Entrepreneur Jodi Abel was famous for including Hillel students in her lively, large Shabbat dinners long before inspiration struck and she orchestrated her first corporate cooking challenge.

The principal of the unique and creative Corporate Cooking Challenge that big companies engage for team building, has her roots in Hillel of San Diego. As an active Hillel board member in the 2000s, Jodi, her husband and two children, joined in mitzvah projects, programs and Shabbat dinners, making Hillel an integral part of her family’s life.

Jodi’s 13-year-old enterprise, LaJollaCooks4U, is a unique, custom, team-building cooking cooking and dining experience that includes a range of cooking classes, demonstrations, farmers market visits and foodie tour options where guests learn about fresh, seasonal California cuisine. Plum corporate clients — Sony, PriceWaterhouse, Google, Amazon, Sequenom, Illumina, Coldwell Banker, HP, Domino Sugar, Mintz Levin — rave about the fun, effective experiences they’ve had in Chef Jodi’s cooking experiences.

In mouthwatering anticipation of Hillel’s upcoming Hanukkah Cooking with Hillel, we visited Jodi’s enormous and gorgeous white kitchen.

Hillel: What are our guests going to cook with you for Chanukah on December 13 at 4 pm?

Chef Jodi: Our menu for the Hillel Hanukkah Cooking event is:

• Everything Bagel Latke with Smoked Trout Dipping Sauce
• Zucchini Latke with Tzatziki Dipping Sauce
• Apple Latke with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Hillel: What were your favorite parts of serving on the Hillel board?

Chef Jodi: Definitely it was hosting students for Shabbat dinners and holidays. I suggested to the board that we do this. I loved hearing the students’ stories. To be a college student and to have a home cooked meal, when you’re not home for the holidays — their gratitude was so inspiring! Being in a Jewish home was something students might not have experienced. Some students were not raised Jewish and Hillel helped them find their Judaism.

Also I loved getting involved in Hillel’s community service projects. I loved the meetings when the kids would speak and tell their stories about going on Birthright (trip to Israel), about how they found their Judaism.

Hillel: What drew you to Hillel originally?

Chef Jodi: When we moved here in 2003 from Dallas, our daughter was 10 and our son was already a teenager. I had helped start a Conservative shul in Dallas and wanted to get active in the San Diego Jewish community. Before long, I was serving on boards including Women’s Division and Hillel. Judaism for me is more than a religion. It is a way of life. It’s tradition. It’s community. Particularly when you move, it’s Judaism that helps you build a new foundation here.

Hillel: What do you love about Hanukkah cooking?

Chef Jodi:  I like gathering with the family, bringing friends and family together and celebrating the miracle of light. I love lighting the menorah. It’s a fun holiday with traditions and it takes us back to our childhood. I like bringing friends and family together.

We embrace the holidays. My Shabbats were famous before I started my cooking business. I’d have 25 people! I love Jewish soul food, but I never make latkes except for Hanukkah. Vegetables are my favorite food group, and you can make a latke out of anything really — it’s a patty, a pancake. My daughter cannot have grains so we use nut flours like almond flour for our Zucchini Latkes, for example. It’s all about how you season it. I am open to new recipes. Be flexible, improvise! Shred carrots if you don’t have zucchini.

Hillel: You have an extraordinary and enormous white kitchen!

Chef Jodi: Now it’s a white California-casual kitchen. But my kitchen had a prior life with a Tuscan, Italian-villa theme in orange and red. We built this amazing kitchen for entertaining really. Now it accommodates my corporate groups of 30. Three teams of 10 cook here. They are given a series of recipes to complete in an hour. They do their presentations and then they’re served a gourmet meal with wine pairings. So it’s really an out-of-the-box experience.

Hillel: Tell us about your personal philanthropy?

Chef Jodi: Today I’m all about feeding the hungry. That’s my passion. I volunteer for Kitchens for Good and the Jacobs Cushman San Diego Food Bank. I donate to Hillel and Seacrest every year. Seacrest took care of my very own mother. And Hillel is important because we have to invest in our Jewish future!

Blog Post written by Hillel of San Diego Board Member and former Board Chair, Emily Jennewein