Stephanie Butnick
I'm a host of Unorthodox, the universe's leading Jewish podcast, produced by Tablet Magazine. I'm also Tablet's deputy editor and oversee our podcast network, Tablet Studios.
My podcast co-hosts and I published The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar's and Everything in Between (buy it here!), and spent most of our pre-pandemic days on the road doing live shows and book events across the country. Now my cat co-hosts all my Zoom events.
Unorthodox podcast
Unorthodox is a fresh, fun take on Jewish news and culture hosted by me and two Tablet colleagues, Mark Oppenheimer and Liel Leibovitz. Listen to new episodes every Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Some of my favorite guests on the show have been Nick Kroll, Jodi Kantor, Adeena Sussman, Mayim Bialik, Mike Solomonov, Esther Safran Foer, Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan, Jesse Eisenberg, and husband-of-the-pod Ben Cohen. I've also visited the Joyva factory in Brooklyn, reported from the former Yiddish chicken farming community in Petaluma, CA, and made sprinkle challah with Food Network's Molly Yeh.
We do live shows! Email unorthodox@tabletmag.com to book.
Matthew Lipsen Photography, courtesy Stroum JCC
Books!
The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia:
From Abraham to Zabar's and Everything in Between
Smart, highly entertaining, and just a little bit irreverent, The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia covers culture, religion, history, habits, language, and beyond. It's everything you ever wanted to know about Judaism, and Jewishness, and much, much more.
The 100 Most Jewish Foods:
A Highly Debatable List
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Tablet’s list of the most Jewish foods is not about the most popular Jewish foods, or the tastiest, or even the most enduring. The 100 Most Jewish Foods is a list of the most significant foods culturally and historically to the Jewish people, explored deeply with essays, recipes, stories, and context. The entire list is up for debate, which is what makes this book so much fun.
Events
(Virtual for now, in person again one day)
Monday, February 8 — Unorthodox hosts Stephanie Butnick, Mark Oppenheimer, and Liel Leibovitz will be discussing The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia as part of the JCC of Greater New Haven's Jewish Author Series. 7 p.m. EST; Register here.
Wednesday, March 10 — Unorthodox hosts Stephanie Butnick, Mark Oppenheimer, and Liel Leibovitz will be returning to the Washington Hebrew Congregation to discuss The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia at 8 p.m. EST; registration info to come.
Thursday, March 11 — Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz will be discussing The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia as part of the Mandel JCC of the Palm Beaches' Book Festival. 7:30 p.m. EST; Register here.
Sunday, May 23 — Unorthodox hosts Stephanie Butnick, Mark Oppenheimer, and Liel Leibovitz will be returning to Wyomissing, PA to speak with the Jewish Federation of Reading at 1 p.m. EST; registration info to come.