PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — While quarantining amid the coronavirus outbreak, sisters Rhonda Saltzman and Mercedes Brooks used the time to launch a longtime creative culinary endeavor.
Inspired by their Black and Jewish roots, the pair opened an artisan online bakery called Second Daughter Baking Co.
“We were born out of quarantine,” said Brooks.
But for baker Saltzman, the idea spans back much further than the past 10 months. Back during a Birthright trip to Israel — a free 10-day heritage trip for young Jewish adults — her diverse background and love of baking converged.
“There were Ethiopians, there were Palestinians, there were Hassidic Jews, there were secular Jews as well. Just seeing and hearing everyone’s story really changed my life and how that related to food too,” Saltzman said.
When Saltzman got married, she and her culinary school husband talked about opening their own place.
“My oldest food memory is my grandmother and my father in the kitchen making matzo ball soup,” she recalled. With her husband, she said their dream “was to open up a Jewish deli-style bakery.”
Unfortunately, cancer claimed him before that dream came to fruition. “And while he’s not here, I'm doing it and I’m doing it with my sister.”
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