Sarah Nathan ’08 creates a hug in a cup with Nooish instant matzo ball soup.

By Risa Gorelick ’91

A version of this story appeared in the Goucher Spring 2025 Hillel newsletter.

A fast-spinning dreidel summarizes Sarah Nathan’s ’08 time at Goucher. She was the youngest manager of the Gopher Hole and the social coordinator of SGA; she also managed the men’s soccer team. She claims she had no singing talent, yet the TV production/mass communications major found herself an a capella groupie, so she agreed to film Red Hot Blue performances. Additionally, she studied abroad in Tel Aviv. The Jewish student organization Hillel was part of her Goucher identity, too. “I really loved being a part of campus,” she said. So how did she find herself starting NOOISH, an instant matzo ball soup company?

After Goucher, Nathan enrolled in an M.B.A. program in nonprofit management at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, followed by work for an advertising agency’s corporate social responsibility department, in which she focused on volunteer/pro-bono work in the L.A. area. After seven years in Los Angeles, Nathan moved to San Francisco. It was here that she “fell in love with the food industry,” she said, ultimately getting involved in the Jewish culinary space and consulting for women/minority-owned brands. Returning to her social coordinator roots, she helped produce the Great Big Jewish Food Fest, a virtual 10-day festival bringing together Jewish food bigwigs and 25,000 community members from around the world, sharing diverse Jewish stories and recipes from throughout the diaspora. Nathan is also the culinary coordinator for B’teavon, a Jewish culinary experience at the summer camp Ramah Darom.

With NOOISH, she blended her two passions: consumer packaged foods and Jewish food. “I saw so many other brands elevating their own culture’s foods, but no one was doing mass-appeal, high-end products elevating Jewish cultural food outside of the kosher aisle,” said Nathan. She returned to her M.B.A. marketing roots to promote Jewish food to the masses by creating her platform brand, NOOISH. “I wanted something that was Americana that was beloved. It’s new; it’s Jewish; it’s NOOISH.” She got to work on her “hug in a cup”—an instant matzo ball soup—that is accessible anywhere by just adding water. “I wanted a food product that is traditionally tedious to make and transform it into something that can be enjoyed year-round, anytime, anywhere. Most of all, I wanted to share Jewish joy. The branding feels Jewish while it is inclusive to all.”

Nathan joked, “There are 15 million Jews and 15 million ways to be Jewish. A lot of folks share matzo balls to share their intersectionality, making ramen matzo ball soup, Mexican tortilla matzo ball soup, and more.” NOOISH, which is Kosher, vegetarian, and pareve (no meat or dairy ingredients), is made of high-quality ingredient matzo balls created from scratch that have then been freeze dried.

“We have been very excited how many Hillels have embraced our product and how many parents have sent our product to their kids,” said Nathan. “It is great that we can send this hug in a cup.”

Nooish is available for purchase online at nooishfoods.com. Take 15% off your order for a limited time with promo code GOUCHER15.