Flavours of the Shtetl
A cookbook campaign about the recipes we inherit.
Flavours of the Shtetl is a campaign built around the idea that recipes aren’t just instructions — they’re family history. Through nostalgic photography, emotionally-driven OOH, experiential dining, and collectible recipe cards, the campaign turns Jewish comfort food into a way of preserving memory.
Flavours of the Shtetl is a cookbook exploring Ashkenazi Jewish recipes through the memories, rituals, and traditions passed down around the table.
Insight
The recipes people remember most were never measured perfectly.
They were passed down through stories, habits, opinions, and the small
moments shared around the table.
Big Idea
The campaign romanticizes the imperfections of family cooking — the overcooked onions, judged matzo balls, and challah nobody waited to cool.
Every execution was designed to feel intimate, nostalgic, and memory-driven rather than commercial.
Transit Shelters
The transit shelter series transformed everyday waiting spaces into intimate fragments of family memory. Using cinematic photography and emotionally-driven copy, each execution captured small inherited rituals surrounding Ashkenazi Jewish cooking — carving brisket, tearing challah, or debating matzo ball soup at the dinner table.
Rather than focusing on the food itself, the campaign highlighted the emotions, imperfections, and traditions attached to the recipes, making each shelter feel less like an advertisement and more like a remembered moment passed between generations.
Wild Posting
The wild posting campaign turned city walls into layered collections of remembered food rituals. Alternating between emotional food moments and cookbook-focused posters, the series blended cinematic photography, restrained typography, and nostalgic copy to create the feeling of fragmented family memories scattered throughout public space.
Designed to resemble literary or independent film posters rather than traditional food advertising, the wild postings gave Flavours of the Shtetl a tactile, culturally immersive presence throughout the city.
Experiential
A Dinner Built From Memory
The campaign extended into an immersive communal dinner experience inspired by traditional Shabbat gatherings.
Guests shared brisket, matzo ball soup, and challah while surrounded by family photographs, handwritten recipes, vintage-inspired posters, and tablescapes pulled directly from the visual language of the cookbook.
Every touchpoint was designed to feel inherited rather than staged.
Recipe cards
Collectible recipe cards transformed family recipes into keepsakes.
Each card combined imperfect stains, handwritten notes, and emotional copy to feel like something discovered in a grandparent’s kitchen drawer.
