My name is Becca Gallick-Mitchell, the creator of InstaGrandma’s Kitchen. I live in New Jersey with my extraordinarily loving and supportive husband, Paul, and our two beloved dogs, Mel Blanc and Yogi Bear (Mel and Yogi for short). I’m a Holocaust educator, home cook, content creator, and Jewish activist with a passion for my treasured arsenal of trusted recipes, my family stories of survival, my Jewish culture and community, Israel, and combating hatred in all forms.
Some of my recipes featured here were handed down through generations (surviving the Holocaust). I also created many of them myself, and a few others were picked up along the way and adapted to suit my family’s preferences. My tool belt of cooking tricks and techniques is the product of innumerable failures and triumphs (you can’t have success without failure!), as well as many hours in the kitchen with the female role models in my life, most notably my Grandma Mala, Grandma Clara, Mom (Carolyn) and Jacinth Mitchell-Mark.
My beloved Grandma Mala of blessed memory was my ultimate inspiration for Instagrandma’s Kitchen. She literally loved nothing more than to feed her family. The bulk of my most cherished recipes are the ones that I grew up enjoying when I’d visit her and my Papa Henry in Franklin, Michigan and Miami, Florida. They are the precious recipes that her mother, Ester, and grandmother, Hinde, cooked in Poland before they perished along with her father, Yoyel, and 3 younger siblings, Menasha, Berish, and Mindle (along with too many extended family members to name) during the Holocaust.
A portion of my repertoire also consists of British recipes that I’ve learned from Paul (who hails from UK). I find that the best and most accessible way to explore new cultures and get to know new people is through food, as many of my recipes on here will reflect.
In addition to sharing family recipes, storytelling, and providing educational anti-hatred resources through InstaGrandma’s Kitchen, I also provide cooking classes and demonstrations titled Once Tasted, Always Remembered in which I teach my family recipes that survived the Holocaust, as well as the stories of my grandma, Mala Dorfman, who survived, and my great-grandma, Ester Weintraub, who tragically perished in a gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau. During the program, we go on a culinary journey through time, emphasizing the importance of fighting hatred with loving kindness. My family’s precious family recipes nourish our bodies while the stories nourish our souls and inspire us all to be better versions of ourselves.
Additionally, I also provide Stories of Survival, a storytelling event in which I tell my Grandma Mala and Papa Henry’s individual stories of survival. Both stories are marked by the presence of a “righteous gentile,” or non-Jew who risked it all to save their lives. I pay special attention to these two individuals, framing their presence in the stories as a call to action. These Stories of Survival serve as a cautionary tale outlining the horrors that can befall a society that has let hatred fester, but they are also a beacon of hope showcasing the resilience and magnificence of the human spirit.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for visiting my corner of the internet! I hope that one or more of my recipes will bring your home the joy and comfort that they have all brought mine.
For inquiries and/or bookings, please email instagrandmaskitchen@gmail.com.