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Susie Fishbein, Author, Kosher by Design Series

The Westhampton Beach area Pioneer Chapter of Hadassah Women has named Susie Fishbein, creator of the Kosher by Design cookbook series, Woman of the Year.  She was honored at a gala luncheon at the Bath and Tennis Club in Westhampton Beach on Monday, August 11th.  Fishbein conducted a cooking demonstration, with the lunch menu drawn from her popular recipes.

Emerging from near obscurity with the publication of the original “Kosher by Design” (ArtScroll Mesorah Publications) in 2003, Fishbein is credited with launching a makeover in kosher cuisine. Her five best selling cookbooks have sold over 300,000 copies.  In April, her fifth book, “Passover by Design”, captured front page attention in the New York Times.

While Fishbein’s recipes have inspired tens of thousands to new heights of culinary creativity at home, the Hadassah chapter’s choice to honor her as Woman of the Year was more of a relational decision.

”She’s my ‘famous’ sister-in-law,” says Elisa Greenbaum, VP of Education for the Westhampton Pioneer Chapter.  “Women and men who have her cookbooks get excited when they learn that I’m related to the kosher equivalent of Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray.  Plus she is a wife and mother with a busy career who understands what the rest of us feel and face when it comes to cooking and entertaining today.”

Booked deep into 2010, Fishbein’s coast-to-coast lectures and cooking demonstrations are frequently sold out, standing room only events. Two unusual upcoming events for Fishbein include a Thanksgiving week cooking clinic at the exclusive Bayit Ba’Galil Spa, nestled in a forested part of Israel’s Upper Galilee region, as well as a cooking demo cruise to the Caribbean the week of Jan. 18th on Kosherica Cruise Lines. She has just completed work on her sixth project, “Kosher by Design Lightens Up: Fabulous food for healthier living”, due out in November. 

This year’s Hadassah luncheon was the Pioneer chapter’s thirteenth year. “Our bar mitzvah year,” says Elisa Greenbaum, who also was one of the chairpersons for the popular event.  Attendees were treated to informal modeling by chapter members, with fashions provided by Saks Fifth Avenue of Southampton. Trendy boutiques, unique raffle prizes, and gift bags filled with fine samples rounded out the event.