H EADLINES
Lil’ Yenta’s Serves Jewish Vegan Comfort Food
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
KIMBERLY RESNICK doesn’t
believe that going vegan means
depriving yourself of the foods
you grew up with.

Her business, Lil’ Yenta’s
Vegan Bakery, is dedicated to
creating classic Jewish foods
from her childhood without the
use of animal products. She’s
especially proud of her knishes.

“When we were making
them the other day, aft er it
was all said and done we had
one extra, and I took a bite,”
she said. “I almost cried, just
because this reminds me so
much of my grandpa and going
to his house.”
Resnick and her husband,
Sal Ruano, are both vegan
out of concern for animal
rights. However, they found
themselves missing foods from
both their cultures — New
York-style Ashkenazi favor-
ites for her and El Salvadoran
cuisine for him — aft er making
the lifestyle change.

The Port
Richmond residents decided to create
vegan versions of those foods to
share with friends at a holiday
party, which sparked the idea
for two businesses.

Th e couple worked together
to create Lil’ Yenta’s and
Chambi’s El Salvadoran Vegan
Munchies, which carries vegan
pupusas, tamales and other
recipes from Ruano’s grand-
mother and aunt.

“We’re doing what we want
to do without sacrifi cing our
values or our vegan lifestyle,
and that’s basically how we got
started,” Ruano said.

Resnick, a hairstylist, drew
inspiration for Lil’ Yenta’s
from her Jewish family in
Brooklyn, New York, especially
her mother’s love of black and
white cookies. She also has fond
memories of visiting her grand-
father, a Holocaust survivor,
in Brighton Beach, where he
would bring home bags of
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM knishes from a local bakery.

When her parents moved
to Atlantic City, Resnick was
the only Jewish student at her
school. She maintained her
connection to Judaism through
food and family visits.

Th e name was inspired by
Resnick’s stepchild, Raevyn
Ruano, who loves watching
dramatic videos on YouTube.

“I talk to Kim a lot about
them, and yenta is a word for
busybody and gossip, and she
started calling me Lil’ Yenta,”
they said.

Now, Ruano helps their
parents out in the kitchen by
baking cookies (their favorite
is the chocolate-dipped berry
hamantaschen). Resnick is not content with
simply making vegan substi-
tutes for classic foods like
rugelach and kugel. She wants
her versions to be just as good
as the originals, or even better.

Her typical vegan swaps
include using Earth Balance
Original Buttery Spread rather
than butter and aquafaba (the
starchy liquid from cooked
chickpeas) instead of eggs.

In addition to baked goods
like babka and challah, Lil’
Yenta’s off ers tzimmes and
brisket made with cranber-
ry-glazed seitan and chopped
liver made with lentils. For
Th anksgiving, Resnick made
knishes fi lled with mashed
potatoes, cranberry sauce and
homemade seitan turkey.

Her recipes are a combina-
tion of childhood memories,
research and lots of practice.

“I’m really digging deep into
my taste memory to just get it
as close as humanly possible
without any animal products in
it,” she said. “So usually I’ll look
up a vegan recipe, and I’ll look
up a bunch of non-vegan recipes.

And then I combine it together
and then add in whatever kind
of makes sense to me.”
Resnick and Ruano held
their fi rst pop-up last year
See Vegan, Page 12
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...to be continued
JEWISH EXPONENT
DECEMBER 3, 2020
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