“The Writer,” Food Legacy and Whitefish Salad with the Berkowitz Brothers

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Ben and Max Berkowitz aka the Berkowitz Brothers. The award-winning producing and writing duo (NotABillionaire.com) co-wrote the graphic novel, “The Writer,” along with Josh Gad.    “The Writer,” illustrated by Marvel and DC Comics legend Ariel Olivetti (who they pitched via Instagram DM), is a four-issue series, to be released in trade paperback on April 22. The supernatural adventure comic - in the vein of an Indiana Jones story - follows Stan Siegel, a comic book writer whose life unravels when the fantastical worlds that he writes about start bleeding into reality.   “We also added a lot of our family stories into this as well,” Max explains. “We put our mom into the story; it's literally Josh Gad's character's mom.”    Adds Ben, “Our mother's character, Liz, in the book, is constantly pushing food on the characters.”   Ben and Max clearly have strong ties to food.   “ Our family, we always talk about the next meal, even when we're eating a meal,” Max says. “It's always on our mind.”   “For us, food has always been the connector, bringing people from walks of life [together],” Ben says. “When our dad helped build out the family restaurant business … it was made to bring people [together] to enjoy just good, simple fish dishes.”   Whether your family business is fish or creating content, you need to navigate what's most important for work and your home life.   “At the end of the day, what kind of solved most any argument was a great meal,” Ben says. “If anything, it stops people from talking because their mouths were too full of food.”    The Berkowitz Bros talk about how “The Writer” came together, their family food legacy, bagel and other eating habits, and more. They also share their father’s famous whitefish salad recipe, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.   Check out NABvid.com and follow @BerkowitzBros and @TheWriterComic on Instagram. For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.