Meet the KosherEye Founders
Lois Held
Lois was born in Philadelphia, PA, but moved to Miami at the age of six. In Miami, she was surrounded by a close, extended family of Eastern European origin, which included her paternal grandmother, Clara, an exceptional cook and baker. Holidays were spent in Grandmom Clara’s very small apartment. According to Lois, “I still don't know how she made everything from scratch! In a tiny kitchen she prepared soup, fish, kugel, chicken, strudel.... Grandmom measured meticulously - with the palm of her hands and a yahrzeit glass.”
Lois attended the University of Miami and earned a computer technology degree from DeKalb Perimeter College. Her career experiences include: Ladies ready-to-wear manager at Atlanta’s prestigious, upscale JP Allen store, followed by 20 years as an Informational Technology specialist. Her diverse skills include: gourmet cooking, kosher food specialty shopper, community volunteer, kosher event planner, edible food and flower gardener, trade show sales representative, Southeast Kosher Festival supervisory committee, and volunteer chefs’ assistant. She is the devoted mother of 3 adult children and 4 adorable grandchildren. And of course there is her husband Kal, multilingual (6 languages), well traveled and European, for whom she prepares gourmet kosher meals nightly including her specialties of Indian, Persian and Moroccan cuisine.
Lois maintains a library of over 200 cookbooks, which she reads just as if they were novels. In addition, she admits to hoarding stacks of clipped recipes, which she recently began organizing and thinning. She knows that she cannot possibly make all of them in this lifetime, but do not be concerned - she loves the "hunt" and continues on her quest to find new and exciting kosher products - hence her involvement in KosherEye, and yes, she is still clipping those recipes!
Roberta Scher
Roberta, originally from the Bronx, NY, moved to Atlanta at the age of 13. She grew up in a large, extended close-knit family – all celebrating holidays together - with a focus on traditional foods! Out of a kitchen as small as some closets came huge platters of traditional Polish-Jewish foods. One of her most vivid memories is that of the “soon-to-be-gefilte-fish” – the Passover “carp” coming home from the fish store in a bucket, and then swimming in the bathtub. (Yes, really!) Talk about fresh and local!
Roberta’s mother, Rose Schoen Snyder, not only was a master home cook, but a generous, kind lady who shared her delicious foods with neighbors and friends. Her very special family recipes were always greatly in demand!
Roberta’s career includes 25 years as a retailer, co-founder and owner of Paper Parlour, Atlanta’s largest party store; 10 years as a business consultant; 6 years as a kosher food columnist for The Jewish Georgian newspaper. Her professional accomplishments include national and local TV appearances, trade show speaking engagements and substantial volunteer work. She was founder and organizer of the Southeast Kosher Festival. Roberta has authored two “how to” books, including her favorite, Party Atlanta, a widely read guide to entertaining in Atlanta. She is the mother of 3 married children, and has 8 quite special grandchildren. Roberta, a graduate of Emory University, has been married to her talented husband Allan since 1966. Much to his chagrin, she attempts to prepare healthy gourmet meals for him nightly.
Lois and Roberta have been friends from “afar” for more than 30 years; they met when volunteering their time in community organizations and developed a respect for each other’s talents. While working on a benefit food gala in 2002, they discovered their mutual interest in cooking, recipe development, kitchen gadgets and everything related to food!
The pair wanted to create a kosher discovery Website where “All that is new in kosher” could be easily and promptly viewed and shared with the world. And so, here it is... a mission fulfilled - a dream launched! Welcome to KosherEye!
We thank our talented web designer Becky Sher for applying her technological know-how and her quiet dedication in bringing our dream of KosherEye to the Internet.
And the DIVA who started it all, the Star of our Site
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