Great Cooks - Great Food

Photos and story by Cindie Harp

May 19, 2010

Nancy Landman used to dream about being a rabbi when she was a child.

The rabbinate's loss has been the Indianapolis Culinary world's gain, lo these last 13 years. Nancy's Great Cooks & Co. has been a fixture in Indianapolis since 1997.

Nearly a year ago, Nancy filled the need of a store-front, kosher bakery. Great Cooks the Bakery has been bustling every since, providing challah and baked goods for home use as well as lunch items that can be consumed on the premises in the cheery, sunny eating area. As spring and summer allow, there will be tables outside, too.

Located at the corner of 86th St. and Ditch Rd., the great crossroads of the Northside and heart of Indy's Jewish community, Great Cooks was established with the plan that the parve bakery would be expanded to also offer dairy items. This necessitated, of course, a full separate kitchen and eating area. The addition was less "if you build it, they will come," and more "please build it, we're dying over here!"

Running a kosher food establishment in our small but mighty Indianapolis Jewish community has its complications, of course. In this case, Nancy freely confirms that her long-flourishing catering business is what lets her run the bakery, "the fun part, the labor of love."

Speaking of fun, pizza is coming soon, answering the prayers of many kosher parents with children - and themselves - to feed. Less popular to some will be Nancy's statement that "we will probably never get a fryer. It's a whole different thing, and you need a whole different system because [fryers] catch fire easily...I am not a health food person, but I do believe in eating natural foods. So, there are no preservatives in our foods. There aren't unhealthy things. I won't say that they're low fat. There are ingredients that should not be eaten in large quantity. But, I also believe that almost all of us are going to eat some of it (sweets and goodies, that is), but I would rather it be real food than 'better living through chemistry.'" That said, "that's how I get away from the fried kinds of things. Kids like it. I like it. Who wouldn't eat french fries? But, it's not good for you. So that's not what I'm going to do."

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