Rabbi Josh Steele – former Aish UK Educator – moved to Israel to become a Rabbi after finishing his studies in England and is currently on the hit TV show MasterChef.
When a lot of Jews think of kosher food they imagine cholent, kugel other common foods that could be described as unexciting. Do you feel that it’s important to widen people’s knowledge of kosher food and if so how do you intend on doing it?
It’s important that people realise that any food can be made kosher, all those exciting dishes that we dream about can be made kosher. We don’t need to keep making the same dishes just because our grandparents made it, and their grandparents made it before them. My goal after the show is to be able to come up with kosher versions of exciting dishes that people want to eat; new food that can help other people's creative juices flow when cooking kosher food. Being kosher is not an impediment to cooking, in fact it’s liberating since it forces you to think creatively when creating a kosher dish from a non-kosher recipe. For example, people will cook meat with milk; a lot of French cooking involves milk and butter so how can we get around that? Alpro soya milk can be used which adds a sweet and sickly flavour. Or coconut milk could be an alternative with fruit and nuts accompanying the coconut; so now you’ve ended up with an exciting Caribbean dish simply by not using milk.
Since your television appearance on MasterChef you’ve become a lot more well known. Do you think celebrity has a place in the orthodox world?
I think as long as you are a Kiddush Hashem (Sanctifiying God's name) celebrity definitely has a place in the orthodox world. The Torah tells us we can learn from everybody; if someone taught King David two halachot he would call them a rabbi. If you have a positive message to spread, in my case the message of kosher food, then that’s great. But if you’re all about getting lucrative deals and inflating your ego then it can be destructive for you and ultimately the Jewish world.
Do you think the general attitude towards Orthodox Jews has improved due to your popularity on the show?
Most definitely! I’ve received hundreds of messages online from people telling me just that. A lot of people didn’t realise that observant Jews can have fun in life! Orthodox Jews from all walks of life tell me that me being on the show is a Kiddush Hashem. People connect to their Judaism through their relationships and the TV can be a powerful thing, you’re letting people in. Therefore being on TV and being let into peoples lives and becoming a part of people’s lives can have a huge positive impact on the Jewish community.
What’s the one dish you think everyone should master?
A soufflé. One of the most important ingredients in cooking is an egg. The French use it very well, you can use the white and the yolk in different ways and if you use them correctly you can make anything from mayonnaise to a cake.
Who are your role models?
The person I admire in the cooking world is Heston Blumenthal because he wants every cooking experience to be an actual experience beyond the cooking, something special. Every time you say a bracha it should be an experience; when made over fantastic food that bracha itself can be an experience.
One of my role models in life is Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. He left his comfortable orthodox community to live somewhere bereft of Judaism in order to educate, teach and make a difference. He taught me that if you really believe in something and believe that you can make a difference then sacrifices will have to be made in order to achieve greatness.
Cooking is physical, you’re a rabbi which is a spiritual endeavour, how do you mix the two together?
The idea of holiness is elevating the physical to the spiritual. Your Friday night table is elevating food to greater heights through Kiddish and blessings. As long as it’s permissible we can elevate food from the physical to the spiritual to connect to God through the most tangible way. Keeping kosher was hard at first, I was jealous of people who ate whatever they wanted. But I was able to fill that void with spirituality which made me realise that everything I want in this world that’s physical isn’t necessarily worth it. Now with cooking it’s given me the ability to be creative and try to produce what I believe is a better experience than what I’m ‘missing out on’ by keeping kosher.
