88 | SEPTEMBER 26 • 2024
J
N
H
ave you ever craved a bowl of hot matzah
ball soup, but had to go without because
you weren’t able to make it from scratch
or journey to a deli? Those days are over, thanks
to newly available NOOISH instant matzah ball
soup. The product is packaged in a single-serving
cup, and after adding water and microwaving for
two minutes, it provides a delicious, piping hot
and elevated bowl of matzah ball soup, including
fluffy matzah balls in a rich broth.
NOOISH is vegetarian and certified kosher by
the Chicago Rabbinical Council and is available
to order in time for the High Holidays to send
as a hug-in-a-cup or to be prepared en masse for
holiday meals.
The instant matzah ball soup is the first prod-
uct from the NOOISH brand of modern Jewish
comfort food. Sarah Nathan, 37, originally from
Orange County, California, and currently based
in Chicago, launched the brand to address a need
that wasn’t being met: “All the time I hear people
say, I love matzah ball soup, I hate making it, or
I don’t know how to make it, and I would eat it
more often if it was more easy and accessible.”
Sarah has almost a decade of diverse experi-
ence in the consumer-packaged goods industry
in start-up, corporate and retail roles, and has
worked as a consultant, using her expertise to
guide new founders in the industry. She has
also worked as the culinary coordinator at the
B’teavon Jewish food retreat and as one of the
producers of the Great Big Jewish Food Fest, a
10-day virtual festival showcasing the diversity
of the Jewish community that took place in May
2020 at the beginning of the pandemic and was
streamed to 25,000 people.
The idea for the brand came to Sarah after the
Great Big Jewish Food Fest. “So many people
wrote to us and said, ‘I have never felt so con-
nected to my culture, but how can I continue to
do this? This programming is making me excited
about who I am in a way that I normally don’t
connect with.’”
Sarah was motivated to replicate the food fest
experience in a product and was inspired by
brands that were elevating other cultures’ foods. It
took almost two years to think of the right prod-
uct that could reach beyond the kosher aisle.
She identified key criteria: not-holiday-specific,
non-perishable, long shelf life, lightweight. It had
to be something that most people, whether they’re
Jewish or not, have already heard of, maybe have
tried. That led her to the idea of making matzah
ball soup into an instant soup cup.
The product fits with current trends in elevat-
ed, intentionally made grab-and-go food with
global flavors. After landing on instant matzah
ball soup as a product, it took another year and a
half to develop a process to make it shelf-stable,
which had not been done before. Sarah was ener-
gized by this opportunity for innovation. “How
often do you get to invent something?” she said.
NOOISH enables matzah-ball-soup lovers to
obtain kosher, shelf-stable matzah ball soup for
themselves or to share with their loved ones.
While people have previously sent matzah ball
soup using websites like spoonfulcomfort.com
or goldbelly.com, or through delis like Zabar’s
or Zingerman’s, these options typically send two
quarts of frozen soup, which either need to be
eaten right away or frozen and tend to be very
expensive.
In contrast, NOOISH is available in a shelf-sta-
ble six-pack, which, including shipping, will cost
a third of the price of these alternatives, and
recipients can eat one and save the rest in their
pantry for when they want them later. In partic-
ular, NOOISH provides a great opportunity to
support college students on campus who are away
from home, and Sarah hopes to partner with
Hillels to bring matzah ball soup to students who
are sick or otherwise in need of comfort.
In the next year, Sarah hopes to build the
community and the brand and has ideas for new
products and collaborations cultivating Jewish
joy. “I really want to show 15 million Jews 15 mil-
lion ways to be Jewish. This is a way to bring an
exciting, inclusive brand out into the world.”
NOOISH is currently available as a six-pack of single-serving
cups, with more options to come. Learn more about NOOISH
at www.nooish.co and follow NOOISH on Instagram at @
nooishfoods.
FOOD
NOOISH serves up matzah ball soup in an instant.
NOOISH serves up matzah ball soup in an instant.
Ready-to-Roll
Instant Bowl
JOELLE ABRAMOWITZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Sarah
Nathan