ST. LOUS — Orly Peters struggled with finding Israeli product brands for cooking traditional food when she and her family first moved to St. Louis seven years ago -- a challenge she hopes to combat for others with her new platform.
Peters had devoted time traveling to multiple grocery stores for ingredients and focused on developing her cooking skills to help with her daughter’s then picky eating habits. While learning how to cook, Peters said friends within the St. Louis Israeli community guided her on where to find certain items.
“My skills became more and more great with cooking and my kids love my food. They’re friends became very excited to come and eat my traditional food,” she said.
Her persistence in making her family feel at home through food led her wanting to help others who may be experiencing similar struggles.
After one of her Israeli friends began successfully selling her baked goods on social media, “I told myself, ‘I wish I had someone like her back when I came here,’ ” Peters said.
“When I cook my traditional food at home, I can see it on their faces, you know, they feel safe, they feel at home. All of the smells and the memories, it reminds us of home.”
Last summer, Peters began developing her web app called Habuyta, a Hebrew word for home, where people can create profiles to share recipes, information, photos, and videos. She took business classes and participated in mentoring to make her idea become a reality.
“I came up with the idea to create a platform for international born to newcomers that come to St. Louis, and want to not only have information, connect with other people, can exchange recipes, and buy and sell from each other, but also have a peek to other people’s kitchen, cultures,” she said.
“I call it ‘to travel the world without a passport.’ ”
Her mission is to help newcomers “feel at home, to feel in a safe place that you can connect with other people.”
“When I speak my Hebrew language, I feel comfortable, better than when I speak in English. It’s about the same when you eat your food, you feel like you’re in your safe zone,” Peters said.
With the tagline, “A bite of home,” the web app is set to launch this spring.
An important feature, Peters said, is the marketplace where users can buy and sell items and goods.
She plans to grow her platform to where it can help those in need by sharing leftovers and help those find information on overcoming eating disorders and health issues.
“Sometimes people are very embarrassed to talk about these things, or they don’t know where to go for help or information,” Peters said. “I’ve been through that.”
“I hope (the platform) is going to help people find whatever they need.”
When doing market research for her web app, Peters noticed that comfort food was not just an international experience, but also across the U.S. After having a user-base in St. Louis, Peters hopes the platform will be used nationwide.
“All people that are traveling the world, no matter where and who they are, want to feel home through the food,” she said.
Peters cooking skills have grown to where she has been invited to teach her traditional recipes to aspiring chefs at Fontbonne University and the Kitchen Conservatory.
For more information about Habuyta, click here.