Our Story

Middle Eastern Home Cooking Class. picture by Maria Midoes.jpg

New York Shuk is a maker of handcrafted Middle Eastern pantry staples.

Our products are an important part of our personal story — they represent our mission to keep our culinary heritage alive, while also giving home cooks the tools and inspiration to cook more deliciously for their family and friends.

We are striving to change the way our customers look at flavor and encourage them to take these Middle Eastern flavors out of the Middle East and into their everyday cooking.

The word shuk means "market" in Hebrew, and for us the marketplace represents the center of a community - the meeting point where commerce and culture come together. We try to bring this communal energy, as well as the freshness of a bustling outdoor market to everything we do. 

In today's modern food culture, so many of our beloved traditional foods and culinary practices are being lost. That is why New York Shuk focuses not only on craftsmanship, but on keeping our edible heritage alive and evolving. In addition to our products, we host various classes, pop up dinners, and events throughout the year that let participants experience authentic Middle Eastern cooking and culture first hand.

Whether you try one of our products or join us at an event,
we invite you to dig in and share in the story.

Ron & Leetal Arazi Founders

Ron Arazi: Co-Founder / Culinary Director

Ron Arazi is the co-creator of New York Shuk and a chef who has cooked in kitchens throughout France & New York City, working in some of Israel's most established kitchens.

Ron grew up in a Jewish Moroccan-Lebanese family in Israel where he was immersed in a world of vibrant, flavorful food prepared from scratch, and from the heart. The food of his family table remains his greatest inspiration and New York Shuk has given him the opportunity to preserve his family’s culinary heritage, while also sharing these bold flavors with American home cooks.

Leetal Arazi: Co-Founder / CEO / Creative Director

Leetal Arazi is the co-creator of New York Shuk and a food entrepreneur based in Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of the University of Arts in London where she studied Visual Design and also attended culinary school in Israel.

Leetal is heavily influenced by the rich flavors of her Middle Eastern upbringing. Her grandfather was a professional baker from Eastern Europe, and her Turkish grandmother is an accomplished Middle Eastern home cook. With these evocative family traditions as inspiration, Leetal moved to New York in 2013 to pursue her dream of introducing an authentic Middle Eastern pantry staple line to the American market. Her vision was realized with the launch of the New York Shuk.

 

The New York Shuk Manifesto

The food we cook, eat, and share with others is imbued with so much significance - it helps define who we are and how we see the world. That is why, no matter what we are cooking up at New York Shuk, we hold the following principles close to our hearts: 

Build a Legacy

In order to create a meaningful culinary future, we need to understand our past. Remembering and celebrating treasured, edible family memories is a significant part of what we do at New York Shuk.

Be Authentic

The word authentic gets thrown around a lot in the artisanal food world. But when we say it, we mean it wholeheartedly. Even as we build our own story as food purveyors, we keep our feet solidly planted in the roots of our rich heritage.

Embrace Simplicity

If you treat simple ingredients with care and creativity, they will repay you with remarkable flavor. Our dishes start with pure, elemental building blocks - onions, celery, carrots, spices - which we showcase front and center.

Conserve

The notion of not wasting food - of cooking "head to tail" - is not simply a trendy notion for us. It is our life philosophy. It is the way we cook, and always have.

Educate

Crafting delicious products is only the beginning of the story. We believe in giving our customers the knowledge, skills, and inspiration they need to make this incredible food legacy their own.