How did Ruhama Shitrit, an Israeli teacher living in Boston, become an Israeli food influencer with over half a million followers?
She has been living in the U.S. for 18 years, raising four children (two have already left home), teaching at a Jewish school, and never stops thinking about what else she could do. She has always cooked, always loved to serve home-cooked meals to the children, especially Iraqi food like the one she grew up eating at home.
COVID is the reason that brought her even deeper into the kitchen. She spent a lot of time cooking until her children suggested she open an Instagram account and upload her dishes and recipes there. No one had any idea how this small step would change her life. And so, at the age of 50, she learned to photograph, edit, and operate a busy Instagram account.
"I keep saying that I'm a one-woman show, I do everything myself, think of the recipes, shoot, and edit. I bought equipment and learned to operate everything by myself. People like my voice-over, the narration of the recipes, which is something that has become the hallmark over time of my account and even received imitations here and there."
You speak fluent Hebrew in your home, you publish your recipes in Hebrew as well, you are not an American Jew, you are Israeli and you talk about it all the time, doesn't that affect you sometimes?
"I speak to the children in Hebrew to preserve the home they are missing. It means a lot to bring them the home they could have had in Israel. I feel it is my mission to bring Israeli food to other people as well, to show Israel through food. Sometimes some haters find something to complain about like sumac is not Israeli, or we stole the za'atar from Arabs but I don't care. If an American cooks pasta, no Italian will say, 'You stole that from me.' I like food and I like to combine styles and variety."
"After October 7, I was in shock. After 24 hours I uploaded a post with the Israeli flag and within a few hours I lost hundreds of followers and I was happy. I was happy that these people were no longer following me."
What is your most successful post?
"I've had many viral recipes over time, roasted cauliflower with green tahini or how to make a quick tbit. The recipe for chicken arayes exploded on TikTok with over 2 million views. Then I realized that I was doing something that people liked and I also enjoyed it, I started getting requests for collaborations and the number of followers soared."