Chef Stonah was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, where her culinary journey began in childhood. In 2009, she made a life-changing decision to uproot herself and her three children, moving to Sea Gate, Brooklyn, New York, to live amongst religious Jews and immerse herself in a Torah-filled life.
During her childhood, Chef Stonah was always drawn to the kitchen, watching and observing her family as they cooked everything from eggs and stuffed bell peppers to homemade spaghetti sauce. Family gatherings for Hanukkah and Passover were particularly formative experiences, where she would position herself in the kitchen, watching the women bake chicken, prepare latkes, egg salad, borscht, applesauce, and the famous Jewish penicillin—chicken soup with matzo balls that her great-grandmother, Granny, would make from scratch. Throughout her entire life, she has been constantly creating ideas and making something delicious out of practically nothing. For Chef Stonah, cooking is her meditation.
When she moved to Brooklyn in 2009, Chef Stonah had no formal culinary background, but that changed quickly. As a Baal Teshuvah (one who returns to the Orthodox faith), she discovered the extensive learning and cooking that lay ahead of her. In Orthodox living, families celebrate a feast similar to Thanksgiving every Friday night and Saturday afternoon for Shabbat, where women of all ages work together in the kitchen like a fine-tuned machine to create beautiful four-course meals fit for royalty. During holidays, meals would often host at least 30 guests, and Chef Stonah found joy in knowing how everything was made and seeing guests’ faces light up with enjoyment.
Her professional culinary path began when she was approached to replace the kosher supervisor and cook at an older Jewish men’s school in their gated community of Sea Gate, Brooklyn. The school housed 20 or more students who lived and studied there day and night, requiring three to four meals daily. Chef Stonah was excited to have her own two kitchens where she could create freely without supervision. She elevated the standard of Yeshiva cooking to such heights that word of mouth about her culinary skills spread internationally. Young and older men would travel from Ukraine, Russia, and across the United States not only to learn from some of the world’s best Rabbis but also to be nourished by her wholesome food filled with love and light. Students often told her how much her cooking recharged them for their Torah studies, and many of these students are now Rabbis serving communities worldwide.
In 2015, Chef Stonah and her family relocated to San Antonio, where she continued to put her talents to work as Kosher Supervisor and Cook for Chabad of San Antonio and the Jewish Community Center (JCC). She has catered numerous wonderful events, always embracing the philosophy that “the more the merrier” because she loves seeing guests enjoy her food with smiles on their faces, knowing their stomachs are satisfied.
Chef Stonah strives to infuse love and light into all her creations while putting fresh twists on traditional kosher Jewish foods. She believes that almost anything found on different menus can be transformed into a kosher dish. Her culinary influences come from the wonderful people in the world around her, and she welcomes new ideas and concepts they bring to her. Her ultimate goal is to share the love and light within all of us to help heal our precious world.
Chef Stonah Pictures:
This is her Bio Pic
