By Jane Godiner at The Baltimore Sun
September 7, 2025
For four years, Baltimore-based entrepreneur Adam Kaufman has been in the jerky business — with a Jewish twist.
“There’s no tradition of Jews making jerky, but I asked myself, ‘What if there was?‘” said Kaufman, founder of Jewish Jerky Brand. “My answer was, ‘The jerky that they would make would be inspired or influenced by the cuisines, flavors, spices and foods of where they ended up in the world.’”
With the goal of showcasing the geographic diversity of the Jewish people, Kaufman’s line previously boasted four flavors: beef-based strips in the style of pastrami and North African merguez sausage, as well as vegan jerkies with the ingredients of fruity Sephardic tzimmes and classic Passover charoset.
Jewish Jerky Brand has since grown, thanks to his sales at both the downtown Baltimore Farmers’ Market and his online storefront. In the face of demand to expand his product line,
Kaufman released another jerky flavor at the end of August, but this one veganizes a traditionally meat dish rather than playing with something that’s already known as vegetarian. What Am I, Chopped Liver? is composed of mushrooms, onions and walnuts.
“Chopped liver is not always a home run for everyone, but this is not really chopped liver — it’s the best flavors that you can get out of it,” Kaufman said. He hopes that by taking away the liver but keeping the flavors, more consumers will give it a shot.
“Folks that are non-meat-eaters are digging it, people who have never had chopped liver like it, and people who have had it say, ‘Wow, that’s pretty close.'”