
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 large potato
1 11 oz. can of whole sweet corn
(vacuum packed in water)
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
32 oz. stock (chicken or veggie,
homemade or store bought), water can
be substituted
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dry basil
2 tsp garlic seasoning
1 tsp Cajun or blackening seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
*Optional: For protein, you can add beans (white northern, kidney or black) or one 14 oz. brick of soft silken tofu (you must blend the tofu in with soup)
Dice onion, carrots and celery and sauté in a pot with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, garlic and Cajun spices.
Once onions are translucent, dice and add parsley and potato (with skin) and sauté for a minute or two longer and add the crushed tomatoes and chopped tofu.
(FYI, the tofu provides incredible protein and once completely blended into the soup, it’s undetectable visually or taste wise so it’s a great (and sneaky) way for parents to make sure children are getting the proper protein in their diet! It also serves as a thickening agent for the soup – if you like your soup hearty.)
Mix ingredients and then add stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
Once veggies are tender, using a blender, blend the soup until it’s the texture you want. Stick/immersion blenders are great for a more rustic consistency, but if you want a smoother soup, use a stand blender – but be sure to tightly hold the top down with a towel and be careful for splattering hot liquid!
Once blended, simmer the soup for another 5-10 minutes, check for seasoning and then serve with tortilla chips as a garnish.
