Chef Jacob Portman’s love of cooking stemmed from a dietary necessity. Portman grew up in a modern Jewish Orthodox community in Columbus, Ohio, where he and his family kept kosher. Due to not being able to eat out at most restaurants in the area, he developed an early interest in cooking for himself and experimenting with new foods.
Though he is now employed as a chef at Northwestern Hillel, Portman originally came to Chicago for law school before he said he realized that wasn’t the path he wanted to pursue.
“After I left school, I thought about what I enjoy doing, what brings me joy, and what I want to pursue with my life, and the thing that I kept coming back to was food and cooking,” Portman said. “That’s when I put myself out there, got introduced to a chef, and started as a prep cook.”
He said his first kitchen job was in Evanston at a restaurant called “Next of Kin” before it closed down. Portman then went on to work at a variety of restaurants and bakeries around Chicago learning Jewish cooking techniques like making hummus in the West Loop, sandwiches at a Jewish deli in Humboldt Park, and making bagels and challah at a Jewish bakery.
After working at the bakery for a few years, Portman said he grew tired of the difficult hours and instead wanted to teach students how to cook Jewish cuisine. He then reached out to Hillel and started working there this past summer.
Portman now makes meals for Hillel student groups throughout the week and makes the Shabbat meal at Hillel every Friday night.
“I really enjoy cooking for a recurring group of people for community,” Portman said. “I think that these foods just make sense around the Shabbat table at the end of the week when everyone has time to relax and enjoy it. It’s kind of like the perfect setting for these foods and I’m just excited to be a natural part of the community here.”
Students are happy that Portman is part of Shabbat too. Weinberg sophomore and Hillel First-Year Outreach Co-Chair Jonah Rosenberg said having Portman cook Shabbat dinner has changed how students come to Shabbat.
In the past, Hillel would cater Shabbat dinner from local Kosher restaurants. Rosenberg said food was reliably good every week. Oftentimes, students would come to Hillel for a short time and then go to Northwestern Chabad for dinner.
“The food, in my opinion, has gotten much better,” Rosenberg said. “I come on Fridays with no intention of going anywhere else to eat.”
Another new addition Portman has brought to Hillel is student involvement in cooking. Hillel now employs students to be kitchen hands who come in throughout the week to learn from Portman and help make meals. He said he wants students to be able to contribute to what the kitchen is producing to create a deeper sense of community.
One of his student workers, Medill sophomore Slyvie Slotkin, spoke to The Daily while braiding challah for Shabbat dinner.
“He has been such a good teacher which has been really cool,” Slotkin said. “I love that he’s been letting me input things that I want us to make. We’ve even made a couple of my family recipes which has been really nice.”
Besides his student workers, Portman is also starting a teaching cohort for upperclassmen during the Winter Quarter. Students will come in each week and learn about different Jewish foods and cook a meal to sit and eat together at the end of the night.
Portman said his goal is for students to be able to host Shabbat dinners in their own homes. He said he is excited to be able to teach his knowledge of cooking to students and give them more confidence in the kitchen.
“The presence of Chef Jacob has been really amazing for Hillel as an institution,” Slotkin said. “I think knowing someone who cares about you is the one cooking for you has made Shabbat just that much more magical here at Northwestern.”
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